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Photo Release: Coast Guard Base Portsmouth changes command

March 27, 2015

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Coast Guard personnel at Base Portsmouth held a change-of-command ceremony Friday in Portsmouth. Capt. Brenda Kerr assumed the duties and responsibilities as commanding officer of Base Portsmouth from Capt. Joel Dolbeck.  Rear Adm. Thomas W. Jones, Coast Guard director of operational logistics, presided over the ceremony. Kerr's previous assignments include two tours aboard Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma, as well as tours aboard cutters Vindicator and Jarvis. Kerr graduated in 1991 from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. She subsequently earned a master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana, Ilinois. Base Portsmouth's crew's mission is to coordinate regional mission support activities within the 5th Coast Guard District's area of responsibility. The crew provides medical, communication, engineering, personnel and logistical support for more than 160 Coast Guard units from Philadelphia to Fort Macon, North Carolina, including six medium-endurance cutters and two buoy tenders homeported at the base. Base Portsmouth was established in 1972 at the mouth of Craney Island Creek. Situated on 187 acres with more than 30 buildings, the base currently houses more than 1,700 active-duty, civilian, reservist and contract personnel.

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