Rear Adm. William R. Daly is a native of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. During his career, he has operated with 72 militaries or governments, and has visited 34 nations in a work capacity. In addition to his operational tours, he has attempted to create value for the Navy in jobs requiring expertise in political-military affairs, policy and strategy development, and financial management and resourcing.
Daly has master’s degrees from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he was the Navy’s Arthur Moreau Scholar for International Relations, and from the U.S. Naval War College. He also completed extensive Executive Education at the Darden School of Business (UVA) and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Syracuse University). Daly was an MIT Seminar XXI fellow and a fellow at the Department of State Foreign Service Institute. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Afloat, Daly has deployed in every tour and to operational areas in the Middle East, Western and Eastern Asia, Europe, and South America. He served on numerous Cruiser-Destroyer (CRUDES) type ships and he commanded USS Farragut (DDG 99) and the famed Little Beavers of Destroyer Squadron 23.
Ashore, Daly served on the staffs of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Chief of Naval Operations (three tours), U.S. European Command, and the Commander, Pacific Fleet. From 2019-2021 he was the Chief of Staff to the Commander, Naval Surface Forces and Commander, Naval Surface Force Pacific Fleet. He is a proven Naval Strategy sub-specialist, a Financial Management (FM) sub-specialist (with emphasis on resourcing and requirements), and a Political-Military (POL-MIL) sub-specialist.
He assumed his role as Commander, Carrier Strike Group FIFTEEN in May 2023.