Captain David Dees named Commander of Naval Station Norfolk

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — On September 24, Captain David Dees assumed the duties as Naval Station (NAVSTA) Norfolk’s commanding officer.

Dees replaces Captain Vince Baker as commanding officer of Naval Station Norfolk. The change went into effect during a change of command ceremony on Friday.

Baker has been in charge of the naval station since March 2020. He previously served as the base’s executive officer from August 2018 to his promotion to commander.

Following the ceremony, Baker is set to move to Arlington to assume duties at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

The new commander, Captain David Dees, most recently served as the executive officer of Naval Station Norfolk. He first reported Norfolk in 1999 after he completed training as a Naval Flight Officer (NFO).

In his first assignment to Norfolk, he was deployed onboard USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in support of Operations Southern Watch and Enduring Freedom. In addition, he participated in Counter Narcotics Detachments in support of Joint Interagency Task Force-East.

He then returned to VAW-120 in July 2002 as an NFO instructor. During that time, he also served as the Head Schedules Officer, Hawkeye 2000 Training Officer, and the NFO Training Officer.

Dees also served on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Nimitz and USS George H W Bush.

Before assuming his current duties as the Executive Officer at Naval Station Norfolk in March 2020, he was named the executive officer and subsequently commander of VAW-124. After that, he served as the head of the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School

Dees is NAVSTA’s 50th commanding officer.