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Lautar, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the ship’s eighth Commanding Officer, assumed command of MICHAEL MURPHY in June 2021. He previously served as the ship’s Executive Officer from March 2020 to June 2021. “It’s been the most rewarding tour of my career. For twenty years I’ve been a SWO and the epitome of it was taking command of this great warship,” Lautar reflected. “There were a lot of challenges, but everything fell into place because of the crew. MICHAEL MURPHY’s crew is the best in the Fleet because of their will to be great and get better every day. Some of the proudest moments I had as Captain were seeing what the crew was capable of achieving over a six month deployment, INSURV, and first ever dry dock. The crew rose to every occasion and exceeded every single expectation. They earned every accolade they received.”
In his departing words, Lautar recalled his command philosophy, “One Calling, One mission, One Destiny”: “Every single day we are in the Navy, we all have a common calling: we all raised our right hand and swore an oath to serve. We all have a mission on the ship in the job we are in; we all have a mission to accomplish. Ultimately we all share one destiny: to make everyone proud, ourselves in our work, our family and our country.” While in command, Lautar led the ship and her 300-plus crewmembers through COMPTUEX, a six month deployment in FIFTH and SEVENTH FLEET, READ-E 2, INSURV, READ-E 3, real-world national tasking, and docking at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. For his next tour, Lautar is headed ashore to Hawaii to serve as Deputy Commander, Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific. As MICHAEL MURPHY’s newest commanding officer, Holthaus, a native of Glen Burnie, Maryland, is arriving from Washington, D.C., where he most recently served as a Federal Executive Fellow at the Stimson Center. His previous sea tours included time onboard USS CHAFEE (DDG 90), USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65), USS MAHAN (DDG 72), USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (CVN 77), and USS CHANCELLORSVILLE (CG 62). Ashore, he served as the Assistant Nuclear Enlisted Community Manager (OPNAV N133) and as the Surface and Land Requirements Officer in the Digital Warfare Office (OPNAV N9I). Commissioned in 2012, MICHAEL MURPHY is named after Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan in 2005. Murphy was the first person to be awarded the medal for actions in Afghanistan and was the Navy's first Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War.
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