Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) William Merz has been named director of the undersea warfare division, or N97, at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and promoted to rear admiral upper half.
He most recently served as commander of the Navy’s Task Force 74, Submarine Group Seven and Task Force 54 in Japan, the Defense Department said Friday.
As N97 director, he will be responsible for the planning, programming and budgeting for acquisition, operational readiness and modernization of the submarine force and its support.
Merz previously led the Naval Mine & Anti-Submarine Warfare Command, Task Force 77, Task Force 144, Naval Reactors Line Locker and Submarine Forces Atlantic.
He also held positions aboard the USS Haddo, USS Boise and USS Proteus submarines and supported various U.S., joint and coalition submarine operations overseas.
