ALAMEDA, Calif. – Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau is scheduled to hold a change of command ceremony at 10 a.m., Friday held in its homeport of Alameda. Rear Adm. Timothy S. Sullivan, Coast Guard Pacific Area Deputy Commander will serve as the presiding official for the ceremony.
Capt. Anthony R. Gentilella will be relinquishing command to Capt. Douglas J. Smith as Commanding Officer of Morgenthau during a time-honored military tradition, which transfers total responsibility, authority and accountability of the unit from one individual to another.
Capt. Smith became the Commanding Officer of Morgenthau in July 2008 during a Change of Command ceremony that took place in the Republic of Singapore.
Capt. Gentilella is reporting from the Naval War College in Washington D.C., where he attended the Coast Guard Senior Service School.
Morgenthau is a 378- foot high-endurance cutter that routinely deploys for patrols in the Bering Sea and as far south as Central and South America. In the Bering Sea, Morgenthau performs search and rescue operations, as well as fisheries boarding’s to protect the abundance of fish in U.S. waters. In the Southern Pacific, Morgenthau’s mission primarily focuses on preventing illegal immigration into the U.S. and supporting the Coast Guard’s counter-narcotics mission. Patrolling the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean, Morgenthau has traveled more than 47,000 nautical miles throughout Capt. Smith’s tenure.
In 2008, Morgenthau traveled to Southeast Asia to assist, train, and teach law enforcement techniques to naval forces in the East Asian littoral. During a drug interdiction patrol off the Coast of Mexico in early 2009, Morgenthau seized $32 million worth of cocaine. Over the last year, Morgenthau deployed on two Alaska patrols encompassing 148 days away from homeport. Morgenthau conducted search and rescue cases and fishery enforcement boardings in some of the most challenging environmental conditions during these two patrols. Today, Morgenthau continues to set the standard in accomplishment of the Coast Guard’s traditional missions as well as those that have gained significance in the wake of the September 11th attacks and the emergence of the Department of Homeland Security.
