Navy helicopter pilot now at controls of NSA Souda Bay

NAPLES, Italy — A Navy captain whose more than 23-year career includes a deployment to the Middle East and command of a helicopter training squadron assumed the top leadership role this week at one of the service’s most strategic bases in Europe.

Capt. Patrick O’Neill relieved Capt. Stephen Steacy as commander of Naval Support Activity Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete during a ceremony Tuesday, the base said in a statement.

O’Neill, a helicopter pilot who was commissioned as an officer in 2003, now commands the only base in Europe capable of hosting a Navy aircraft carrier pier-side.

NSA Souda Bay serves as a regional hub for replenishment, maintenance and shore leave for Navy and allied ships, among other services and missions.

In taking command, O’Neill said he soon realized after arriving at NSA Souda Bay that the network that supports those and other operations extends beyond the active-duty personnel who wear the “Team Souda” ball cap.

Dedicated civilian, local national and contractor workers are part of the team, along with the larger Crete community, as well as the Greek military members who also conduct operations from the base, O’Neill said.

“Our mission is enduring,” he told an audience of Navy and Greek service members, officials and dignitaries. “We will sustain operations of the allied forces, U.S. joint forces, and the Department of War.”

O’Neill has served in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, as well as locations in the United States. His first operational tour was in 2006, when he reported to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 51 in Atsugi, Japan, according to his Navy biography.

He also has served at Naval Forces Europe-Africa in Naples, Italy, and held several roles for Naval Forces Central Command in Manama, Bahrain, including director of the commander’s action group, the biography states.

Steacy, also a helicopter pilot, assumed command of NSA Souda Bay in August 2024.

Among his accomplishments are leading the installation through a period of sustained high-tempo operations in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, including airfield operations, complex port visits, and multi-department logistics to keep forward-deployed assets mission-ready.

That effort included critical repairs to the aircraft carriers USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Harry S. Truman, according to the statement.

He will next report to the Defense Attache Service in Washington D.C., for training as the prospective defense attache for the U.S. Embassy in Athens, the base said.