KEY WEST, Fla. — Coast Guard Sector Key West welcomed its new commanding officer during a change of command ceremony Friday.
Capt. Aylwyn S. Young relieved Capt. Pat DeQuattro, as Commander, Coast Guard Sector Key West in a formal change of command ceremony presided over by Rear Adm. Bill Baumgartner, 7th Coast Guard District Commander.
Young’s previous assignment was as Executive Assistant to the Coast Guard Atlantic Area Commander. Young enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1978. He is a 1989 graduate of the Coast Guard’s Officer Candidate School and a former Chief Petty Officer, and he has more than 33-years of service in a variety of units.
Young is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Workforce Education and Development.
DeQuattro will be reporting to Coast Guard Headquarters to assume the duties as Executive Director to the Deputy Commandant for Mission Support.
The change of command ceremony is a time-honored tradition, which formally restates that the continuity of command will be maintained. It is a formal ritual, conducted before the assembled company of command. It conveys to the officers, enlisted personnel, civilian employees, and auxiliary members of the Coast Guard that although the authority of command is relinquished by one person and is assumed by another, it is still maintained without interruption.
During the ceremony, Baumgartner said, “As the Coast Guard, we protect the sea, we protect America from threats delivered by the sea and we protect the sea itself. No unit in the Coast Guard exemplifies this statement better than Sector Key West.”
Sector Key West is a unified command consisting of four patrol boats, eight dual crews, three small boat stations, an Aids to Navigation Team and three staff departments. The Sector Commander performs the duties of Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator, Captain of the Port, Federal Maritime Security Coordinator, Federal On-Scene Coordinator and Officer in Charge of Marine Inspections. Sector Key West has a unique area of responsibility; 55,000 square miles that borders the territorial seas of Cuba and the Bahamas.
