
Structure of the United States Navy
The structure of the United States Navy consists of four main bodies: the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, the operating forces (described below), and the Shore Establishment.
The chief of naval operations presides over the Navy Staff, formally known as the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV).[1][2]
The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory organization within the executive part of the Department of the Navy, and its purpose is to furnish professional assistance to the secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) and the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) in carrying out their responsibilities.[3][4]
The OPNAV organization consists of:
Policy documents emanating from the CNO are issued in the form of OPNAV Instructions.
OPNAV is one of the three headquarters staffs in Department of the Navy mainly based at the Pentagon, with the others being the Office of the Secretary of the Navy and Headquarters Marine Corps.
The following shore-based bureaus, commands and components are directly subordinate to the Chief of Naval Operations:"[22]