 BENECHAN's commanding officer was the Commanding Admiral of the Netherlands Home Fleet, while Belgium's Commander Naval Operations served as Chief of Staff.The combined Dutch and Belgian staff at Den Helder in the Netherlands was tasked with ensuring that the approach, coastal, and entrance channels to Belgian and Netherlands' ports were always open for allied shipping.As ACCHAN's other two sub-commands PLYMCHAN (Plymouth Sub-Area Channel Command) and NORECHAN (Nore Sub-Area Channel Command) defended the direct approaches to the Belgian and Dutch coast via the English channel and the North Sea and as BALTAP's German-Danish Allied Naval Forces Baltic Approaches Command (COMNAVBALTAP) kept the Soviet Baltic Fleet bottled up in the Baltic Sea, the main risk for allied shipping in the BENECHAN area of operations were air and submarine dropped Soviet naval mines.