The secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer and the head of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense.
The several branches of the United States Armed Forces are represented by flags. Within the U.S. military, various flags fly on various occasions, and on various ships, bases, camps, and military academies.
In the United States Navy, officers have various ranks. Equivalency between services is by pay grade. United States Navy commissioned officer ranks have two distinct sets of rank insignia: On dress uniform a series of stripes similar to Commonwealth naval ranks are worn; on service khaki, working uniforms, and special uniform situations, the rank insignia are identical to the equivalent rank in the US Marine Corps.
The vice chief of naval operations (VCNO) is the second highest-ranking commissioned United States Navy officer in the Department of the Navy and functions as the principal deputy of the chief of naval operations. By statute, the vice chief is appointed as a four-star admiral.
The commandant of the Coast Guard is the service chief and highest-ranking member of the United States Coast Guard. The commandant is an admiral, appointed for a four-year term by the president of the United States upon confirmation by the United States Senate. The commandant is assisted by a vice commandant, who is also an admiral, and two area commanders and two deputy commandants, all of whom are vice admirals.
The United States Navy Chaplain Corps is the body of military chaplains of the United States Navy who are commissioned naval officers. Their principal purpose is "to promote the spiritual, religious, moral, and personal well-being of the members of the Department of the Navy," which includes the Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Additionally, the Chaplain Corps provides chaplains to the United States Coast Guard.
Commodore was an early title and later a rank in the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard and the Confederate States Navy, and also has been a rank in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps and its ancestor organizations. For over two centuries, the designation has been given varying levels of authority and formality.
United States Coast Guard officer rank insignia describes an officer's pay-grade. Rank is displayed on collar devices, shoulder boards, and on the sleeves of dress uniforms.
The structure of the United States Navy consists of four main bodies: the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, the operating forces, and the Shore Establishment.
A tombstone promotion is an advance in rank awarded at retirement. It is often an honorary promotion that does not include any corresponding increase in retired pay, whose only benefit is the right to be addressed by the higher rank and have it engraved on one's tombstone.
Margaret Grun Kibben is a U.S. Presbyterian minister who is the chaplain of the United States House of Representatives. She served as the 26th Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy from 2014 to 2018; she was formerly the 18th Chaplain of the United States Marine Corps (CHMC) and the Deputy Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy from 2010 to 2014. Kibben was the first woman to hold each of these positions.
The Chaplain of the United States Marine Corps (CHMC) is a position always filled by the officers serving as Deputy Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy as a "dual hatted" billet since 2000. The CHMC oversees religious ministry in the Marine Corps which one Commandant of the Marine Corps defined as "a vital function which enhances the personal, family, and community readiness of our Marines, sailors, and their families. Chaplaincy supports the foundational principle of free exercise of religion and helps to enrich the spiritual, moral and ethical fabric of the military."
The Armed Forces Chaplains Board (AFCB) is an organizational entity within the United States Department of Defense established to provide advice and recommendations to OSD officials on policies and issues related to the free exercise of religion and on all matters concerning religion, spiritual readiness, morality, ethics, morale, and military chaplains. It is made up of the three Chiefs of Chaplains and three active-duty Deputy Chiefs of Chaplains of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Neil MacGill Stevenson was a rear admiral and Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy.
Gregory N. Todd is a United States Navy rear admiral and chaplain who serves as the 28th Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy. He previously served as the 20th Chaplain of the Marine Corps. He also served for four years as the tenth Chaplain of the Coast Guard. Over a thirty-two year career, he has served in a variety of Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard assignments, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and chaplaincy work at Ground Zero in the wake of the September 11 attacks. He is a Lutheran.
Nathan A. Moore is a United States Coast Guard vice admiral and commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area. He previously served as deputy commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area and as commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District.
