VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Rear Adm. James Downey relieved Rear Adm. William J. Galinis as Commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Center (CNRMC) during a ceremony at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, June 29.
In addition to taking command of CNRMC, on July 1 Downey also assumed his new title as Deputy Commander, Surface Warfare, Naval Sea Systems Command (SEA21) from Galinis at a separate ceremony in Washington, D.C., as the two organizations were aligned under a leadership role last year.
Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command Vice Admiral Tom Moore provided the opening remarks for the ceremony, while Rear Adm. Peter Gumataotao, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for Strategic Plans and Policy for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), served as the guest speaker.
Downey is an Engineering Duty Officer who most recently served as major program manager for the DDG 1000 program. His tenure included delivery of the first ship of the class, the future USS Zumwalt. He qualified as a surface warfare officer on the USS Hayler (DD 997) in 1989. Additional operational assignments include intelligence briefing officer to the commander in chief, Combined Forces Command, U.S. Forces Korea, Seoul, Korea; and multiple deployments afloat in the North Atlantic, Baltic, Arctic Circle and Pacific.
Engineering duty officer assignments include assistant program manager for surface and subsurface integration for GPS and Navigation Sensor System Interface programs, leading Tomahawk integration; chief engineer for high assurance systems at the Defense Information Systems Agency and National Security Agency ; officer in charge of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command , Yokosuka Japan; CVN 21 program chief engineer, principal assistant program manager and warfare systems director; CG(X) major program manager.
Downey's awards include the Legion of Merit (two awards), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards) and various other personal, unit and service awards.
CNRMC is a NAVSEA field activity, and is responsible for coordinating the depot- and intermediate-level maintenance of the Navy's surface fleet. The command is also responsible for providing fleet technical support world-wide and for ensuring resources are in place for all requirements necessary to accomplish demanding ship maintenance availabilities and keep the Navy's warships materially ready for action, even while deployed.
The Navy's RMCs include: Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center in Norfolk, Va.; Southeast Regional Maintenance Center in Mayport, Fla.; Southwest Regional Maintenance Center in San Diego; and Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center headquartered in Naples, Italy with detachments in Manama, Bahrain and Rota, Spain.
The command also leads the RMCs in developing and executing standardized maintenance and modernization processes, instituting common policies, and standardizing training in an effort to sustain a consistent business model across the RMCs and ultimately, to provide cost-effective readiness to the Navy's surface fleet.
CNRMC is also responsible for the coordination of Depot and Intermediate-Level maintenance activities for surface ships at RMC Northwest at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington and the Hawaii RMC embedded in the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility.
The command's primary focus in surface maintenance is providing combat-ready ships to the fleet and type commanders to execute their mission.
Galinis has been designated to lead Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships as the Program Executive Officer. The Change of Office Ceremony for PEO Ships is scheduled for July 20.