US Navy Announces Flag Officer Assignments

PRESS RELEASE (04-06-2022)
US DEPT OF DEFENSE

 APRIL 6, 2022 The secretary of the Navy and chief of naval operations announced today the following assignments:

Rear Adm. Daniel L. Cheever will be assigned as chief of staff, North American Aerospace Defense Command; and chief of staff, U.S. Northern Command, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Cheever is currently serving as director of plans, policy and strategy, North American Aerospace Defense Command; and director of plans, policy and strategy, U.S. Northern Command, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Rear Adm. Paul J. Schlise will be assigned as director, Warfare Development, N72, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. Schlise is currently serving as director, Surface Warfare Division, N96, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

Rear Adm. Douglas C. Verissimo will be assigned as director, Maritime Operations, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Norfolk, Virginia. Verissimo is currently serving as director, Assessment Division, N81, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

Rear Adm. Dean A. VanderLey will be assigned as commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command; and chief of civil engineers, with additional duties as deputy commander for facilities and environment, Navy Installations Command; and deputy commander for facilities and environment, Marine Corps Installations Command, Washington, D.C. VanderLey is currently serving as commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific; and director, Fleet Civil Engineer, U.S. Pacific Fleet, with additional duty as fleet civil engineer, N46, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Rear Adm. Peter G. Vasely will be assigned as deputy director for joint training, J-7, Joint Staff, Suffolk, Virginia. Vasely is currently serving as special assistant to director, Navy Staff, Norfolk, Virginia.

Rear Adm. John F. Wade will be assigned as deputy commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Wade is currently serving as director of operations, J-3, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Jeffrey T. Anderson, selected for promotion to rear admiral, will be assigned as director of operations, J-3, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. Anderson is currently serving as commander, Carrier Strike Group Three, Bremerton, Washington.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Matthew J. Burns will be assigned as commander, Special Reconnaissance and Enabling Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. Burns is currently serving as assistant commander-operations, Joint Special Operations Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Thomas M. Henderschedt will be assigned as director, J2, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. Henderschedt is currently serving as senior defense official and Defense Attaché – China, Beijing, China.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Lawrence F. LeGree will be assigned as deputy commander, Joint Interagency Task Force-South, U.S. Southern Command, Key West, Florida. LeGree is currently serving as assistant chief of staff (J-3), Joint Forces Command, Naples, Naples, Italy.

Rear Adm. (lower half) William P. Pennington, selected for promotion to rear admiral, will be assigned as chief of staff, U.S. Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. Pennington is currently serving as deputy commander, Tenth Fleet, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.

Rear Adm. (lower half) Philip E. Sobeck will be assigned as director, Strategic Plans, Policy, Logistics, J-5/4, U.S. Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Sobeck is currently serving as commander, Logistics Group, Western Pacific; and commander, Task Force Seven Three, Singapore.

Capt. George E. Bresnihan, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as director, Logistics Directorate, J-4, U.S. Africa Command, Stuttgart, Germany. Bresnihan is currently serving as chief of staff, Naval Supply Systems Command, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Capt. Matthew Case, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as commander, Naval Medical Forces Atlantic, with additional duties as director, Tidewater Market; and chief of the Medical Service Corps, Portsmouth, Virginia. Case is currently serving as executive assistant to the surgeon general of the Navy, Washington, D.C.

Capt. Carey H. Cash, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as chaplain of the Marine Corps; and deputy chief of chaplains of the Navy, N097B, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. Cash is currently serving as commanding officer, Naval Chaplaincy School and Center, Newport, Rhode Island.

Capt. Adan G. Cruz, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as deputy director, Political-Military Affairs (Middle East), J-5, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C. Cruz is currently serving as deputy, Combat Systems and Integration, N96, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

Capt. John E. Dougherty IV, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as commander, Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division; and assistant commander for research and engineering, Naval Air Systems Command (AIR-4.0). Dougherty is currently serving as major program manager, Program Executive Office for Tactical Aircraft Programs, Patuxent River, Maryland.

