Regional Support Group, Groton (RSG) held a change of command ceremony on Friday, April 6, at 1 p.m.

RSG Commodore, Capt. Gerhard Somlai transferred command to Capt. William Solomon at the Naval Submarine Support Facility Weapons Compound aboard Naval Submarine Base, New London.

Guest speaker, Vice Adm. Joseph Tofalo, Commander, Submarine Forces said the, "fantastic team here in New London is all about generating readiness..." by preparing, on average, one submarine a month for deployment.

"Without this fantastic submarine maintenance team underpinning the New London waterfront, none of those submarines would have sailed," said Tofalo.

As RSG, Groton's commodore, Somlai leads approximately 1,000 servicemembers, government civilians and contractors who work in 26 buildings on the base as part of the Regional Support Group staff, Naval Submarine Support Facility, Nuclear Regional Maintenance Department, Performance Monitoring Team, Submarine Technical Support Center and the floating dry dock.

During Somlai's tenure RSG Groton supported 25 submarine deployments, 13 Submarine Command Courses, nine homeport changes, countless operations in the Narragansett Bay, which required the planning and oversight of over 300 routine maintenance availabilities and support to 17 major shipyard availabilities. In addition to support within the local area Somlai and RSG supported 35 fly-away teams and deployed ships. He and his team also identified low-cost inventive solutions to long-term maintenance issues resulting in more than $20 million of cost avoidance for the American taxpayer, while still providing superior service to the waterfront units.

Somlai used most of his speech to praise the RSG team. "You the maintenance team accomplish so much, and you are truly a can-do organization. You rose to every challenge and, time and again, made the impossible routine," said Somlai. "Your willingness and hunger to go the extra mile didn't make it into any of the papers. You quietly celebrate when one of our submarines deploys on time and took pride when they returned after a job was well done. Your hard work was instrumental in every success of every deployment. You are tenacious in the pursuit of submarine readiness for our nation's defense. Thank you for all of your hard work."

As RSG's new commodore, Solomon plans to maintain the command's mission of readiness through teamwork.

"I'm honored today to be the leader of the most effective submarine maintenance team in the Navy. Through our support of the submarine warfighters, we ensure our Navy's most capable, and most complex, ships are ready when called upon to protect our nation," said Solomon. "The team effort of Regional Support Group, Naval Submarine Support Facility, Nuclear Regional Maintenance Department, Submarine Technical Support Center and the Performance Monitoring Team has established a reputation of supporting the Groton-area, submarine commanding officers by rigorously repairing the submarines and maximizing underway training time for the crews. It is our mission to continue this challenging endeavor -while sustaining technical excellence. I know that maintenance team New London will continue to execute and improve in this task."

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