Rear Adm. Christopher W. Grady relieved Rear Adm. Pete A. Gumataotao as commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic (SURFLANT) July 24 during a ceremony aboard USS Wisconsin (BB 64).

Gumataotao served as commander since August 2013, continuing to reshape the surface force footprint in the Atlantic. Well representing the Navy as "America's away team," SURFLANT has strategically placed tactically competent warfighters far from its headquarters here, from the afloat staging base and 10 coastal patrol boats in the U.S. 5th Fleet to the three ballistic missile destroyers forward deployed in Spain (soon to be four by fall of 2015) to the Aegis Ashore facility in Romania.

In addition, the command will stand up a squadron of littoral combat ships in Mayport this fall, with the first of eight platforms to be homeported there arriving next year.

"Clearly, this is not your father's SURFLANT," said Gumataotao, a native of Guam.

"We are all in with well-trained Sailors aboard technologically-advanced warships like USS Wasp, which has just recently, successfully completed operational tests and integration of the
Joint Strike Fighter. It's an exciting time, with the standup of our Surface and Mine Warfare Development Center (NSMWDC), where we are developing concepts of distributed lethality, producing warfare tactical instructors (WTI), and honing the warfighting skills of our surface warriors.

"It's a team effort, what our surface warriors bring to the fight with our offensive, lethal punch, to support the bigger effort with our aviators, submariners, joint and coalition warriors. It comes
down to being better warfighters, simple as that. The future is now, at SURFLANT, where the team is charging all ahead flank!

"As I hand the conn to Rear Adm. Chris Grady, I am 100 percent confident he will take our team to the next level, staying the course and making us a better 'SWOhana' and surface warrior."

With a fond farewell and sincere thanks to the surface force "ohana," who he said "inspired and amazed" him every day, Gumataotao is now headed to the Supreme Allied Command, Transformation, where he will be deputy chief of staff for Strategy, Plans and Policy.

Grady is a native of Newport, Rhode Island, and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame from which he was commissioned an ensign through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program.

His sea tours included USS Moosbrugger (DD 980) and USS Princeton (CG 59). He served as commanding officer of Mine Counter Measure Rotational Crew Echo on USS Chief (MCM 14) and USS Ardent (MCM 12), USS Cole (DDG 67), and Destroyer Squadron 22. Grady's flag assignments include director of the Maritime Operations Center (N2/3/5/7), commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Most recently, as commander, Carrier Strike Group 1, he just returned from a nearly 10-month combat deployment to the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf, in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.

"It is a fantastic time to be joining SURFLANT," said Grady. "I am honored to follow in the long line of my esteemed predecessors here and I look forward to the exciting challenge of living up to their legacy of service to our surface warriors."

Established in 1975 as a consolidation of the cruiser-destroyer, amphibious, and service forces of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, SURFLANT is one of the six United States Naval Type Commands. Its mission is to organize, man, train, equip, and maintain assigned surface forces and shore activities to generate required levels of current and future surface force readiness. In addition to roughly 70 ships, there are special mission and fleet support units across the Force and approximately 55,000 Sailors stationed both stateside and deployed across the Atlantic. Additionally, surface forces provide a critical element to drug interdiction operations in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.

The widely diversified and specialized Force is an important instrument of national policy in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea, and the Persian Gulf. "To go in harm's way" in defense of the principles of freedom and democracy has been the rally call of surface force Sailors for more than two hundred years.

For more news from Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, visit www.navy.mil/.