Capt. Charles Chmielak, the new commanding officer of Naval Station Rota, Spain, gives remarks during the installation's change of command ceremony on June 12, 2025. (Drace Wilson/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — A helicopter pilot whose career includes service at U.S. Africa Command took the helm Thursday of one of the Navy’s most strategic bases in Europe and the Middle East.
Capt. Charles Chmielak took over from Capt. Teague Suarez as commander of Naval Station Rota, Spain, on Thursday.
Rear Adm. Brad Collins, commander of Navy Region Europe, Africa, Central, presided over the roughly one-hour ceremony that included Spanish military officers and other dignitaries.
Chmielak, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate whose most recent assignment was at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Millington, Tenn., also has served as commanding officer of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 6 in San Diego, according to his LinkedIn biography.
He spent two years in Stuttgart, Germany, supporting short and long-range planning at AFRICOM and was a department head and maintenance officer in separate assignments with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 8 in San Diego, the biography states.
Capt. Teague Suarez, the former commanding officer of Naval Station Rota, Spain, departs the installation change of command ceremony on June 12, 2025. (Drace Wilson/U.S. Navy)
Chmielak said the principles of readiness, steadfastness and professionalism would guide him at NS Rota.
Supporting Navy families would be a top priority as well, he said.
“They are the strength behind the uniform and the heart of our success,” he said. “When we take care of our people, we take care of the mission.”
Suarez, who took command of NS Rota in July 2022, oversaw the base as it expanded its destroyer fleet with the addition of USS Oscar Austin last fall, a long-awaited increase in NATO firepower.
In addition to an airfield, the base is the homeport for five destroyers that deploy throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. A sixth destroyer is anticipated to join the squadron next year.
Suarez also was responsible for overseeing the transport and redeployment of over 2,000 tons of equipment from U.S. bases in Niger last year and for 16 major infrastructure projects at Rota, including an explosive ordnance disposal facility, Collins said.
Capt. Charles Chmielak, the new commanding officer of Naval Station Rota, Spain, departs the installation's change of command ceremony on June 12, 2025. (Drace Wilson/U.S. Navy)
Those and other accomplishments, such as quality-of-life initiatives for Navy families, impacted the lives of sailors, strengthened relations with Spain and increased the service’s capacities and capabilities throughout the region, Collins said.
Suarez was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct. His next assignment is as chief of staff at U.S. Naval Forces Japan.
In relinquishing command, Suarez fondly recalled his time in Spain and working with some of the “finest people in the fleet.”
He also encouraged sailors to remember their oath to the Constitution in weathering change and to reject the idea that strength comes from “tearing down or pushing out.”
“Our strength, the strength of our nation has, and I hope will always be, our steadfast dedication to keeping alive the flame of this last great experiment for promoting human happiness — the flame of a nation which was founded on the loftiest human ideals of equality,” said Suarez, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1998 and has served in the Navy for more than 27 years.
