Rear Adm. Howard Markle, currently NAVSEA’s Deputy Commander for Industrial Operations Directorate, will turn over to Rear Adm. Scott Brown, who is the Director, Fleet Maintenance, U.S. Pacific Fleet.    

Additionally, NAVSEA 04’s mission will be refined to focus on supporting the Navy’s four naval shipyards, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bangor, Washington, and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Facility in Hawaii.

“Our shipyards are undergoing unprecedented, foundational, and long-overdue changes and upgrades that will allow them to deliver combat-ready submarines and aircraft carriers from their maintenance periods on time, every time,” said Galinis.

In addition to overseeing and supporting the four naval shipyards, NAVSEA 04 also directs the Navy’s Supervisor of Shipbuilding (SUPSHIPS), environmental, safety, and radiological affairs support programs. “The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act requires NAVSEA to break out the SUPSHIPS into a separate directorate,” Galinis shared. “What we’re doing is, first, ensuring our shipyards have a flag officer completely dedicated to supporting their requirements and, second, taking the first steps toward meeting the NDAA’s mandate related to the SUPSHIPS.”

NAVSEA is still finalizing the reorganization and expects to complete the movements by early this spring.   “Nothing is locked in stone yet, but the time was right with the change of leadership to take these actions that will better posture us for long-term success.” 

“NAVSEA’s highest priority is delivering combat power to the fleet,” said Galinis. “We’re going to build upon and accelerate the efforts started under Howard and set Scott up to be able to be fully focused and engaged on ensuring our shipyard workers have what they need to succeed and eliminate the barriers that prevent them from operating at an optimal level.”

NAVSEA is the Navy’s largest systems command and consists of more than 83,000 military and civilian personnel located across the globe who are dedicated to designing, building, delivering, and maintaining the Navy’s warships and combat systems. The more than 26,000 civilian and military personnel stationed at the four naval shipyards execute major maintenance and modernization availabilities on the Navy’s submarines, aircraft carriers, and also support surface ship maintenance.