Navy Region Mid-Atlantic changes command

After serving as commander of the Navy Region Mid-Atlantic for a little over a year, Navy Rear Adm. Wesley “Wes” McCall finished his duties Wednesday and has been succeeded by Rear Adm. Carl A. Lahti.

As of Wednesday, Lahti now oversees 13 installations from Illinois to North Carolina and is stationed at the world’s largest Navy base, Naval Station Norfolk. According to a Navy spokesperson, McCall is retiring. He became the region’s commander in May 2023, after Vice Adm. Scott Gray received a promotion to lead the Navy Installations Command in Washington, D.C., last year. Gray was on hand during Wednesday’s ceremony at the Norfolk naval station.

A Buffalo, New York native, Lahti previously commanded the Naval Submarine Base New London in Connecticut, and he most recently was commander of the U.S. Naval Forces Japan/Navy Region Japan since 2021. He also was chief of staff at the Navy Installations Command, director of the Energy and Environmental Readiness Division and commandant of Naval District Washington, D.C.

Lahti is a 1989 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he received a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering, and also has degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School and the Naval War College. In 2005 and 2006, he served as an associate fellow with the chief of naval operations, where he studied alternative energy strategies for the Navy.