Navy Chaplain Corps Holds Change of Office Ceremony

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps held a change of office ceremony Aug. 27 at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

Rear Adm. Mark L. Tidd became the 25th chief of Navy chaplains when he relieved Rear Adm. Robert F. Burt at the ceremony.

Keynote speaker for the event was the Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead.

Burt, who was officially retired during the ceremony, served as chief of chaplains since June 2006.

Prior to the start of the change of office ceremony, Tidd was promoted to the rank of rear admiral (upper half). Tidd's previous position of chaplain of the Marine Corps and deputy chief of Navy chaplains was handed over to recently promoted Rear Adm. Margaret G. Kibben, who is 18th in that line of succession.

Burt began his Navy service as an enlisted communications technician in 1970.

In a farewell letter to the Chaplain Corps Burt remarked that, "Naval chaplaincy is the most fascinating, unique and diverse ministry in the world. I feel so blessed to have been a part of your legacy."

Burt graduated from Naval Chaplains School, then in Newport, R.I., in 1981. He has served aboard three Navy ships as a chaplain, performed duties as a U.S. Marine regimental chaplain and completed six overseas deployments before being assigned to Washington in 2003.

For more news from the Chaplain Corps, visit www.navy.mil/local/crb/.