Bartlett Maritime Helps Kick Off Cleveland Navy Week

Bartlett Maritime Founder and CEO Edward Bartlett, a Navy submarine veteran and former instructor at the Navy's Nuclear Power School, welcomes Olmstead Falls, Ohio native Wyatt Hensley, to the Navy. Hensley will attend bootcamp later this month before heading to Nuclear Power School.

Rear Adm. Gregory Newkirk stands between Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb at the kickoff of Navy Week.

CLEVELAND, OH, September 7, 2023 – Ed Bartlett says the Navy needs northeast Ohio. This week Cleveland showed the community’s support to the sea service as Sailors visited to celebrate Navy Week.

Mayor Justin Bibb and Cuyahoga County Chris Ronayne welcomed Rear Adm. Gregory Newkirk, a Medina, Ohio native, at the USS Cod Submarine Memorial on Tuesday to kick off the week-long festivities.

The Navy Week outreach program seeks to connect American communities to the fleet. Sailors from the crews of the submarine USS Ohio (SSGN 726) and the littoral combat ship USS Cleveland (LCS 31) also attended the ceremony.

With the World War II-era Gato-class submarine as a backdrop, Bibb presented a proclamation to Newkirk on behalf of the people of Cleveland. Bibb noted his own connection to the Navy through his father’s service as a Navy diver and veteran of the Vietnam War.

“His sacrifice and public service paved the way for me to also be a proud public servant,” Bibb said of his father.

Bartlett, a Navy veteran who served aboard submarines during the Cold War, leads Bartlett Maritime in the company’s efforts to build capacity and capability in the American’s submarine industrial base.

Newkirk acknowledged the Navy veterans in the crowd at the ceremony, including Bartlett, who Newkirk said is still working to “make the Navy better.”

Bartlett’s proposal includes building repair facilities in northeast Ohio for submarine components.

Newkirk welcomed six new Sailors into the service, including Wyatt Hensley of Olmstead Falls, Ohio. Hensley will depart for Navy bootcamp later this month and hopes to be assigned to a submarine following nuclear power training.

According to Bartlett, Sailors like Hensley and the crew of USS Ohio deserve support from an industrial base that keeps their submarines operational and at sea.

“We have a crisis in submarine maintenance right now,” Bartlett said. “It is past time to deliver solutions for our men and women in uniform. Skilled labor here in Ohio can make a difference for our Navy.”

The ceremony concluded with the firing of USS Cod’s 5-inch deck gun to salute Navy week and the Navy’s six new enlisted Sailors.