Capt. Justin Harts, outgoing commander of Destroyer Squadron 15, addresses the change-of-command audience aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on April 4, 2025. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A contingent of international military officers joined U.S. sailors Friday as command of the Navy’s largest destroyer squadron passed to its deputy commodore.
Capt. David Huljack relieved Capt. Justin Harts as commander of Destroyer Squadron 15 and Task Force 71 during a ceremony on the flight deck of the guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn.
As the new task force commodore, Huljack is expected to coordinate approximately 3,000 sailors and 10 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers that are the primary battle force in the Indo-Pacific for the U.S. 7th Fleet.
The squadron also deploys as escorts alongside the fleet’s aircraft carrier, now the USS George Washington, and its strike group.
“You are the epitome of the quiet professionals,” Harts told sailors during the ceremony. “There’s no time for dancing with lampshades on your head when you need to go to work. This work has to get done, and you do it.”
Among the attendees were military representatives from Australia, Canada, Japan, Italy and New Zealand – a point of pride for Harts.
When he first assumed command of the squadron the “informal coalition of partners” primarily consisted of Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, Harts said.
Capt. Dave Huljack, incoming commander of Destroyer Squadron 15, speaks during the change-of-command ceremony aboard the USS John Finn at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on April 4, 2025. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
Capt. Justin Harts departs the USS John Fin following a change-of-command ceremony at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on April 4, 2025. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
Now, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries allied with or friendly to the U.S. are operating in the region, he told Stars and Stripes after the ceremony.
“All of these countries are coming here because they recognize that the Indo-Pacific is the most consequential [area of responsibility] in the world,” he said.
The list of countries gets even longer when coast guard elements are added, he said.
“The demand is insatiable, because all of these countries want to ensure the stability and continuation of the liberal international order,” he said. “It’s so important.”
Under Harts, the squadron completed 31 freedom-of-navigation operations and 33 transits of the Taiwan Strait, high-visibility events often criticized by China.
The Navy routinely sends warships through the 110-mile-wide strait that separates Taiwan from mainland China, usually to move between the South China and East China seas.
The service also often sends warships past the Spratly and Paracel islands, two archipelagos in the South China Sea claimed by surrounding nations, and, in some places, occupied by China. The Navy’s stated goal for such missions is to ensure the right to innocent passage.
Harts will go on to the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I., to teach either international relations or strategy and policy, he told Stars and Stripes.
Huljack, of Stockton, N.J., most recently served as deputy commodore but has served aboard numerous surface warships and commanded the guided-missile destroyer USS Barry while it was homeported at Yokosuka.
“Commodore Harts established a fantastic legacy and has a great track record for building allies and partners,” Huljack told Stars and Stripes after the ceremony. “I hope that I can pick up where he left off and keep moving that direction.”
Huljack previously held posts at the Naval Academy and Surface Warfare Officer School, and served as chief of staff for the Strategy, Plans and Policy Directorate for the Joint Staff.
He graduated with a bachelor’s in history from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master’s in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.
