Pacific Fleet gets
a new admiral

Adm. Gary Roughead takes over
command of Pearl Harbor

Adm. Gary Roughead took charge of the Pacific Fleet yesterday, overseeing the Navy's largest area of responsibility with 200 vessels, 1,400 aircraft and more than 190,000 sailors, Marines and civilian workers.

Roughead, 53, is the 30th Pacific Fleet boss and relieved Adm. Walter Doran, who retired after 38 years of service.

The colorful change-of-command ceremony was held on Ford Island with the gleaming Arizona Memorial as a backdrop and sailors of the Pacific Fleet "manning the rails" of the retired battleship USS Missouri nearby.

Watching from the stands were officers of all the military services in the islands, political leaders including Gov. Linda Lingle and U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, and military officers from Pacific Rim countries.

Doran, 59, said the Navy he joined in 1967 "bears little resemblance to the Navy I am leaving behind."

In those days the enemy was the Soviet Union, which has been replaced "with a new enemy, which bares no resemblance to the Soviet threat or any other threat we have faced in the past."

Since he was commissioned, Doran said the Pacific Fleet has been cut in half, but "the capabilities of those serving today have doubled."

Said Roughead, "We will be ready and we will win, and we will posture and position ourselves to develop the relationships in this important region for the challenges of tomorrow."

Adm. Vern Clark, who retires later this month as chief of naval operations, spoke about the challenges facing the world.

"The global war on terrorism is far from over, and as you can see today, it is being waged from the streets of London as well the cliffs of Afghanistan," he said.

Clark talked about the memorial service held in Virginia yesterday for SEALs killed last week during a rescue mission in the mountains of Afghanistan.

"On Monday there will be another in the Punchbowl," Clark added, referring to the memorial service that will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific for four Pearl Harbor SEALs killed in the same operation.

"We will grieve for the families of four SEAL Delivery Team One members from Pearl Harbor along with 15 other servicemen who (were) lost in a daring rescue attempt in the mountains of Afghanistan, as well as one SEAL who is still missing.

"The sacrifice and the uncommon valor of these heroes humble us. Their courage inspires us. Their commitment to each other and to America -- that all uplifts us."

Roughead, a 1973 graduate of the Naval Academy, came to the Pacific Command on Oct. 9 after serving as commander of the 2nd Fleet in the Atlantic, based in Norfolk, Va.

He has extensive experience in the Pacific and was the first surface warfare officer to command both an Aegis-class destroyer, USS Barry, and the Pearl Harbor-based Aegis-class cruiser USS Port Royal from 1996 to '97.

From 1993 to '94, Roughead was executive assistant to Pacific Forces commander Adm. Charles Larson. He has served as commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy from August 1997 to April 2000, headed Cruiser Destroyer Group Two while serving as the George Washington Carrier Battle Group leader and was the Navy's chief of legislative affairs.