Admiral Scott Swift, the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, has publicly announced his request to retire after being informed that he will not be nominated to replace Adm. Harry Harris as the commander of U.S. Pacific Command.
Although he has submitted his request to retire, Swift has not put forward a retirement date saying he would remain in service as long as the navy needed him to stay.
“Whether my timeline of remaining service is six weeks or six months, I will fill that time with the energy of an Ensign and the wisdom drawn from the 140,000 Sailors who report for duty every morning in the Pacific Fleet,” Swift said.
Swift was considered to be a favorite candidate to replace the Pacific Command head Admiral Harris who is expected to step down next year.
Swift’s announcement comes in the wake of a broad US Navy investigation into a series of collisions at sea this year. It is however unclear if Adm. Swift’s retirement is in any way related to the ongoing investigations.
The navy’s investigation into four collisions this year, with two deadly ones, has led to six officials being relieved of their duties so far.