OPNAV N7

Biden Nominates New Naval Submarine Force, 2nd Fleet Commanders

Rear Adm. Robert Gauche and Rear Adm. Douglas Perry

President Joe Biden has nominated new commanders to lead U.S. Submarine Forces and U.S. 2nd Fleet, the Pentagon announced last week.

Rear Adm. Robert Gaucher is up for a third star and to serve as the commander of Naval Submarine Forces. If confirmed, Gaucher would be tripled-hatted as the commander of Submarine Force, Atlantic and of the Allied Submarine Command based in Norfolk, Va.

A career submariner, Gaucher has been the director of...

https://news.usni.org/2023/05/08/biden-nominates-new-naval-submarine-force-2nd-fleet-commanders

New Warfighter Development Directorate (OPNAV N7) Meant to Align Learning Efforts With Strategy

U.S. Naval War College (NWC) students participate in a capstone wargame on May 5, 2017. Students were divided into two groups and assigned to specific nations within a blue and gold coalition. The game allows the students to put the theories of operational planning they have learned at NWC into practical use, focusing on the application of military power where the blue team plays against the gold team. This is the first year the game has migrated from a paper board game to a fully functional...

Navy Announces New VCNO, Other Top Assignments, in First Notification Since Policy Reversal

Top Row (left to right): Vice Adm. William Lescher, Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Rear Adm. Gene Black Bottom Row (left to right): Rear Adm. Kenneth Whitesell, Rear Adm. Yancy Lindsey, Rear Adm. John Mustin

The Navy announced several new assignments for its top officers, the first public announcement of its kind since December 2018, when the service stopped announcing senior flag moves in the name of cybersecurity.

Vice Adm. William Lescher has been nominated to serve as the next vice chief of naval...

https://news.usni.org/2020/05/06/navy-announces-new-vcno-other-top-assignments-in-first-notification-since-policy-reversal

Navy Quietly Stands Up Warfighting Development Directorate (OPNAV N7)

Vice Adm. Stuart Munsch

Vice Adm. Stuart Munsch was quietly put in charge of the Navy’s newly formed warfighting development directorate late last month, several Navy officials confirmed to USNI News.

The Navy is still working on the specifics of Munsch’s job as the head of the warfighting development directorate, dubbed OPNAV N7. However, Under Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly told reporters earlier this year the N7 was a new three-star admiral position that will be the “sole resource sponsor...

https://news.usni.org/2019/11/12/navy-quietly-stands-up-warfighting-development-directorate-opnav-n7

Navy Planning for Gray-Zone Conflict; Finalizing Distributed Maritime Operations for High-End Fight

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit 5, fast rope from an MH-60S Knight Hawk assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC) 12 in 2018. US Navy Photo

THE PENTAGON – The Navy has a good idea of how to fight a high-end war, but how to handle aggression short of conflict will take some more thought.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson released a new strategy document this week that notes a “conceptual challenge” on the lower end of the warfare spectrum. The strategy document is...

https://news.usni.org/2018/12/19/navy-planning-for-gray-zone-conflict-finalizing-distributed-maritime-operations-for-high-end-fight