NAVSEA Commander to Retire Next Week

By JOC David Nagle, Naval Sea Systems Command Public Affairs Vice Adm. Pete Nanos, who led Naval Sea Systems Command through a corporate renaissance over the past four years, will retire from the Navy on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at the Washington Navy Yard after 35 years of service. Nanos, a native of Bedford, N.H., has commanded NAVSEA, the Navy's largest acquisition organization since May 1998. In addition, he is also the Navy's senior engineering duty officer. Nanos successfully led NAVSEA through a brilliant transformation of its business practices in executing complex acquisition and Fleet maintenance and modernization responsibilities. He expertly managed the resizing, recapitalizing, and realignment of the personnel and technical resources devoted to designing, building, repairing, and modernizing ships and their weapons systems. He instituted far-reaching quality initiatives that forged a highly focused, reenergized workforce, transforming NAVSEA into a unified corporation that provides world-class technical, acquisition, and life-cycle support leadership to the Navy. A 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Nanos' career includes sea duty aboard USS Glennon (DD 840), USS Forrest Sherman (DD 931), Destroyer Squadron Ten, and USS America (CV 66) as Chief Engineer. Ashore, he was the manager for Technical Development in the Navy's High Energy Laser Program Office, Deputy Director, Warfare Systems Engineering in the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, and Director, Strategic Systems Programs, responsible for all aspects of the Navy's Fleet Ballistic Missile Weapon Systems. In addition to a wide range of service education, he also earned a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. Upon retirement, Nanos plans to accept a position at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, as principal deputy to the associate director for threat reduction. Rear Adm. Phillip Balisle has been nominated to succeed Nanos as NAVSEA's commander, pending Senate confirmation. He is currently Director of Surface Warfare on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations.