PORTSMOUTH, Va. – Capt. Stephen F. Sarar relieved Capt. Andrew P. Johnson as Commanding Officer, Surface Maintenance Engineering Planning Program (SURFMEPP) in a private ceremony at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Apr. 13 in accordance with COVID-19 social distancing requirements.
Sarar takes command at SURFMEPP following two years of service at the Navy Regional Maintenance Center, where he served as the principal military deputy, responsible for managing communications and actions for the Commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Center (CNRMC), a highly dynamic organization within Naval Sea System Command that manages the 7 regional maintenance centers that conduct depot-level and intermediate-level maintenance and modernization on non-nuclear Navy surface ships in the continental United States and overseas in Japan, Italy, Spain and Bahrain.
His previous assignments include assistant project superintendent on USS Alaska (SSBN 732) and submarine business desk officer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard; submarine type desk officer at Commander Submarine Force Atlantic; deputy project superintendent for the docking planned incremental availability (DPIA) on USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) at Norfolk Naval Shipyard; and senior. He also oversaw the engineering inspections at the Board of Inspection and Survey. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Master’s degree in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University.
“CAPT Sarar is uniquely qualified for this challenging and critically important position, said Capt. Dan Lannamann, acting executive director for Navy Regional Maintenance Center. “He brings experience and best practices from his CNRMC tour. His extensive at-sea experience and challenging tours within the shipbuilding, production, maintenance and modernization communities make him the right individual to lead this organization into its next chapter of service and excellence, particularly in this unique and challenging period.”
During his tour as the SURFMEPP Commanding Officer, Johnson led the creation of the first ever 30-Year Private Sector Workload Analysis for depot-level maintenance, which is now the centerpiece of the Navy’s workload projections to private industry, as well as the foundation for the projections in the Navy’s 30-Year Maintenance and Modernization Report to Congress. He launched the diesel maintenance strategy for the LSD 41/49 Whidbey Island class and LPD 17 San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ships, and developed dynamic fielding plans for high impact mandatory class maintenance plan tasks. Johnson will transition to sequential command as Commanding Officer, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Newport News.
SURFMEPP is a NAVSEA field activity that provides centralized surface ship life cycle maintenance engineering, class maintenance and modernization planning, and management of maintenance strategies aligned with and responsive to national, fleet, surface type commander and NAVSEA needs and priorities.
Aligned under NAVSEA’s Surface Warfare Directorate, SEA 21, SURFMEPP is headquartered at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., with waterfront offices in Norfolk, Va.; Mayport, Fla.; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Yokosuka/Sasebo, Japan; San Diego, Ca.; Everett, Wa.; Manama, Bahrain; and Rota, Spain.