West Bethesda, Md. –
Capt. Matthew L. Tardy relieved Capt. Todd E. Hutchison as Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division’s Commanding Officer (CO) during a change-of-command ceremony held in West Bethesda, Maryland, on May 12.
Hutchison, who took command in July 2020 as Carderock’s 39th commanding officer, described his three-year tour at Carderock with a single word: “Amazing.”
When he first came onboard, the country was in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hutchison acknowledged the challenges of taking command during that time, but he said getting out and meeting people was still one of his priorities.
“I did not let the pandemic deter me with trying to engage with the workforce in a meaningful way, whether that be dialing up early to Teams calls, staying on late, setting up time to have conversations or mentorships with people to really just get to know them more,” Hutchison said.
When the pandemic restrictions lifted a bit, Hutchison scheduled a walk through every Monday of a different space on base, having now been to almost every building at West Bethesda at least once, if not multiple times, and out to all of the detachments, several of them a couple of times.
“I have been asked how I have impacted the strategic direction of a command of nearly 3,000 people that are located in seven different states, and my answer was ‘one person at a time,’” he said, adding that he not only had to intentionally think from a strategic command level, but also had to...
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