DATE: Tuesday, May 6, 1997                  TAG: 9705060240

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   36 lines

HENRY GIFFIN III CHOSEN FOR POST OF VICE ADMIRAL

Rear Adm. Henry C. Giffin III, a former destroyer and cruiser skipper who serves in the No. 2 post in the Navy's Atlantic Fleet, has been nominated for promotion to the three-star rank of vice admiral and reassignment as commander of Naval Surface Forces Atlantic.

Giffin, 51, is to succeed Vice Adm. Douglas J. Katz, 55, who has held the Norfolk-based command for three years.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced Giffin's nomination by President Clinton Monday. The promotion awaits confirmation by the Senate.

Surface Forces Atlantic is composed of about 130 ships and 40,000 personnel, and includes just about every kind of vessel except submarines and aircraft carriers. Its ships and sailors are based in the United States from Bath, Maine, to Key West, Fla., and overseas from the Norwegian Sea to the Persian Gulf. The command also provides various units for drug interdiction in the western Atlantic and Caribbean Sea.

Giffin is a native of Bronxville, N.Y., and a 1967 graduate of the Naval Academy.

He has commanded the ocean minesweeper Dominant, destroyer Briscoe and guided missile cruiser Thomas S. Gates.

Ashore, Giffin commanded Cruiser/Destroyer Group Two. He also commanded the carrier George Washington Battle Group. He assumed his current position as the Atlantic Fleet's deputy and chief of staff in Norfolk in September.

Katz plans to retire after a change-of-command ceremony scheduled for June 6. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Rear Adm. Henry C. Giffin III is to succeed Vice Adm. Douglas J.

Katz. The promotion awaits confirmation by the Senate.

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