Naval Surface Forces chief steps aside

By John Liang / January 18, 2018 at 4:56 PM

On the same day that senior Navy leaders testified on Capitol Hill regarding recent warship collisions that left sailors dead, the embattled head of Naval Surface Forces stepped down from his post.

According to a tweet from Naval Surface Forces public affairs: "As of 12:15 today, Jan. 18, 2018, VADM Tom Rowden turned over duties as commander, SURFOR to VADM Richard Brown. All future tweets will be from VADM Brown."

Earlier today, Rowden sent out his final tweet as Surface Forces chief: "It's been an honor & privilege to command Naval Surface Forces and Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet for the past three and a half years. I am proud of all of you and all you do to keep our nation free."

Rowden had announced his intent to step aside earlier than planned in a statement released Tuesday.

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson this afternoon are testifying at a joint hearing of the House Armed services readiness and seapower and projection forces subcommittees on ways to prevent future mishaps.

"While I agree with the Navy that officers should be held accountable, I am equally convinced that we need to reform the system that drove these officers to avoid additional incidents and to reduce future 'normalization of deviation' instances," seapower and projection forces subcommittee Chairman Rob Wittman (R-VA) said in his opening statement. "I think the Navy has taken a good first step at addressing these systemic areas but there are a multitude of other issues that need to be reviewed to include: organization reform, manning deficiencies, material readiness, and serious training reform."

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