Capt. Keith A. Hash, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as commander, Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division; and assistant commander for Test and Evaluation, Naval Air Systems Command (AIR-5.0), Patuxent River, Maryland. Hash is currently serving as program manager for air warfare, PMA-298, Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland.

Capt. Tracy L. Hines, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as Navy Cyber Security Division director, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. Hines is currently serving as executive assistant to the chief of naval operations, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

Capt. Stephen J. Jackson, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as deputy director, Operations, and Integration Directorate, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Jackson is currently serving as Navy programs and policy director, Expeditionary Combat Branch Head, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

Capt. Jeffrey J. Kilian, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific; and director, Fleet Civil Engineer, U.S. Pacific Fleet, with additional duty as fleet civil engineer, N46, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Kilian is currently serving as chief of staff, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Washington, D.C.

Capt. Ryan M. Perry, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as Navy chief of information, Washington, D.C. Perry is currently serving as force public affairs officer, Naval Special Warfare Command, San Diego, California. 

Capt. Mark B. Sucato, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as commander, Navy Region Northwest, Silverdale, Washington. Sucato is currently serving as deputy director, Reserve Warfare Requirements and Capabilities, N9, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.

Capt. Guido F. Valdes, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as commander, Naval Medical Forces Pacific, with additional duties as director, San Diego Market; and chief of the Medical Corps, San Diego, California. Valdes is currently serving as deputy commander, Naval Medical Forces Atlantic, Portsmouth, Virginia.

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Published at 2:40pm on Wednesday, April 06, 2022
Author: Bobby Coggins

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Seaman 2nd Class Frank Woods Laid to Rest with Full Military Honors

Seaman 2nd Class Class Frank Wood, a native of Jackson, Ohio, was laid to rest in Carson Cemetery 76 years after his death aboard the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor. A casket containing comingled remains from the USS Oklahoma was exhumed in 2015. The US Navy contacted the closest remaining relatives, niece Jill O. Overly Lee of Franklin, NC, and nephew Jack R. Overly of Estes Park, Colorado, who both submitted DNA samples for testing. The Navy then identified Wood’s remains.

An aircraft transporting Wood landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Friday, and a small escort accompanied the body from Atlanta to Franklin, NC just after 6 pm after a short ceremony at the Airport honored the fallen sailor. As many as 10,000 people gathered along overpasses and the roadways to pay their respects as the escort passed through Georgia. The escort arrived at Macon Funeral Home just before 8:30 pm.

The obituary notice for Seaman 2nd Class Frank Wood is on the Macon Funeral Home website. [LINK]

Video and photos from the arrival of Wood at Macon Funeral Home to the Graveside Rites are posted below. Both a color video and a black and white version of the video are embedded below.

VIDEO







Flickr Photo Album




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3:04 am on April 17, 2018

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Carrier Strike Group Eleven Update: September 7, 2013

In light of the probable upcoming military strike on Syria, I will be posting updates on ship deployments and news from the Syrian Theater of Operations from time to time on the blog. All information I share will be open-source intelligence collected from publicly available sources.

Carrier Strike Group Eleven is currently commanded by Rear Admiral Michael S. White, a veteran of more than 1,000 carrier arrested landings during his career.

Carrier Strike Group Eleven (the one that the USS Nimitz leads) has indefinitely cancelled it's upcoming scheduled return to homeport due to possible combat operations in support of a strike on Syria.

The ships of the strike group are currently in the Red Sea.

Please keep these men and women in your thoughts and prayers.

