Chief of Naval Operations

noun

1. the highest officer in the U.S. Navy and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Chief of Naval Operations¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Hegseth has also purged the head of the Pentagon’s intelligence agency, the head of the National Security Agency, the chief of Naval Operations, multiple senior female military staff and senior military lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

From Los Angeles Times

Lisa Franchetti, who was chief of naval operations and the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

From Los Angeles Times

He reported on foreign affairs for The Atlantic for many years, and is a former member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board and the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel.

From Salon

Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations, were said to be emblems of “wokeness” and “DEI,” which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has decried as the scourge of the military.

From Slate

Don Pilling—at the time the vice chief of naval operations, a brilliant destroyer commander with a Ph.D. in mathematics—to be one of his top aides for plans and policy.

From Slate