Captain Bill Nault is a 1985 graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, CT where he received a BA in Philosophy. He received his commission in March of 1986 from Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI.
His sea tours include Division Officer duties in USS AMERICA (CV 66) as Boilers Division Officer and USS YORKTOWN (CG 48) as the ship’s Main Propulsion Assistant. As a Department Head he served as Chief Engineer in USS CARON (DD 970) during a single, longer tour from 1993-1996. He went on to command USS SALVOR (ARS 52), from 2000-2002.
He has deployed to the Pacific, Mediterranean Sea and Arabian Gulf as well as participating in extensive MIO and humanitarian operations in the Caribbean. In SALVOR, he participated in the mapping and debris recovery of the Japanese fishing vessel EHIME MARU as well as undertaking numerous trans-Pacific tows to and from Pearl Harbor, San Francisco, San Diego and Bremerton, Washington.
In February 2004 he took command of USS O’KANE (DDG 77) home ported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During his 20 months in command of O’KANE the ship completed a successful Board of Inspection and Survey Material Inspection as well as a 7 month combat deployment to the 5th and 7th Fleet AOR’s.
Ashore, Captain Nault earned a Master of Arts in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School. He completed his Joint Staff Officer training via the US Army Command and General Staff College in Leavenworth, Kansas in March of 1997 and went on to serve a joint tour on the Headquarters staff at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in Washington, DC.
On completion of his command tour in SALVOR, he served for 8 months as the Navy Region Hawaii Operations Officer. Captain Nault then went on to complete a 14 month tour as the Flag Aide to the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Captain Nault was then assigned to the Surface Warfare Officer School as the Director for Command Training where he served for 2 years before taking command of DESTROYER SQUADRON SEVEN in May of 2008.
During his DESRON Command tour, Captain Nault completed a 7 month combat deployment with the RONALD REAGAN Strike Group to the 7th and 5th Fleet AOR’s before returning on a Surge deployment in 2009. His DESRON Change of Command was held in July of 2009 while serving as the Commander of TASK GROUP IM (Iraqi Maritime), stationed aboard the Al Basra Oil Terminal in the Northern Arabian Gulf. After completing a two-year tour as the Director for the Navy’s Command Leadership School, Captain Nault was a student in the senior course at the Naval War College in Newport, RI.
Captain Nault’s personal awards include the Legion of Merit (two awards), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (four awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards), and various unit awards.