Here is a list of ships currently assigned to the strike group:

Surface Action Group

USS William P. Lawrence DDG-110
USS Stockdale DDG-106
USS Shoup DDG-86
USS Higgins DDG-76

Carrier Escorts

USS Princeton CG-59
USS Preble DDG-88
USS Momsen DDG-92
EODMU-11 (Bomb Disposal Unit)

Carrier

USS Nimitz CVN-68

Carrier Airwing 11 squadrons aboard the Nimitz:

Marine Attack Squadron 323 (VMFA-323 Death Rattlers) composed of 10 F/A-18C(N) Hornets
Strike Fighter Squadron 154 (VFA-154 Black Knights) composed of 12 F/A-18F Hornets
Strike Fighter Squadron 147 (VFA-147 Argonauts) composed of 12 F/A-18C Hornets
Strike Fighter Squadron 146 (VFA-146 Blue Diamonds) composed of 10 F/A-18C Hornets
Electronic Attack Squadron 142 (VAQ-142 The Gray Wolves) composed of 10 EA-6B Prowlers
Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 117 (VAW-117 The Wallbangers) 4 EC-2C Hawkeyes
Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 6 (HSC-6 Indians) composed of 7 MH-60 Seahawks
Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 30: Detachment 3 (VRC-30 Providers) composed of 3 C-2A Greyhounds

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Sailors on the USS New York Remember 9-11-2001

Sailors from USS New York remember 9/11 and what serving on a ship forged from 7 tons of World Trade Center steel means to them.

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Sailors on the USS Nimitz Remember 9/11

Sailors aboard USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) reflect on and remember Sept. 11, 2001.

PRESS RELEASE


USS NIMITZ, At Sea (NNS) -- Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 11 and USS Nimitz (CVN 68) held a remembrance ceremony to honor the men and women who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"Nine years ago this morning violence was visited upon our nation. It took us by surprise and it shook us to our core," said Rear Adm. Robert Girrier, Commander Nimitz Carrier Strike Group 11. "We all remember, each in our own way, what we were doing, where we were and what our reaction was."

The memorial featured a bell ceremony were Nimitz' Chief Petty Officer selects read the events of that day followed by a bell toll.

"Surprise, shock, despair, our lives changed…but not for long. From that moment we pulled together as a nation, as a country, swiftly responding on scene locally at first then globally forward," said Girrier. "A call to act so quick essentially part of our American heritage not defeated, not downcast, not terrorized and that fight continues today."

Since 2001, Nimitz has deployed five times, totaling 32 months, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Nimitz completed an eight month Western Pacific deployment March 26 in support of OEF.

While Nimitz supported OEF during that 2009-2010 Western Pacific deployment, the residents of Breezy Point, N.Y., who lost 29 people during the terrorist attacks, donated three I-beams from the World Trade Center to the military through an organization called the Sons and Daughters of America.

One beam was donated to an infantry museum at Fort Benning, Ga., another is at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan and the third was donated to the crew aboard Nimitz. Mr. Brian Quinn, the father of former Nimitz crew member Ship's Serviceman 3rd Class Brian Quinn Jr., and a leader of the Sons and Daughters of America, was instrumental in donating the beam to Nimitz. All the remaining beams form a monument in Breezy Point that faces toward Manhattan in the city of New York.

Nimitz Commanding Officer Capt. Paul Monger presented the beam to the crew during the ceremony.

"Today, we gather around a symbol of sacrifice given with gratitude in appreciation for your steadfast devotion to duty," said Monger. "I'm especially proud of all I have seen in the lives of you, our Nimitz-barbwire team. With unswerving devotion, you have met every challenge and prevailed.

"I dedicate this symbol of sacrifice with appreciation to the steadfast devotion to duty of all United States service members, active and reserve, in the battle against terrorism," said Monger. "On behalf of the men and women of the USS Nimitz, I accept this gift with the utmost pride and honor.

"And [I] thank the town of Breezy Point for your unwavering support of our mission. Your gift has found a home aboard USS Nimitz," said Monger. "It will be displayed with pride, a symbol of sacrifice and perseverance in the fight for freedom from tyranny. May we never forget the dangers of the world we live in and always remember the sacrifice of our comrades."

After the ceremony, Culinary Specialist Seaman Garrett Davis appreciated the donation of the I-beam by the residents of Breezy Point.

"I think them donating [the I-beam] to the military, to the ship is unbelievable," said Davis.

