Rear Admiral William VanMeter Alford Jr. was the chief of staff for the United States Pacific Command between August 2004 and September 2007.

During that tour Hermitage served as command and control ship for the Exercise Snowy Beach LARC recovery effort.

Also during this command he served on active duty as the Sixth Fleet chief of staff, on board USS LaSalle, Gaeta, Italy, for a period of in excess of six months.

During his tenure as the chief of staff, the Sixth Fleet conducted five non-combatant evacuations, served as the commander of three Joint Task Forces (two of them simultaneously), completed an historic Black Sea cruise and prepared the first battle plans for Kosovo operations.

[1] In August 2004, Alford was again recalled to active duty to serve as the United States Pacific Command chief of staff.