Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert said the Western Pacific is “priority one” for the Navy, and Hawaii “is a very strategic base.”

“I kind of call it the gateway to the Western Pacific,” said Greenert, who added that “the strategy is very clear — that we will balance our forces toward the Pacific.”

Those elements “are pretty telling as to what our intentions will be,” Greenert said.

The Navy’s top uniformed officer, in Hawaii for a change of command Friday at U.S. Pacific Fleet, spoke to and took questions from more than 500 sailors at a standing room only “all hands call” at Pearl Harbor’s Sharkey Theater today.

Adm. Patrick Walsh, head of U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, will be retiring following a 34-year Navy career after he passes the command to Adm. Cecil D. Haney.