Rear Adm. Greg Newkirk arrives at the Task Force 70 change-of-command ceremony aboard the USS Ronald Reagan at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, April 12, 2024. (U.S. Navy)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Command of the Navy’s only aircraft carrier strike group permanently stationed in a foreign country changed hands Friday during a ceremony at the homeport of the U.S. 7th Fleet.
Rear Adm. Pat Hannifin passed command of Task Force 70 and Carrier Strike Group 5 to Rear Adm. Greg Newkirk aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, Task Force 70 said in a Friday news release.
The dual-hatted command is responsible for 7th Fleet’s carrier strike group, now led by the Ronald Reagan, and authority over any independently deployed cruisers or destroyers active in its operations area, which spans more than 47.8 million square miles.
“Command at any level is one of life’s most distinct honors and most sacred privileges,” Newkirk said at the ceremony, according to the news release. “To command at any time and place of such great global consequence alongside great teams that include our friends here in Japan — the honor becomes even higher.”
The command encompasses subordinate units, including Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 51, Electronic Attack Squadron 138, Carrier Air Wing 5 and Destroyer Squadron 15, the Navy’s largest destroyer squadron.
Hannifin, of San Diego, took command of the task force in June. His next assignment is director of operations for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii.
He said he was “incredibly proud” of his team and that Task Force 70’s 11,000 sailors are the “nation’s front line,” according to the release.
“I am incredibly honored to have stood among them, and know Admiral Newkirk is exactly the man needed to lead them in the coming year,” he said.
Newkirk, of Medina, Ohio, previously served as deputy director of operations for the National Joint Operations Intelligence Center’s Operations Team Two, part of the Pentagon’s J3 Operations team that advises the White House, according to a March 1 news release from the Defense Department.
During Newkirk’s tenure as commander of Carrier Strike Group 5, the USS George Washington is scheduled replace the Ronald Reagan.
The George Washington, which the Ronald Reagan replaced as the lead ship of the strike group in 2015, is due to relocate from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., the Navy announced in April 2023.
The Ronald Reagan, in turn, will move to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for its own maintenance.
