The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFFC) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) under the authority of the Secretary of Defense. Originally formed as United States Atlantic Fleet (USLANTFLT) in 1906, it has been an integral part of the defense of the United States of America since the early 20th century. In 2002, the Fleet comprised over 118,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel serving on 186 ships and in 1,300 aircraft, with an area of responsibility ranging over most of the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to the South Pole, the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Central and South America.
The Naval History and Heritage Command, formerly the Naval Historical Center, is an Echelon II command responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage located at the historic Washington Navy Yard. The NHHC is composed of 42 facilities in 13 geographic locations including the Navy Department Library, 10 museums and 1 heritage center, USS Constitution repair facility and detachment, and historic ship ex-USS Nautilus.
John Lorimer Worden was a U.S. Navy officer in the American Civil War, who took part in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first-ever engagement between ironclad steamships at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 9 March 1862.
Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. was a United States Navy officer. He was the first African American in the U.S. Navy to serve aboard a fighting ship as an officer, the first to command a Navy ship, the first fleet commander, and the first to become a flag officer, retiring as a vice admiral.
Ronald A. Route is a retired Vice Admiral and former Naval Inspector General of the United States Navy and a former President of the Naval War College. On July 16, 2013, Vice Admiral Route was named President of the Naval Postgraduate School.
Rear Admiral George Henry Wadleigh served in the United States Navy during the American Civil War and the Spanish–American War.
John Dickson "Boomer" Stufflebeem is a former United States Navy vice admiral who last served in that rank as the director of Navy Staff. Stufflebeem served 39 years in the Navy and is well known for his football career and television briefings from the Pentagon following the attacks of 9/11 and subsequent military operations in Afghanistan. He is the Senior Vice President and founder of the NJS Group, LLC, a company specializing in strategic communications and planning as well as crisis management.
Richard Chester Macke was a naval aviator and a former rear admiral in the United States Navy. He last served as Commander of United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) from July 19, 1994, until January 31, 1996. After his navy career, Macke served as a vice president of Wheat International Communications Corporation.
Charles Johnston Badger was an rear admiral in the United States Navy. His active-duty career included service in the Spanish–American War and World War I.
Public affairs is a term for the formal offices of the branches of the United States Department of Defense whose purpose is to deal with the media and community issues. The term is also used for numerous media relations offices that are created by the U.S. military for more specific limited purposes. Public affairs offices are staffed by a combination of officers, enlisted personnel, civilian officials and contract professionals.
Kurt Walter Tidd is a retired United States Navy admiral. He last served as the Commander, United States Southern Command. Prior to that assignment, Tidd served as Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He also served as the Director for Operations, Joint Staff (J-3) from 2012 to 2013, and as Commander, United States Naval Forces Southern Command and United States Fourth Fleet from August 5, 2011, to June 22, 2012. Confirmed by the Senate on December 16, 2015, Tidd received his fourth star and succeeded John F. Kelly as commander of United States Southern Command on January 14, 2016. Tidd held the title of "Old salt", which means he received his qualification for Surface Warfare before any other active-duty navy officer. He passed said title to Admiral Philip S. Davidson upon his retirement. Upon the May 30, 2018, retirement of his United States Naval Academy classmate, Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr., Tidd also gained the honorific of "Old Goat" – the longest-serving Naval Academy graduate on active duty. Harris presented Tidd with the Old Goat decanter in a ceremony on April 11, 2018.
Joseph F. Bouchard is a former United States Navy captain who retired in 2003 after 27 years on active duty. He commanded the destroyer USS Oldendorf and Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base.
Nora Wingfield Tyson is a retired United States Navy vice admiral. In 2015, she was installed as commander of the Third Fleet, making her the first woman to lead a United States Navy ship fleet. She retired from service in 2017. Tyson previously served as the commander of Carrier Strike Group Two, from July 29, 2010 to January 12, 2012; she was the first female commander of a United States Navy Carrier Strike Group. She then served as Vice Director of the Joint Staff beginning in February 2012. In July 2013 she was promoted to vice admiral and named as Deputy Commander, United States Fleet Forces Command.
Rear Admiral Spencer Shepard Wood was a United States Navy officer. His career included service in the Spanish–American War and World War I, command of battleships and cruisers, and duty as an aide to a number of senior naval leaders.
Admiral Terry L. "T" McCreary is a retired one-star admiral in the United States Navy and served as the Chief of Naval Information (CHINFO) reporting to the Secretary of the Navy, overseeing the Navy's global public affairs program. Before that, McCreary served as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His naval career included leadership positions in a variety of naval and joint assignments. McCreary retired from the Navy in 2006 after 27 years of service, then served as the Strategic Communication Director of the U.S. Special Operations Command and the National Counterterrorism Center.
John F. Kirby is a retired United States Navy rear admiral who served as White House National Security Communications Advisor from 2022 to 2025. He previously served in the Biden administration as Pentagon Press Secretary and Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs from 2021 to 2022. He worked as a military and diplomatic analyst for CNN from 2017 to 2021. He served in the Obama administration as Pentagon Press Secretary from 2013 to 2015 and as the spokesperson for the United States Department of State and Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs from 2015 to 2017.
Gregory Joseph Slavonic is an American government official and retired U.S. Navy officer. He has served as Acting Under Secretary of the Navy from April 24, 2020 to January 20, 2021. He also served as the U.S. Senate-confirmed 18th United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs from June 11, 2018 to January 20, 2021. Secretary Slavonic retired as a one-star rear admiral serving 34 years in the United States Navy and the Navy Reserve.
Anthony John "Tony" Watson is a retired 31-year Navy veteran and a graduate of the Naval Academy (1970). He is one of the "Centennial Seven" African-American sailors who served as commanding officers of United States submarines in the 20th century. He was the first black submariner to be promoted to rear admiral. He served on five different submarines and became the second African-American naval officer to command a nuclear submarine in December 1987. He was raised in the public housing community of Cabrini-Green on the near north side of Chicago, where he graduated from Lane Technical High School in 1966.
Frank Dixon Whitworth III is an active duty United States Navy vice admiral and career intelligence officer who serves as the eighth director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency since 3 June 2022. He most recently served as the Director for Intelligence of the Joint Staff.
Rear Admiral Kevin P. Byrne is an active duty United States Navy officer and career surface warfare officer who has been serving as Commander, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) since April 20, 2020.
