Photo By Chief Petty Officer Joshua Karsten | 230512-N-GR655-0168 GROTON, Conn. (May 12, 2023) – Capt. Andrew Miller, left, shakes...... read more read more
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Groton, Connecticut – The Undersea Warfighting Development Center (UWDC) held a change of command ceremony Friday, May 12, aboard the Historic Ship Nautilus at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut, marking a change of the top-ranking Navy officer in what’s known as the Submarine Capital of the World.
Rear Adm. Martin Muckian turned command of UWDC over to Capt. Andrew Miller, who has been selected for promotion to the rank of rear admiral.
Rear Adm. Jeffrey Jablon – commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (SUBPAC) – served as the guest speaker and presiding officer at the event. Muckian previously served as the chief of staff under Jablon at SUBPAC.
“Under Marty’s leadership over the past fourteen months, the UWDC team has excelled at improving our collective understanding of today’s strategic environment, integrating new technologies, and developing and delivering tactics which will maintain our competitive advantage,” said Jablon. “UWDC has been, and will remain, a critical part to our success as a Submarine Force.”
UWDC is tasked with enhancing undersea warfighting capabilities and readiness across the theater, operational and tactical levels of war. The nearly eight-year-old Groton-based center, with detachments in sites including Norfolk and San Diego, develops doctrine for how multi-domain undersea warfare platforms integrate with each other, including the incorporation of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Muckian called UWDC “a dream assignment” as the “intellectual center of the Submarine Force,” and credited his team around the world for their exceptional work developing submarine tactics and technology.
“We’re entering dangerous times and our adversaries are getting bolder,” he said. “There’s tremendous pressure on the Submarine Force to meet that challenge.”
Under Muckian, UWDC rapidly developed a significant torpedo upgrade and pivoted the center’s focus on near-term undersea warfighting threats. UWDC is home to the Navy’s submarine Aggressor Squadron (AGGRON), popularly referred to as the Navy’s “Top Gun for Submariners,” referring to the fighter pilot training program made famous in a 1986 Hollywood blockbuster.
Muckian, a native of Elmhurst, Illinois, was awarded his fourth Legion of Merit Award for his exceptionally meritorious performance in command of the center.
Following his tour as commander of UWDC, Muckian will go on to assume command of Submarine Group 2 in Norfolk, Virginia.
Miller thanked Muckian for “the sage counsel and wisdom you’ve provided me,” crediting UWDC with “incredible contributions to the Submarine Force and the Navy.”
“UWDC is part of an incredible Submarine Force legacy” of resourcefulness and innovation, Miller said, recalling the World War II innovations of Eugene “Lucky” Fluckey, then-commander of the submarine USS Barb (SS-220), who took his submarine into shallow waters to reach key targets and sent submariners ashore in a raft to blow up a train with demolition charges.
Miller, a native of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, arrives at UWDC after serving as the chief of staff, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. He previously served as commander of Submarine Squadron 4 in Groton, as well as commanding officer of the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Charlotte (SSN 766), currently homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The UWDC mission is to lead undersea superiority, enabling decisive effects from or in the undersea domain when and where the operational commander directs.
Nautilus, the location of Friday’s ceremony, was the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine when it was commissioned in 1954. It was decommissioned in 1980 and was opened to the public as a museum ship in Groton in 1986.
| Date Taken: | 05.12.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.12.2023 13:40 |
| Story ID: | 444645 |
| Location: | GROTON, CT, US |
| Web Views: | 592 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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