Thörnqvist began his career at the age of fifteen in the Swedish Sea Cadet Corps. He was commissioned into the Swedish Navy in 1976 and served as a basic Private and Petty Officer afloat on various types of ships in the Navy, including Minesweepers, Destroyers, Fast Patrol and Picket Boats. In 1981, he entered the Royal Swedish Naval Academy and graduated in 1982. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade and moved immediately to complete the Principal Warfare Officer training course. Thörnqvist was promoted to Lieutenant in 1983. From 1982 to 1983 he was 2nd Officer on Mine Warfare Ship and Icebreaker HSwMS Thule and various Mine Countermeasures Wessels. In addition, he became a qualified mine clearance diver and he served as 1st Instructor at the Naval Mine Warfare School. He was commanding officer of the Diving Support Vessel from 1987 to 1988 and completed the Staff Course at the Swedish National Defence College in 1989. Thörnqvist was commander of the Naval MCM Divers Squadron from 1993 to 1996 and commanding officer of 411th MCM Divers Squadron and the Minehunter. From 1997 to 1999 he completed the Advanced Command Program at the Swedish National Defence College and was then Chief of Staff in the Visby-class corvette Trials Unit at the 3rd Naval Warfare Flotilla in Karlskrona from 1999 to 2001. Thörnqvist was promoted to commander and served as Staff Officer at the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters, Joint Forces Development, Staff Department, Analysis Section from 2001 to 2004. In June 2004 he attended the Naval Command College at the Naval War College in the United States. From 2005 to 2006 he headed the Forces Development, Plans and Policy Staff in the Joint Headquarters and from 2006 to 2009 Thörnqvist was commander of the 4th Naval Warfare Flotilla. From October to December 2009 he commanded the Karlskrona naval base. He was between 14 April and 14 August 2010 the EU Force Commander of EUNAVFOR Somalia - Operation ATALANTA and lead the multinational Force Headquarters on board the EU NAVFOR Swedish warship,. Thörnqvist was promoted on 1 March 2011 to Rear Admiral and was appointed Chief of Navy the same day and was in this position the head of the Maritime Component Command. On 7 April 2016 he was promoted to Vice Admiral and appointed Chief of Operations of the Joint Forces Command. In 2019, Jan Thörnqvist was appointed Commandant General in Stockholm. Törnqvist retired in 2020 and was succeeded as Chief of Operations by Lieutenant General Michael Claesson.
Personal life
Thörnqvist is married to Christina Martinsson and they have three children, Johan, Henrik and Eric.
