Commanding Officer Hands Over Reins of Cutter Escanaba

The commanding officer of the Boston-based Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba relieved of duties in a change of command on August 8, at the Coast Guard Integrated Support Command in the North End. Cmdr. James B. McPherson will relieve Cmdr. Brian D. Perkins as the commanding officer of the Escanaba in a formal ceremony presided over by Vice Adm. James D. Hull, operational commander of all Coast Guard activities on the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. The ceremony restates the continuity of the commanding officer's authority and represents a total transfer of accountability from one individual to another. Perkins is transferring to the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., where he will assume the duties of the Coast Guard liaison officer to the Navy Warfare Command. McPherson comes to the Escanaba from his position as chief of media relations at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In the past two years the crew of the Escanaba has completed more than 100 law enforcement boardings, numerous search and rescue cases, and hundreds of helicopter operations. In addition, Escanaba men and women have intercepted hundreds of illegal migrants in violation of U.S. immigration laws.