On Wednesday, the new, high-tech training facility to train U. S. Coast Guard and Navy crews in communications, operations and technical systems on the new National Security Class Coast Guard cutters and U.S. Navy littoral combat ships. will be dedicated at Coast Guard Training Center Petaluma.
Onhand for the dedication will be the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard – Vice Admiral Vivian Crea, Rear Admiral Jody Breckenridge- Commander, Eleventh Coast Guard District and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard – Charles “Skip” Bowen.
The facility is being named for the late Charles L. Calhoun who served as the first Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard from 1969-1973. A WW II veteran, he had more than 30 years of Navy and Coast Guard service, including 14 years at sea. Calhoun, who retired in 1973, lived for many years just a few miles up the road in Santa Rosa, Calif.
The office of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard was established by legislative action on August 27, 1969 to provide the Commandant with a personal advisor and assistant in matters affecting the enlisted members of the Coast Guard, both active and reserve, and their families.
The first National Security Class cutter, USCGC Bertholf, still under construction, will be homeported in Alameda, Calif.
