
DATE: Saturday, June 7, 1997                TAG: 9706070346

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   20 lines

FLEET COMMANDER RETIRES

ILLUSTRATION: Photos by BILL TIERNAN photos/The Virginian-Pilot

Vice Adm. Douglas J. Katz, above left, stepped down Friday as

commander of the Navy's Atlantic Fleet surface force of 132 ships

and 52,000 people. He is shown leaving the guided-missile destroyer

Laboon after a change-of-command ceremony at the Norfolk Naval Base.

Katz, 55, is scheduled to be succeeded by Rear Adm. Henry C. Giffin

III, 51, above right, deputy and chief of staff of the Atlantic

Fleet. Below, Sharon Katz sends a kiss to her retiring husband while

their son, Robert, a lieutenant on the Laboon, looks on. Katz is a

32-year Navy veteran who was recruited to play football at the Naval

Academy. KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY RETIREMENT U.S. NAVY ATLANTIC FLEET

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