At a change of command ceremony for Allied Joint Forces Command Naples, Adm. Robert P. Burke, standing, hands over authority to Adm. Stuart B. Munsch at JFC Naples, Italy, June 27, 2022. (Scott McAdam/Allied Joint Force Command Naples)

NAPLES, Italy — Adm. Stuart B. Munsch took over this week as leader of the Navy’s forces in Europe and Africa, the service said.

Munsch relieved Adm. Robert P. Burke as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa during a ceremony Monday at Joint Forces Command Naples in Italy, according to a Navy statement. Munsch, a South Dakota native whose last role was director for Joint Force Development, J7, in Washington, D.C., also will lead Allied Joint Forces Command in Naples, the Navy said.

Munsch is a 1985 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Oxford University in England as a Rhodes scholar.

He subsequently served on the Benjamin Franklin-class ballistic submarine USS Will Rogers and aboard the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Jefferson City, among his earlier roles, according to his Navy biography.

He has served in many leadership roles, including as the military assistant to the deputy defense secretary and as executive assistant to the director of submarine warfare for the chief of naval operations.

Burke assumed command of NAVEUR-NAVAF and JFC Naples in July 2020. The Navy did not announce Burke’s next role.