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Roughead takes over Fleet Forces Command

NORFOLK NAVAL STATION, Va.—Invoking Willie Nelson for his ride into the sunset, Adm. John “Black” Nathman departed command of Fleet Forces and the Navy, handing the reins to Adm. Gary Roughead in a ceremony Thursday morning aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise.

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In remarks before being piped off one last time, Nathman admitting a new affection for country music, especially Willie Nelson and the song “Pancho & Lefty.” Nathman told the sad tale of the two bandits and compares their hard-riding and gun-toting bravado to the Navy.

“These carriers, our submarines and our ships are our horses and we ride them hard every day and they’re ‘faster than polished steel’,” he said, to laughter in the crowd. “There are some bad guys out there who need to understand the U.S. Navy is the gun that this nation wears on its pants.”

Nathman ends a 37-year Navy career that began in 1970 with his graduation from the Naval Academy and lead him through successively higher echelons of command. Earlier in his career he led his fighter squadron on the 1986 air attack on Libya and he oversaw advanced tactical training to the Navy’s best pilots at the Top Gun school.

Asked afterward about his retirement plans, Nathman said he’s wide open, but he might want to be a racecar driver.

Roughead, coming to Norfolk after leaving command of the Pacific Fleet just a week ago, gladly picked up the reins of the Navy’s mission to man, train and equip the force.

In his own remarks, he said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen — guest speaker at the event — told him to “accelerate readiness” of the fleet.

Roughead, a surface warfare officer who has been in the Navy for 34 years, says he plans to make it happen. “To the men and women of fleet forces, to the commanders of fleet forces, strap in,” he said in his remarks, “because we’re going on a heck of a ride.”

In remarks to reporters afterward, Roughead said he keeps the pace high and only slows down when he must.

“I don’t like sitting around,” he said. “My folks tell me I keep a pretty hectic schedule and the thing I regret is from time to time I have to sleep. But we’re going to have a good time.”

The ceremony was to be held on the Enterprise’s flight deck, but a rainy day on the waterfront pushed the event into the hangar deck. In addition to friends, family and local leaders, naval officers from the area and elsewhere attended, including Adm. Timothy Keating, the new head of Pacific Command; Vice Adm. James Zortman, commander of naval air forces; Vice Adm. Jay Donnelly, commander of the submarine force; and Vice Adm. Marty Chanik, 2nd Fleet commander.

Later in the day, the Enterprise crew went through the change of command drill again as their skipper, Capt. Larry Rice, was relieved by Capt. Ronald Horton.

Related Roughead reading

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