NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. –
Carrier Strike Group Fifteen (CSG-15) held a change of command ceremony on board USS Nimitz pierside at Naval Air Station North Island on June 21.
Rear Adm. Joseph Cahill, from St. Albans, Vt., relieved Rear Adm. James Kirk, from Hershey, Penn., to become the 76th commander since CSG-15’s establishment in 1930. Vice Adm. Michael Boyle, Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet, presided over the ceremony.
During Kirk’s 12 months in command, he led CSG-15 during multiple integrated and advanced training exercises, focused on the mission of mentoring, training and assessing West Coast-based deploying carrier strike groups (CSGs), amphibious ready groups (ARGs), and independently-deploying ships.
Kirk conveyed his appreciation to the CSG-15 staff. “It has been a privilege to serve alongside the professionals at Carrier Strike Group 15. Our deploying forces are more ready and lethal because of their hard work and dedication to the Fleet. We are fortunate to have Rear Admiral Joe Cahill returning to the San Diego waterfront to lead this team and continue the work of readying our carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups for deployment.”
Cahill takes command of CSG-15 having recently served as the Deputy Director for Resources and Acquisitions on the Joint Staff in Washington, D.C. A 1992 graduate from the University of Maine, Cahill has served in a variety of afloat and ashore billets as a surface warfare officer, including deputy commander and chief of staff for Joint Warfare Center, Allied Command Transformation and commanding officer for USS Monsoon (PC 4), USS Preble (DDG 88) and USS Bunker Hill (CG 52).
“I am excited and humbled to join the CSG-15 team,” said Cahill. “A team with a rich history of training our Naval Forces to execute our core naval functions of sea control and power projection.”
CSG-15’s mission is to direct, execute, mentor and assess academic at-sea live synthetic integrated training of carrier strike groups, expeditionary strike groups, amphibious ready groups, surface independent deployers, allies and other designated groups, enabling them to operate in integrated, joint and coalition environments in the conduct of combatant and operation commander tasking.