CDR DeVere J. Crooks, USN
Commander DeVere Crooks is a native of San Diego, California and was commissioned in 2001 via the NROTC program at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. In 2008, he completed a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies at the Naval War College in Newport, RI.
Commander Crooks is a surface warfare officer and director of the prospective commanding officers’ course at Surface Warfare Schools Command in Newport, Rhode Island. Commander Crooks served at sea in Pacific Fleet on destroyers, a cruiser, and on the staff of a carrier strike group commander. He commanded USS Halsey (DDG-97) from 2019 to 2021, deploying to the Eastern and Western Pacific theaters during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ashore, CDR Crooks served as a Navy Liaison Officer to the U.S. Senate, on the staff of the Director, Navy Staff, and as a special assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations in the CNO Strategic Actions Group (N00Z). He also completed an exchange tour with the UK Royal Navy, serving as a maritime capabilities analyst with UK Defence Intelligence in London. He assumed duties as director of the Prospective Commanding Officers Course at Surface Warfare Schools Command in Newport, Rhode Island in 2021.