Girrier believes that leaning forward and continuing the fight brings hope and faith to the world by defending democracy and basic human rights.

"We don't blink. We stand the line," said Girrier. "We take the fight forward and we exercise it continuously, while deployed, at our homeport exercising and training at this very moment perfecting our blue water operations while we maintain our systems and equipment keeping our ships and aircraft battle ready."

For more news from USS Nimitz (CVN 68), visit CVN-68.

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Special Forces: Untold Stories Navy SEALs in Panama

Visit Support The SEALs to learn how you can help defend 3 of our heroes who are fighting for their freedom against the word of a terrorist.

As part of an effort to show support for the 3 Navy SEALs being charged with roughing up a terrorist responsible for the murder and mutilation of Americans in Iraq, I will be posting on the history and training of America's elite military forces for the duration of their courts martial trial.

This is the first in the series, and is a re-telling of the US Navy SEALs experience during the removal of General Manuel Noriega from Panama in December 1989-January 1990. He was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the U.S. Noriega was tried on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering in April 1992.

More information on Operation Just Cause can be found at Global Security. And more information on the lessons learned from the Psychological Component of the operation can be found at Psywarrior.

This is a 5 video play list. Give it a moment or two between videos to load.

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The John Batchelor Show for 04-12-2009 Pirates of Somalia Special

It's Sunday night, and that means it's time for John Batchelor!

Here is his website.

The show starts at 7pm Eastern, and continues for six hours of the best radio you will find anywhere, as only John Batchelor can deliver it with his stable of experts...

And here is where you can listen to the show live online:

New York, WABC-AM 770 7-10PM ET;
Washington DC, WMAL-AM 630 7-9PM ET;
San Francisco, KSFO-AM 560;
Los Angeles,KFI-AM 640;

And here is where you can find the podcasts of the show: the first three hours, and the last three hours.

Schedule for Tonight: (all six hours are on the same link now)

The first two hours are below to whet your appetite:

Pirates of Somalia Special.     

705P Eastern Time:  Josh Fineman, Bloomberg, re a Federal job fair come to New York, looking for hires for FDIC, SEC, FBI to handle the work load with TARP and TALF; so far 400 are signed on for interviews, double the usual number, re Wall Street goes where the power is to DC.  With Simon Constable, Dow Jones.

720P:  Chuck Nash, USN (ret) re the US Navy vs the pirates, re the need for a littoral combat navy to add to the deep-water and the strike navies. 

735P:  Professional Roundtable with Mona Charen, NRO, Jodi Schneider, Congressional Quarterly,John Fund, re Obama and the Somalia pirates, re the Obama administration finds "glimmer of hope," re the Congressional prospects for the Obama budget without cap and trade.  Pirates Challenge Obama's Pre-9/11 Mentality  

750P: Continued re Obama off-budget request for Iraq and the Obama campaign promises.

805P: Siobhan Gorman, Wall Street Journal, re Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated   And is if on cue, yesterday much of the San Francisco peninsula (incl. a lot of Silicon Valley) was hit by a communications outage after "vandals" cut fiber optic lines in two different locations: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30139776/. No one knows who did it and authorities have been quick to say it wasn't connected to the stories that have followed the WSJ revelations...but it does show how vulnerable our infrastructure is to hacking -- whether it's as simple as a hack saw cutting cables or as sophisticated as China's infamous PLA cyber squads (units No. 2, 4 and 6).  With Simon Constable, Dow Jones.

 

820P: William Cunnningham, CreativeInvestment.com re the TARP related financial crisis and the pirates of the big banks who turned parasitic after 2002 and are now asked by Treasury to help the economy recover, re an exclusive conference call by FDIC re TARP to the 20 biggest players on April 9, 2009, that was not open to the public or to watchdogs.  Who was on the call?

