BOSTON — the Coast Guard Cutter Spencer is scheduled to hold a change of command ceremony Thursday in Boston. During the ceremony, Cmdr. Peter Niles will be relieving Cmdr. Anthony Williams as the commanding officer of the Spencer.
The change of command ceremony is a time-honored military tradition. It is a formal ritual conducted before the assembled company of the command. It conveys to officers and enlisted personnel of the cutter that although the authority of command is relinquished by one person and assumed by another, it is still maintained without interruption.
The Coast Guard Cutter Spencer (WMEC-905) is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Boston. The keel was laid June 26, 1982 at Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated, Middletown, Rhode Island, and was commissioned into service June 28, 1986. Spencer participated in the search for a missing Air National Guard paratrooper during the 1991 “Perfect Storm.”
