Navy Submarine Commander Reifsteck Nominated for Rear Admiral
Lincoln M. Reifsteck, who leads Submarine Group Seven in Yokosuka, Japan, was nominated for the two-star grade of rear admiral, the Department of War said July 16, 2026.
A Navy submarine commander overseeing forces in the western Pacific won a nomination for a second star.
Lincoln M. Reifsteck, a rear admiral (lower half) who commands Submarine Group Seven, drew a nomination for appointment to the grade of rear admiral, the Department of War said in a July 16, 2026 announcement. Reifsteck also serves as commander of Task Force Seven Four and commander of Task Force Five Four, based in Yokosuka, Japan, according to war.gov. The nomination advances him from a one-star grade to the two-star grade, acknowledging his command of submarine forces vital to regional naval operations, according to war.gov.
Yokosuka hosts the largest overseas concentration of U.S. Navy forces and serves as home port for the Navy’s forward-deployed fleet in Japan. The nomination now moves to the Senate, which must confirm all flag officer appointments before an officer may wear the higher grade. A date for the Senate to act has not been announced.
Submarine Group Seven directs undersea operations across the Indo-Pacific, a theater that spans more than half the globe and includes some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The command controls attack submarines and coordinates with allied navies from a headquarters in Japan. Its leader ranks among the officers responsible for undersea deterrence facing China, Russia, and North Korea.
Flag officer promotions of this kind occur routinely. The Department of War forwards batches of nominations to the Senate throughout the year, and each carries the same requirement for confirmation. Reifsteck’s nomination arrived alongside others in the July 16, 2026 release, a standard step in the promotion cycle that governs the careers of every U.S. admiral and general.
For most Americans, a single flag officer nomination changes little in daily life. The officers who fill these grades set the readiness and posture of forces that patrol trade routes and reassure allies. That work shapes the security backdrop for global commerce most citizens never see.
Flag officer nominations trace their lineage to the earliest days of the republic. Congress created the rank of rear admiral in July 1862, and David Farragut became the first officer to hold it after his fleet forced the passage of the lower Mississippi River during the Civil War. Farragut later earned the ranks of vice admiral and admiral, grades Congress established for him in 1864 and 1866. That sequence cemented a promotion ladder that still requires the Senate’s approval more than a century and a half later.
Source: NewsFindr Chart Maker
Note: Chart generated by NewsFindr on July 16, 2026 at 4:27 PM ET