Capt. Christopher Farricker
Commanding Officer, USS Kearsarge (LHD 3)
19 August 2021
Capt. Farricker is a native of Florida and is a 1998 graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Political Science. He graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2003 with a Master's of Arts degree in National Security Affairs.
Capt. Farricker's operational assignments include USS McClusky (FFG 41) as an AntiSubmarine Warfare Officer; USS John Young (DD 973) as an Auxiliaries Officer; USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79) as Chief Engineer; Riverine Group 1 as the Operations Officer where he was the first Riverine deployed to Iraq and served there throughout 2007 conducting patrols along the Euphrates River and was the liaison with Marine Expeditionary Force 2 (Forward), Multinational Forces Iraq and various other units throughout the Iraqi Theater of Operations. In February 2010, he reported to NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan/Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (NTM-A/CSTC-A) as the Assistant Commanding General-Police Development lead for the Afghan Ministry of Interior's Ministerial Development. In Afghanistan he coordinated 250 coalition and joint personnel in the development of 25 Ministerial Development Plans and conducted training for Afghanistan National Police recruits. He served as the Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Crew 106, USS Freedom (LCS 1) and PCU Sioux City (Gold). In sequential command, he commanded USS Milwaukee LCS 5), the first LCS training ship. During his tenure, his crew earned two Battle "E" awards.
Ashore, he served as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Fleet Readiness on the Naval Surface Force Atlantic staff. Additionally, he served as an action officer on the U.S. 2nd Fleet and U.S. Fleet Forces Command staffs. At both commands, he worked Navy requirement issues.
He assumed his current assignment as the Commanding Officer of USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) in November of 2022.
Capt. Farricker's awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (five awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (five awards) and various unit commendations and campaign medals.