CAPE MAY, N.J. – The 44-year-old Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous is scheduled to hold a change-of-command ceremony Thursday at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May at 10 a.m.
Cmdr. Gregory H. Magee will turn over command of the cutter to Cmdr. Terry Johns.
Johns recently served as director of the Coast Guard Auxiliary for the Fifth Coast Guard District, Northern Region, where he was responsible for policy, training and readiness of more than 2,600 Auxiliarists who support the Coast Guard.
Magee is transfering to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., where he will study strategic leadership.
“I’m extremely proud of the crew of Vigorous and their efforts in going above and beyond to keep a 44-year-old cutter operational,” said Magee. “Their efforts overcame numerous challenges, including two hurricane evacuations to ensure we were ready for patrol.”
Under Magee’s command, the 80-person Vigorous crew served as on-scene commander for the cruise ship Carnival Triumph rescue and conducted a six-day escort of the ship to Mobile, Ala. They also conducted six search and rescue cases resulting in five lives saved, interdicted 112 Haitian migrants and embarked an additional 60 from another cutter, all of whom were repatriated to Haiti, and interdicted a coastal freighter with a hidden compartment containing 145 pounds of cocaine and 245 pounds of marijuana.
Medium endurance cutters like the Vigorous are built for multi-week offshore patrols including operations requiring enhanced communications, and helicopter and pursuit boat operations, which provide a key capability for homeland security missions at sea.
The Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous, homeported in Cape May, N.J., escorts the Carnival cruise ship Triumph, in the Gulf of Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. (U.S Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer2nd Class Dwayne Bradley)
The 210-foot Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous, homeported in Cape May, N.J., is moored along a pier at Grand Turk, in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Chris Pinaula)
Cmdr. Gregory H. Magee, the commanding officer of the 210-foot Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous, homeported in Cape May, N.J., poses for a photo aboard the cutter, Feb. 2, 2012. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
Crewmembers aboard the 210-foot Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous, homeported in Cape May, N.J., moor up, April 1, 2013, after a two-month patrol of the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. . (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Cynthia Oldham
