Adm. Daryle Caudle stepped down as head of Fleet Forces this week as he prepared to take over as the Chief of Naval Operations.
Caudle spent nearly four years leading Fleet Forces in Norfolk. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee in July, he emphasized the need to improve shipbuilding at Newport News Shipbuilding and Electric Boat in Connecticut.
“We need to transformationally improve the output of the two yards that are producing our Virginia-class submarines,” he said. “There needs to be some creativity, some ingenuity, some outsourcing improvements.”
The Department of Defense is reviewing the AUKUS agreement between the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom to see if it aligns with the priorities of the Trump Administration. So far, the U.S. has not been able to produce the two nuclear submarines a year required under the agreement.
Caudle took over as head of Fleet Forces in December 2021. He was in command during a rash of suicides on board the USS George Washington in 2022. The carrier languished in the yard at Newport News for several years during its maintenance cycle, which was further hampered by the pandemic. The deaths coincided with a second cluster of suicides at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center.
Sen. Tim Kaine praised Caudle’s effort.
“Adm. Caudle really, really took this very seriously and made a number of changes in both of these units, and more generally, throughout the Navy. I think demonstrates a real focus on the success of each individual sailor,” Kaine told the committee.
Caudle said he plans to continue emphasizing sailor quality of life as CNO.
“The compilation of all the unaccompanied housing, school houses, piers, infrastructure, hangers — really the bedrock by which we launched the Navy from — I think, needs additional attention,” Caudle said.
The Navy has not had a permanent CNO since President Trump fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti without explanation shortly after taking office.
Caudle takes over the Navy under an administration that has expressed a desire to rebuild the American shipbuilding industry, including the Navy’s industrial base. The Navy is asking for 19 new ships in the proposed budget, costing nearly $50 billion.
Delays and cost overruns have hampered production for decades. The Government Accountability Office released a report in April that showed the Navy had the same number of ships in 2025 as it did in 2003, when it created its first 30-year shipbuilding plan. That’s despite doubling the budget.
Caudle was born in Winston-Salem. He attended North Carolina State University before joining the Navy. He spent most of his career in the Navy’s submarine community. He headed Submarine Forces, Submarine Force Atlantic and Allied Submarine Command before taking over Fleet Forces.
