Capt. Chad Hennings was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Berwyn, Illinois, and Lucerne, Indiana. After receiving a degree in aerospace engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, he received his commission at Officer Candidate School in December 1994.
After the initial training pipeline, his sea tours included USS Toledo (SSN 769), USS Michigan (SSBN 727) (GOLD), USS Columbia (SSN 771), and USS Hampton (SSN 767). He commanded the USS Nevada (SSBN 733) (GOLD) and USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735) (BLUE).
Throughout his sea tours, he has supported several Western Pacific and Mediterranean deployments and conducted nine strategic deterrent patrols. Many of the teams he served with earned Battle Efficiency “E” awards. His shore tours include staff positions at Submarine Squadron TWO, Submarine Squadron SEVENTEEN, Submarine Squadron NINETEEN, and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
During his shore tours, he also earned a master’s degree in modeling, virtual environments and simulation from the Naval Postgraduate School and a master’s degree in national policy and strategic studies from the Naval War College.
In September 2017, he became an acquisition professional and served as the head of Requirements and Testing for the PMS 397 Columbia-class program and as the deputy program manager for PMS 415, Undersea Defensive Weapons Systems. He recently completed a tour as program manager of PMS 401, Submarine Acoustic Systems.
He currently resides in Newport, Rhode Island, with his wife Caroline (originally from Worcester, Massachusetts) and their five children.