Navy’s Donald W. Marks Nominated for Promotion to Rear Admiral
Marks, commander of Carrier Strike Group Nine in San Diego, awaits Senate confirmation in one of 109 officer nominations announced this year.
Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) Donald W. Marks was nominated for promotion to the two-star grade of rear admiral, the Department of War said.
The nomination advances Marks, the commander of Carrier Strike Group Nine in San Diego, California, to the full rank of rear admiral, according to war.gov. The Senate must confirm the appointment before it takes effect.
Carrier Strike Group Nine is one of the Navy’s principal Pacific formations, built around an aircraft carrier and its escorting cruisers and destroyers based on the West Coast. The role places Marks at the center of maritime operations across the Indo-Pacific.
The nomination is one of 109 officer nominations announced so far this year, according to war.gov. Hawaii leads all states with 10 total nominations, while the Army has the most among the military services with 74. At the same point in 2025, only 26 officer nominations had been recorded, according to war.gov. The previous nomination announcement occurred 43 days earlier.
For the average reader, the promotion carries no direct effect on daily life, though flag officer appointments shape the command of forces that patrol shipping lanes and project power abroad. Each two-star billet governs the deployment of thousands of sailors and billions of dollars in equipment.
Has this happened before? Yes, flag officer promotions move through the Senate on a routine schedule, and the July 16 announcement follows a steady cadence of such nominations across the services. The volume this year, more than four times the pace recorded at the same point in 2025 according to war.gov, reflects an active promotion cycle.
The Senate Armed Services Committee reviews the nomination before the full Senate votes. A date for that vote has not been announced.
Flag officer promotions have anchored the Navy’s chain of command since the rank of rear admiral was first authorized by Congress in 1862, when David Glasgow Farragut became the service’s first officer to hold it. Farragut earned the grade after seizing New Orleans during the Civil War, then rose to vice admiral in 1864 and to full admiral in 1866, the first American to hold each rank. The line of admirals that began with him now runs through carrier strike groups patrolling the same oceans he once commanded.
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