835P:  Financial Roundtable:  John Tamny, RealClearMarkets.com, With Simon Constable, Dow Jones, Does Wells Fargo Mean Banks Are Back? - Donald Luskin, SmartMoney   Why Shouldn't Bailouts and Spending Make Us Angry? - Susan Lee, Forbes

850P:  Continued with Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance, Showdown Seen Between Banks & Regulators - Labaton & Andrews, NYT

905P: Malcolm Hoenlein, re Iran celebrates Nuclear Energy Day by announcing the Isfahan facility is open for production, Iran announced as many as seven thousand centrifuges, re the North Korean missile test and the UN, re Durban II prep.  Iran Says It Controls Nuclear Cycle

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The End of the Line for the USS Enterprise Approaches

There was a time when USS Enterprise was the most famous ship in the world. It still is, but these days, most people think of the fictional starship rather than the world’s first nuclear-powered carrier. The real USS Enterprise was commissioned in 1961, which means that its long career of service must soon draw to a close. In April 2008, a $453.3 million contract covered the ship’s Extended Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability for maintenance and upgrades.



Source: Defense Industry Daily
Related: Enterprise Website
Related: Another Enterprise Website
Related: Wikipedia Article (with a good history of the vessel)

The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) will be replace by the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) in 2014. You can find out more about the Ford at Naval-Technology and watch a video on the CVN-21 program.

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Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding Newport News Wins Bid To Build USS Gerald Ford (CVN 78)

"This is an exciting day for the CVN 78 Program Office and for the Navy," said Capt. Brian Antonio, CVN 78 program manager in the Program Executive Office for Aircraft Carriers.

"When USS Gerald R. Ford is delivered to the fleet in 2015, it will bring superior warfighting capability and meaningful quality-of-life improvements for Sailors, in addition to greatly reduced lifecycle costs. Most important, CVN 78-class carriers will be able to adapt and evolve to defend this nation and our allies well into the 21st century," he said.

CVN 78 is the Navy's first major investment in aircraft carrier design in more than three decades and features many improvements over the 1960's Nimitz-class design. CVN 78 includes a new flight deck with an improved weapons handling system, advanced arresting gear, a completely re-engineered electro-magnetic aircraft launch system, new and simplified nuclear propulsion plants, a new electrical power generation system and reconfigurable design architecture.

Source: Defence Talk

Related: Naval-Technology Files






The USS Gerald R. Ford will be delivered to the Navy in 2015, and the Navy plans to build 11 Ford-class carriers through 2058.

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U.S. 4th Fleet Officially Re-established

MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead officially re-established U.S. 4th Fleet and named Rear Adm. Joseph D. Kernan as its commander during a ceremony at Naval Station Mayport July 12.

The ceremony followed the U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (NAVSO) change of command, during which Kernan relieved Rear Adm. James W. Stevenson Jr.

Kernan, the dual-hatted NAVSO and 4th Fleet commander, is responsible for U.S. Navy ships, aircraft and submarines assigned from east and west coast fleets to operate in the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of focus, which encompasses the Caribbean, Central and South America and surrounding waters.

"Re-establishing the Fourth Fleet affirms our support for, and our desire to, enhance cooperative relationships with the navies and maritime services in the Caribbean and Central and South America. It recognizes the immense importance of maritime security in the region," said Roughead.

"Our maritime strategy raises the importance of forming global maritime partnerships by working with international partners as the basis for global maritime security. Re-establishing Fourth Fleet allows us to more effectively employ naval forces to build confidence and trust among nations through collective maritime security efforts that focus on mutual interests."

Fourth Fleet was first established in 1943 as one of the original numbered fleets. During World War II, the United States needed a command in charge of protecting against raiders, blockade runners and enemy submarines in the South Atlantic. Fourth Fleet fulfilled that mission until it was disestablished in 1950, and U.S. 2nd Fleet took over its responsibilities.

Source: U.S. Navy
Related: Community Participation
Related: Wikipedia
FAS: Numbered Fleets
BBC: Chavez Warns of Invasion

Commentary

My guess is that this fleet will be doing a lot a drug interdiction work, and will be keeping an eye on Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and incursions by Eastern Hemisphere Navies.

The fleet will be headquarters at the Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville, Florida.

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