Captain Gregg W. Baumann USN, Retired (ES ’85): Diving Deep Into a Fulfilling Career

By Elisabeth Costanzo Stewart

On March 26, 2024, the world awoke to the tragic news that the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which connected the Baltimore metropolitan area, collapsed after being struck by a large  container ship. By the time the general public pulled up news coverage of the collision, Retired U.S. Navy Captain Gregg W. Baumann (ES ’85) was already in Baltimore with the Resolve Marine team, strategizing a full-scale search, salvage, and refloat effort for the ship.  Baumann has been getting calls in the middle of the night for the past three decades. Some of these calls were widely reported, like the MV El Faro and FV Ehime Maru, but most are not on the radar of the general public. 

Baumann’s extensive career in Naval and private salvage and diving is one to be admired. SUNY Broome is honored to have been part of the fabric of Gregg Baumann’s unique story – a story in which a kid from Vestal studied Engineering Science, A.S. at SUNY Broome and, through a series of opportunities and challenges, entered the highly specialized and noble field of marine salvage.

Baumann was born in Utica, NY. When he was three, the Baumanns, like thousands of other Southern Tier families, moved to Vestal for his father’s job at IBM. Gregg and his older brother, Carl (BA ‘79), had the quintessential Broome County “IBM kid” childhood. Baumann excelled in math and science, was a member of Vestal’s soccer team, and worked at the Scotch’ N Sirloin, the region’s “it” steakhouse of that era. 

When Gregg was 17, he helped his father build a new home in Vestal, across the valley from Binghamton University. Never wanting his son to be idle, Mr. Baumann knew that the massive, long-term project would not only keep his son active, but also challenge Gregg’s mechanical mind. Building a home together didn’t just instill a strong work ethic; it also piqued Gregg’s innate interest in the fundamentals of understanding how things work.

After graduating from Vestal High School, Gregg felt that studying at SUNY Broome was the logical next step academically, financially, and geographically. He could live at home, fund his  degree through his earnings from “the Scotch,” and gain the foundation of his engineering education. At Broome, Baumann thrived in the small classroom environment of Engineering Science, A.S. The then naturally shy student loved that he could build relationships with his professors and classmates in a personal, low-key way. Through the mentorship of his professors, Gregg began to gravitate towards chemistry in relation to engineering. He graduated and followed his older brother’s path of transferring from Broome to Clarkson University to continue his studies in chemical engineering.

“Broome had an excellent transfer agreement with Clarkson University. Clarkson’s engineering programs had a great reputation, and the campus was within reasonable commuting distance from Binghamton,” Baumann explained. “By the time I graduated from Clarkson in the mid-1980s, the market was oversaturated with chemical engineers. We were a dime a dozen, and the few available jobs were not appealing. So I needed to regroup.”

Pre-IBM, Baumann’s father had served as an officer in the Navy, and he encouraged his son to consider spending a few years in the service as well. Gregg was adamant that he didn’t want to join the Navy’s nuclear program but compromised and began meeting with the Navy’s recruitment officer on campus. There are three routes to becoming an officer in the United States Navy. Prospective sailors can attend the U.S. Naval Academy, participate in their respective college/university’s Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program, or go through the Navy’s Officer Candidate School (OCS). 

Given that Baumann had already completed his bachelor’s degree, the OCS route to the Navy was most appropriate. Gregg spent the following four months immersed in the world of professional naval officership, learning the ins and outs of military life both at sea and ashore. After successfully completing his OCS training in Newport, RI, Baumann was advanced to the rank of ensign, the U.S. Navy’s junior officer role. 

As a chemical engineer, it made the most sense for Gregg to work on a steam propulsion ship. The newly commissioned ensign was ordered to rendezvous with the USS Gridley (CG-21), a guided missile cruiser. After flying to the Philippines and spending a week in a hotel in the jungle, Baumann was helicoptered to an oiler in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. From the oiler, he was airlifted and lowered by harness onto the USS Gridley. 

“As they lowered me down to the ship, I remember thinking, ‘If this is what the Navy is like, I’m all in!’” Baumann reflected. “I had never been on a ship before joining the Navy, so this almost cinematic entrance definitely made an impression.” 

Unfortunately for Gregg, monitoring the boilers on a steamship headed for the Persian Gulf mid-summer was not nearly as riveting as he had hoped. After two six-month deployments, Baumann confessed to his captain that perhaps life at sea wasn’t for him. He also enjoyed life on land. 

Not wanting to lose Baumann, his captain suggested several opportunities within the Navy, but none of the positions seemed to strike Gregg’s ideal pursuit of stretching his technical, analytical, and physical abilities. That was until his captain mentioned an opening for an engineering duty officer in the diving and salvage unit. With that, Gregg was off to a seven-month specialty diving training program in Panama City, FL. His enthusiasm grew with each day, thanks to the highly challenging and gratifying nature of the work. 

While most assume search and salvage means hunting for treasure or exploring war wreckage, the industry largely focuses on commercial shipping incidents. Just like cars and trucks on the road, vessels break down, run aground, catch on fire, collide, or simply need to be towed. The primary goal of salvage is the safety of life. After that, the focus shifts to the safety of the environment and the safety of the property. Every ship that enters U.S. waters is obligated by law to retain the services of a company like Baumann’s current employer, Resolve Marine, in case of emergency. 

To further his opportunities within the diving and salvage subset, Baumann returned to the classroom for two years to earn his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. Unlike a traditional mechanical engineering degree, Gregg’s program was a unique blend of mechanical engineering, naval architecture, and naval design – the ideal combination for a salvage engineer.  

After supporting numerous global marine salvage missions through various leadership roles, Captain Gregg Baumann was named as the Director of Ocean Engineering, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) in 2014. Based in Washington, D.C., Baumann managed a team of more than 500 military, civil servants, and subcontracted employees in domestic and international SUPSALV satellite locations. If the personnel responsibility and managing an annual budget of 120 million dollars wasn’t daunting enough, add talking to the media. 

“Most engineers are introverts, but the Director of SUPSALV role often required me to provide updates to the media,” Baumann explained. “I was on the shyer side in high school, but being in the military naturally forces you out of your shell into vocal, leadership roles. I never thought I would film segments for 60 Minutes, but that’s just part of the job.” 

Baumann retired from the Navy as the director in 2016 and transitioned to the commercial side of marine salvage. He currently serves as the Government Program Manager for Resolve Marine, a global marine salvage and emergency response company based in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Resolve Marine was tasked to refloat the ship in Baltimore Harbor, a large undertaking considering the amount of bridge material that landed on the ship. 

While Baumann admits that civilian life is a bit calmer than life in the Navy, he wholeheartedly believes in the military’s many perks. 

“Thanks to the Navy, my wife Dava and I were placed in the situation to adopt our two daughters, Yennifer and Leydi,” Baumann said. “Another perk of the military is tuition support. Leydi is using my Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits at the University of Pittsburgh, and Yennifer and my stepdaughter, Maya, are studying at our local community college, Northern Virginia Community College.” 

As Baumann reflects on his non-traditional, but deeply rewarding career, he can’t help but advocate for the power of mentorship. 

“You are constantly being mentored in the military, but that isn’t always the case on the civilian side of industries,” Baumann said. “I am so fortunate to have had wonderful mentors along the way, including my professors at SUNY Broome, who first encouraged my interest in chemistry. I hope that by sharing my story and information about my profession, a student may consider exploring options outside of the typical career paths, including a military career. If you put your heart and mind into it, the sky’s the limit.” 

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