Question about the Norfolk Naval Base

July 31, 2019, 02:56 PM

So I had the opportunity to go on a tour of the Norfolk Navy Base, The largest Navy base in the world.
It was operated by a young enlisted woman who did a great job answering questions.
One question I had wasn't really answered so I thought I throw it our here because many of you were in the Navy and other military branches...

The base Commander is only a Captain and there are several Admirals on the base so why isn't the man in charge of the largest naval base in the world only a Captain? I would think that this would be a pretty prestigious posting short of being a Captain of a ship.

Thanks.

July 31, 2019, 03:14 PM

45 Cal

Admirals are in charge of fleets,captains are in charge of flag ships,commanders are in charge of smaller ships and on down the line to even enlisted being in charge of real small boats.
But whatever the rank they are referred as captain.

July 31, 2019, 03:24 PM

Beancooker

A quick google search shows it is the equivalent rank of a Colonel in the Army, AF, or Marines.

July 31, 2019, 03:37 PM

bald1

Admiral's families have to live somewhere. Base simply provides living quarters. And where needed a shore based office / office complex for the admiral's off base command. Norfolk base CO is a four striper and not an admiral.

July 31, 2019, 03:43 PM

tk13

Not sure about the Navy, but my experience in the Army was that base command was more of an administrative function often filled by a rank lower than the highest unit command rank on that base. One of the housing bases I lived on had a commander that was a Captain/O3 (not Naval Captain/O6)

July 31, 2019, 04:02 PM

corsair

Base commander, is more of a management position, handling and overseeing operations of the property: security, housing, mess hall, deliveries, construction, traffic, utilities, services... They also have to deal with the public (the communities that surround the base), dependents, waste disposal, contingencies, beatification projects etc...

Captains (O-6) and Commanders (O-5) being senior officers in the USN, are billeted to these positions. I wouldn't call it prestigious but, it is command, more desirable commands would be of ships, squadrons and specific units. Some bases, the principal unit tenant and the base commander are filled by the same person (dual hatted), this I think is more common amongst the other services. Admirals are in-charge of multiple commands, to include fleets, task forces, battle groups and various ashore commands.

The organizations and units that occupy the base are tenants, they may have higher ranking officers above the base commander, however they don't deal with issues of running the base.

July 31, 2019, 04:02 PM

NavyGuy

There's a lot of work that goes into managing a base as large as Norfolk. Higher ranking officers have broader responsibilities. The further you go down the line, the more day-to-day things come into play.

July 31, 2019, 04:39 PM

smlsig

Thanks guys.
I knew you guys wouldn’t let me down.

On another note there were two carriers in port and another question I had was how many flat tops are in the Atlantic Fleet?

July 31, 2019, 05:30 PM

CaptainMike

quote:
Originally posted by corsair:
Base commander, is more of a management position, handling and overseeing operations of the property: security, housing, mess hall, deliveries, construction, traffic, utilities, services... They also have to deal with the public (the communities that surround the base), dependents, waste disposal, contingencies, beatification projects etc...

Captains (O-6) and Commanders (O-5) being senior officers in the USN, are billeted to these positions. I wouldn't call it prestigious but, it is command, more desirable commands would be of ships, squadrons and specific units. Some bases, the principal unit tenant and the base commander are filled by the same person (dual hatted), this I think is more common amongst the other services. Admirals are in-charge of multiple commands, to include fleets, task forces, battle groups and various ashore commands.

The organizations and units that occupy the base are tenants, they may have higher ranking officers above the base commander, however they don't deal with issues of running the base.

This is exactly correct.

July 31, 2019, 06:19 PM

Redleg06

I might help to think of the base as a very large office building and the base commander as the building manager. The 'tennants' are the (various commands/units) commanded by higher ranked officers and could be likened to Fortune 500 companies renting space.

July 31, 2019, 06:24 PM

aileron

quote:
Originally posted by Redleg06:
I might help to think of the base as a very large office building and the base commander as the building manager. The 'tennants' are the (various commands/units) commanded by higher ranked officers and could be likened to Fortune 500 companies renting space.

This explanation really helped me "get it"; thank you.

July 31, 2019, 07:25 PM

corsair

quote:
Originally posted by smlsig:
On another note there were two carriers in port and another question I had was how many flat tops are in the Atlantic Fleet?

Carriers being national assets can deploy to a variety of fleets during a deployment. In general, I believe there are 5 based on the East Coast and 6 based on the West Coast to include forward deployed in Japan.

Click here
and, here

July 31, 2019, 07:50 PM

Scuba Steve Sig

Was the Captain "Maverick" by chance? Even though his family name ain't the best in the Navy, he's their only Ace in the past 40 years. I guess Norfolk beats flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong.