Services
Advisory Profiles
Douglas J. Katz - Vice Admiral, United States Navy (Ret)
Douglas J. Katz - Vice Admiral, United States Navy (Ret) retired from active duty on 1 August 1997 after 32 years as a surface naval officer. He is a Naval Academy Graduate, has his MS from the Naval Postgraduate School, and attended the Naval War College. His service at sea covered the entire spectrum of naval and joint military operations. Ashore, his assignments were primarily in education and in shipboard system planning, programming and
Since retirement, Admiral Katz has chaired the Curriculum 21 Study at the US Naval Academy evaluating all aspects of the academic curriculum and midshipmen professional development. He is currently on the Board of Directors for CAE-USA, Inc, acting Executive VP for Guam Shipyard, and a consultant for Raytheon and BAE. He is also a member of the National Defense Industrial Association Surface Warfare Study Group and on the Office of Naval Research Advisory Committee.
In the last nine years, Admiral Katz's voluntary efforts and fund raising endeavors have included: President of the Surface Navy Association, his community association, and Commodore of the US Navy Sailing Association. Additionally, he is a Board of Trustee member with the US Navy Sailing Foundation and active in US Naval Academy fund raising.
During his naval career, Admiral Katz spent the majority of his time in the cruiser-destroyer force serving in numerous ships where he specialized in maintenance and training, weapons systems procurement and tactical employment. Prior to his selection as a flag officer, he commanded two surface combatants, the destroyer, DEYO, and the battleship, NEW JERSEY.
His last assignment was as Commander, Naval Surface Force, US Atlantic Fleet, an organization with an asset value of over 67 billion dollars. He was responsible for approximately fifty thousand personnel, one hundred thirty ships, assorted shore infrastructure and an annual operating budget in excess of a billion dollars. During his almost three year tour, he reorganized the Atlantic fleet surface force, revitalized mine warfare, instituted regional maintenance and led the Navy's effort to bring "smartship" technology to the fleet.
From 1992 to 1994 Admiral Katz resided in Manama, Bahrain, commanding the US Naval Forces Central Command and Middle East Force, now Fifth Fleet, in the Arabian Gulf. He was the first Navy three-star flag officer to be assigned to the billet when it was upgraded after the Gulf War. In that capacity, he assumed responsibility for all US Naval presence, operational readiness and joint/multi-national training and coordination in the region. He further developed a new logistics support infrastructure and led the planning for the evacuation of Somalia, launched two Tomahawk missile strikes against Iraq and was credited with greatly strengthening Arab-American relations and Middle East security.
In 1991 and 1992 he commanded Cruiser-Destroyer Group Two leading the America Carrier Battle Group during Operation Desert Storm. He was the only naval commander to fight in both the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, and, the first to redeploy to that region after the war.
His first assignment as a flag officer came in 1989 when he served as the Director, Surface Warfare Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He was directly responsible for all surface warfighting improvement plans, maintenance improvement strategies, shipbuilding and military construction accounts and the Revolution at Sea Study to determine 21st Century combatant requirements.
During the 1980's, in addition to his shipboard command tours, Admiral Katz served as the Combat Systems Engineer and Planning, Programming and Budgeting Officer for the Surface Combat Systems Division in the Pentagon. He further served as the Director of Professional Development at the US Naval Academy from 1985 to 1987 in the senior level position he had created as a junior officer while serving there in the mid '70's as a Weapons Systems Engineering Instructor and Chairman of the Professional Education Committee.
- Surface Warfare
- Fleet Ops (5th Fleet, SURFLANT)
- OPNAV - Requirements
- Joint Ops (Central Command)
- Current with USN CNO and Staff
- Chair, Naval Academy Curriculum 21
- ONR Advisory Committee
- Past President, Surface Navy Association