Is VCNO like an XO but with stars?
July 24th, 2009 | Navy Officers Washington | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Adm. John Harvey Jr. (right) takes command of U.S. Fleet Forces from Adm. Jonathan Greenert (left), with CNO Adm. Gary Roughead on hand.//U.S. Navy
Today, Adm. Jonathan Greenert turned over command of U.S. Fleet Forces to Adm. John Harvey Jr. aboard the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman on the Norfolk waterfront. Harvey comes from the Pentagon where he ran the Navy staff and Greenert goes to the Pentagon to become the Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
Fleet Forces is the mother of all type commands. Headquartered in an old hospital on its own compound in Norfolk it has the mission to “man, train and equip” the fleet. There’s little that doesn’t pass through CFFC.
But what does a Vice CNO do? Is it like being the CNO’s executive officer? His bureaucratic hit man? According to its section in U.S. Code, Title 10, Chapter 505, the No.2 takes on duties assigned by CNO and steps in during an absence of the CNO. They traditionally keep a low profile. A flow chart of the OpNav staff here at Deck headquarters shows a horizontal line running from his box to the JAG, Chief of Information, Inspector General, Office of Legislative Affairs, Naval Safety Center, NCIS and INSURV. Of course there’s also a vertical line running down to a dizzying maze of directors, heads, deputies and advisors.
Two recent CNOs, Adms. Mike Mullen and Jay Johnson had been Vice CNOs.