U.S. Naval Academy Fires Commandant Over Leadership Concerns
Captain Walter H. Allman III was recently selected to become the 90th Commandant of Midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He is a USNA Class of 1997 graduate and currently serves as the Director of Targeting and the Fires and Effects Center for U.S. Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
The U.S. Naval Academy fired its commandant of midshipmen about five months after he was appointed because of a “loss of confidence in his ability to effectively lead,” multiple media outlets reported Monday.
Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michael Borgschulte fired Capt. Gilbert Clark Jr. “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to effectively lead the Brigade of Midshipmen,” the Navy said in a news release.
“Leadership positions require senior leaders to maintain the highest standards of responsibility as they play a key role in shaping good order and discipline,” academy spokesperson Ashley Hockycko told The Baltimore Banner.
“When an immediate superior loses confidence in an officer’s ability to effectively lead in a position of authority, it is their obligation to relieve the subordinate leader of their duties,” she said.
Clark oversaw the day-to-day conduct, military training and professional development of about 4,400 midshipmen. The academy said Capt. Austin Jackson, deputy commandant of midshipmen, was named interim commandant. Jackson is a Navy SEAL and former platoon commander for SEAL Team 5, according to his academy biography.
Clark’s dismissal is the latest shakeup in the service academy’s leadership this year. In July, Vice Adm. Yvette M. Davids — the first woman to serve as the academy’s superintendent — was nominated by President Donald Trump as deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans, strategy, and warfighting development. Her assignment is pending Senate confirmation.
Davids was replaced by Borgschulte, the first Marine Corps officer to serve as the service academy’s superintendent. Borgschulte was confirmed by the Senate in August via a voice vote. The Trump administration also has removed other top military leaders, including Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown Jr. as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as chief of naval operations; and Adm. Linda Fagan, the first woman to serve as U.S. Coast Guard commandant.
