THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9407210466
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
In the first of an unusual series of command changes that will culminate next month, Vice Adm. William J. Flanagan Jr. gives up command today of the 2nd Fleet for an interim job as commander of the Atlantic Fleet Surface Force.
Flanagan is on his way to commanding the entire Atlantic Fleet, based in Norfolk. But that move will have to wait until later this summer as the Navy juggles at least 14 flag officers approved by the Senate last week.
Flanagan, 51, was sent to the Caribbean last week aboard his flag ship, the Mount Whitney, to temporarily take control of operations off Haiti. More than a dozen U.S. warships have been stationed there in case an evacuation of Americans from the troubled Caribbean nation is ordered.
Newly promoted Vice Adm. Jay L. Johnson, who previously commanded Carrier Group 8 from the carrier Theodore Roosevelt, will take command of the 2nd Fleet today. He and Flanagan were to exchange salutes in a small ceremony at sea before Flanagan's return to Norfolk.
Meanwhile, Vice Adm. J. Paul Reason, who has commanded the Surface Force for three years, will leave Norfolk immediately to take a post at the Pentagon as deputy chief of naval operations for plans, policy and operations.
Reason will take his new post quickly because the admiral he relieves, Vice Adm. John S. Redd, is headed for the Persian Gulf to command the Middle East Force.
The current Middle East Force commander, Vice Adm. Douglas J. Katz, is heading for Norfolk to take Reason's post, temporarily being held by Flanagan.
Flanagan then will be step into his Atlantic Fleet post.
Usually there is more time between the promotion and reassignments of senior officers, including formal change of command ceremonies.
What has caused most of the changes this summer is the tardiness of the Senate in confirming several promotions.
Fourteen of those came through Friday, allowing several of the promotions and reassignments to take place.
The Senate must confirm all presidential nominations of senior military officers.
Flanagan had commanded the 2nd Fleet since June 1992. He is a 1964 graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and received his Navy commission in 1967. He has commanded the frigate Bronstein and was the first commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer Kidd.
In addition, he served in the Pentagon with the Bureau of Naval Personnel and in the Capitol as chief of legislative affairs. He is scheduled to take command of the Atlantic Fleet in late August when the current commander-in-chief, Adm. Henry H. Mauz Jr., retires. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Flanagan
Johnson
by CNB