Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle has ordered that the Navy’s amphibious warships be commanded by surface warfare officers instead of aviators, a shift that changes who gets the bridge on the ships that carry Marines into war zones. The memo, dated April 24 and shared on Reddit, was confirmed as authentic by the Navy.
The change applies to amphibious assault ships, transport docks and dock landing ships, a fleet that numbers 32 vessels, including nine big deck amphibious assault ships. Those large-deck ships carry Marines, MV-22B Ospreys, helicopters and F-35 fighters, making them some of the Navy’s most complex platforms and some of the most closely watched as the service tries to improve readiness.
Caudle tied the decision directly to that readiness push. In the memo, he wrote that commanding officers need “exquisite knowledge of readiness, maintenance procedures, component design and failure modes, damage control, and operational procedures,” and that they must remain in command long enough to make “real and effective changes.” He said that is generally considered to be at least two years.
The timing matters. On April 15, Navy Adm. James Kilby told lawmakers that only about 45% of amphibious ships were combat surge ready, compared with 63% of surface ships and 65% of submarines. The figures underscore why the Navy is moving to put officers with deep experience in ship operations and maintenance in charge of a fleet that has struggled more than other parts of the force to stay ready for rapid deployment.
Caudle said the new command policy is meant to “leverage their specialized expertise and knowledge of complex maintenance and amphibious operations that have been developed over a career,” and that it will allow commanding officers to stay in place longer to provide “more command stability, focused oversight and solution ownership” needed to drive measurable performance. A Navy official said the service’s amphibious fleet has faced challenges different from those of aircraft carriers and that the Navy will keep studying the best way to develop command-at-sea competency for aviators in the nuclear power pipeline.
The decision does not shut aviators out of command entirely. They are still authorized to command aircraft carriers if they are nuclear trained, as well as expeditionary sea bases, amphibious command ships and submarine tenders. Caudle also wrote that the Navy will examine whether aviators should continue to be required to command large vessels in a deep draft command tour in order to qualify for aircraft carrier command, a requirement that has historically pushed some aviators into amphibious ship commands.
Retired Navy Capt. Bradley Martin said that tradition has long helped meet that command requirement and that Caudle’s move may reflect a view that surface warfare officers better understand amphibious ship operations and maintenance than aviators. For now, the Navy is betting that putting the people who spend their careers on deck and in the engineering plant in charge of amphibious ships will do more than preserve a tradition: it may be the fastest way to make the fleet more ready to sail.