U.S. Navy Creates New Deputy Chief Role to Tackle Aging Shore Infrastructure

Military Sentinel, Washington – The U.S. Navy has established a new three-star billet—the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Navy Sustainment to address deteriorating shore infrastructure and consolidate logistical oversight across its global installation footprint.

The newly formed OPNAV office will oversee and harmonize supply chains, installation resilience, and maintenance capabilities that support deployed fleet assets. Vice Adm. Scott Gray, outgoing commander of Navy Installations Command (CNIC), has been tapped to head the Pentagon-based directorate, passing command of CNIC to Vice Adm. Brad Collins during a change-of-command ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard.

Elevating the Shore Enterprise

For decades, the sea service has grappled with mounting maintenance deficits at dry docks, piers, utility grids, and housing facilities. While high-profile construction efforts like the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) target public shipyards, broader base infrastructure has frequently operated as a bill-payer for afloat readiness and new construction.

The establishment of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Navy Sustainment elevates shore management to the highest levels of the Chief of Naval Operations’ staff. The office aims to break down bureaucratic stovepipes between operational requirements and installation sustainment.

“In this new capacity, our work together will continue unifying our logistics, infrastructure, and base operating capabilities so that we can better support the fleet, empower the industrial base, and build on the momentum we have created across the Shore Enterprise,” Gray stated regarding the transition.

Enterprise Reorganization at a Glance

The establishment of the sustainment directorate follows structural shifts across the Navy’s shore apparatus:

• Direct Base Authority: The Navy recently finalized the transfer of public works maintenance teams from Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) directly to CNIC, assigning approximately 10,000 personnel under the authority of base commanding officers.

• Global Footprint: CNIC maintains responsibility for 10 regions, 71 bases worldwide, and roughly 63,000 personnel.

• Consolidated Billets: More than 10,700 billets have been restructured across the shore enterprise over the past three years to establish CNIC’s footprint as a designated Shore Type Commander.

Strategic and Operational Implications

The service faces severe readiness trade-offs if pierside support fails to keep pace with forward power projection. In the Indo-Pacific and European theaters, resilient shore facilities are vital to sustaining distributed maritime operations. Without hardened utilities, updated ordnance handling piers, and functional dry docks, fleet turnaround times lengthen significantly.

Vice Adm. Brad Collins, incoming head of CNIC, noted during the ceremony that the command will prioritize eliminating friction points: “That means staying close to the mission, understanding where friction exists, and working across the enterprise to solve problems in ways that make a real difference at the deckplate level.”

Moving forward, the primary test for the new sustainment directorate will be budgetary leverage. Gray will be tasked with competing against major procurement accounts—including submarine and surface combatant construction—to secure consistent congressional appropriations for foundational shore infrastructure repair before readiness gaps degrade fleet deployments.