Starting this week, the new Naval Support Activity Portsmouth will run the staff and support facilities attached to Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
The new command is part of a Navy effort to speed up maintenance at public shipyards. Norfolk oversees nuclear powered submarines and aircraft carriers. An activation ceremony at the shipyard Wednesday was dramatically scaled back after the government shutdown.
In August, Rear Adm. Kavon Hakimzadeh was put in charge of maintenance under a pilot project. Norfolk is the only public shipyard where an admiral and two captains oversee maintenance…