The Osbourn High School graduate went from Manassas to commanding American warships and Sailors around the world. As his Navy career comes to an end, Cooper is giving much of the credit to the family, mentors and Sailors who stood beside him.
Nearly 30 years after taking his first Navy oath, Capt. Nakia M. Cooper is preparing to be piped ashore for the final time.
Cooper, a Manassas native and graduate of Osbourn High School, will be honored Friday, Aug. 21, during a formal retirement ceremony recognizing three decades of service. His official retirement from the United States Navy takes effect Oct. 1.
It is the conclusion of a remarkable career that carried him from Manassas to command at sea, humanitarian missions, the Pentagon, the Joint Staff and eventually Capitol Hill.
Cooper described that journey more simply in his prepared retirement remarks:
“A pretty incredible run for a kid from Manassas, Virginia.”
A 30-Year Watch
Cooper entered the Navy while attending West Virginia University, taking his first oath on Sept. 25, 1996. He was commissioned through Officer Candidate School in 1998 and began his career as a surface warfare officer.
His first assignment was aboard the USS Carter Hall, where he served as the ship’s gunnery and force-protection officer.
Over the next three decades, Cooper rose through the ranks and completed four command assignments.
As commander of Patrol Coastal Crew Juliet, he commanded the patrol ships USS Squall and USS Firebolt. He later served as executive officer and commanding officer of the USS Oak Hill before becoming executive officer and then the 26th commanding officer of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp.
Cooper went on to serve as commodore of Amphibious Squadron Four, placing him in command of an amphibious group of Navy ships, Sailors and Marines prepared to respond to military and humanitarian missions around the world.
His commands were not simply entries on a résumé.
While commanding the USS Oak Hill in 2017, Cooper led the ship during hurricane-relief operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands following Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
The Oak Hill helped move heavy equipment ashore to clear roads so food, water and other life-sustaining supplies could reach communities devastated by the storms.
Years later, as commanding officer of the USS Wasp, Cooper led the ship through an 18-month maintenance period and major readiness inspections. Under his command, the Wasp also served as the flagship for Fleet Week New York in 2023 and represented the United States during the 50th anniversary of Bahamian independence.
As commodore of Amphibious Squadron Four, Cooper led the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group during a seven-month deployment with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in 2024.
The group operated throughout Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, participated in major NATO exercises and stood ready to respond to regional crises. Its Sailors and Marines also represented the United States during ceremonies in France marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Ashore, Cooper served on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations, the Joint Staff and in other senior positions supporting the surface fleet.
His final Navy assignment brought him to Washington, D.C., as director of the Senate Liaison Office within the Navy’s Office of Legislative Affairs.
For his work there, Cooper is receiving his third Legion of Merit, recognizing his role in strengthening relationships between the Navy, the United States Senate and other government partners.
It is an impressive résumé for anyone, especially a hometown kid from Manassas.
But Cooper’s own reflections on his career spend considerably more time talking about people than titles, ships or awards.
“People Are the Ship”
Looking back on 30 years of service and four command assignments, Cooper distilled his leadership philosophy into five lessons for those coming behind him.
The first was simple:
“People are the ship.”
Take care of Sailors and their families. Trust the Chief’s Mess. Build trust throughout the crew. Stay flexible when plans change. Take ownership of your attitude, preparation and effort.
For Cooper, those lessons were not separate from accomplishing the mission. They were the foundation of it.
He told those gathered for his retirement that, after all the commands and assignments, his greatest victory was “the privilege of serving alongside all of you.”
That theme runs throughout his retirement remarks.
He recognized the mentors who gave him opportunities, the chiefs who kept him on course, the Sailors and Marines who served beside him and the friends who remained connected no matter where the Navy sent him.
The People Who Stood the Watch With Him
No group receives more recognition from Cooper than his family.
His wife, Stephanie, and their sons, Tyler, Cristian and Cole, lived the other side of a 30-year military career: deployments, moves, missed birthdays, holidays apart and the uncertainty that comes with life attached to the fleet.
“A Sailor cannot weather 30 years at sea without a strong anchor at home,” Cooper wrote in his retirement program.
In his prepared remarks, Cooper described his sons as the anchor that kept him grounded. He said watching them grow into adults has been his greatest joy.
He reserved his most personal remarks for Stephanie, thanking her for the sacrifices that made his service possible.
“Thank you for walking this 30-year pier with me,” he told her.
Cooper also reflected on an unexpected benefit of his final assignment in Washington.
For the past two years, he lived locally as a geographic bachelor and stayed with his mother. He joked about being a 51-year-old Navy captain living at home while his mother still treated him as though he were 15.
Behind the humor, Cooper called her “my rock, my strength and my why.” He said the time they spent together is something he will cherish for the rest of his life.
After a career that took him around the world, Cooper’s final years in uniform brought him back close to where it all began.
Passing the Watch
One of the most significant moments of Cooper’s retirement ceremony will connect his service to the next generation.
His son Cristian is beginning his first year at the United States Naval Academy.
During the traditional reading of “The Watch,” the ceremony will recount the years Cooper spent standing watch while his family and fellow Americans slept, worked and went about their lives.
Then Cristian will approach his father, salute and deliver the words generations of retiring Sailors have heard:
“Captain Cooper, you stand relieved. We have the watch.”
It is difficult to imagine a more fitting conclusion to Cooper’s Navy career.
Thirty years ago, a young man from Manassas raised his hand and took an oath.
Since then, he has commanded American warships, led Sailors and Marines, delivered help to communities devastated by hurricanes, worked alongside American allies, supported senior Navy leaders and represented the service on Capitol Hill.
But when Cooper talks about what mattered most, he comes back to his family, his mentors, his Sailors and the people who traveled that path with him.
On Aug. 21, Navy tradition will mark the end of that journey with bells, sideboys and the boatswain’s pipe. Cooper will request permission to go ashore one final time and leave the ceremony with his family.
His official retirement follows Oct. 1.
After nearly 30 years of service, the watch is being passed, closing a remarkable Navy career that began with a hometown kid from Manassas and reached around the world.
