The newly appointed senior military officer of the U.S. Navy released objectives for the service that he intends to accomplish during his term.
Adm. Daryl Caudle, who became the 34th chief of naval operations on Aug. 25, outlined his priorities in a Navy administrative message, as well as a graphic uploaded to X.
“We stand at an inflection point — an era marked by great power competition, proliferating threats, rapid technological convergence and an increasingly contested maritime domain,” Caudle said in the X post. “To prevail we must build and sustain a Navy that is ready to fight and win — today, tomorrow and well into the future.”
Caudle said the Navy will invest in unaccompanied and family housing for sailors, as well as the Basic Allowance for Housing authority to ensure housing is “clean, comfortable and safe,” according to the administrative message.
Caudle also noted efforts to improve food service by delivering healthy meal options, as well as reduce the number of uniforms, improve cell service and deliver free Wi-Fi to all barracks, streamline information sharing so that everything pertinent resides in one place on the NAVADMIN website, and ensure sailors receive the correct amount of pay.
In a graphic uploaded to X, Caudle broke down his vision for the Navy as one focused on the foundry, the fleet and the fight.
The foundry, as he described it, enables naval power through “shore infrastructure, maintenance depots, schoolhouses, industrial base, and intellectual capital.”
For the Navy to remain a powerful fighting force, it’s imperative to operationalize readiness and accelerate shipbuilding and repair at scale, according to Caudle.
The fleet, the X post lays out, is made up of the vessels and sailors that steer them. Caudle described a continued focus on an all-domain fleet that combines surface, air, undersea, cyber and space capabilities.
And for fight, the goal is to maintain the Navy’s lethality by leveraging new technologies like artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, according to Cuadle.
Caudle signed off by listing tenets that will act as barometers of his success as CNO when his time is up: platforms delivered and repaired on time, fully manned ships ready for combat, ordnance production fulfilling demands, zero backlogs for repair parts and sailors properly trained.
“I am proud to serve alongside you — America’s Sailors — as we embark on this next chapter in our Navy’s history,” Caudle said.
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
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