Photo Release: Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane holds change-of-command ceremony in Portsmouth, VA

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Photo Release  

July 18, 2017
U.S. Coast Guard 5th District Mid-Atlantic
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Photo Release: Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane holds change-of-command ceremony in Portsmouth, VA

From left to right, Coast Guard Cmdr. John D. Cole, Vice Adm. Karl L. Schultz and Cmdr. Gregory M. Tozzi pause for a photo during Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane's change-of-command ceremony at Coast Guard Base Portsmouth, Virginia,  July 18, 2017. Schultz, commander, Atlantic Area, presided over the ceremony, during which Tozzi relieved Cole as commanding officer of the  Harriet Lane. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Fireman Aidan Cooney/Released)

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PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Coast Guard Cmdr. Gregory M. Tozzi relieved Cmdr. John D. Cole as commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane during a change-of-command ceremony on Base Portsmouth, Tuesday.

Vice Adm. Karl L. Schultz, commander, Atlantic Area, presided over the ceremony.

While under Cole’s command, the Harriet Lane crew spent 388 days away from homeport, sailed over 45,000 nautical miles, seized 2,280 pounds of cocaine, conducted four search and rescue cases and repatriated 237 Cuban migrants. 

Cole’s next assignment will be serving as the Coast Guard’s military fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Tozzi most recently served as the senior military fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C. He is a designated cutterman and surface warfare officer. Tozzi previously served on Coast Guard Cutters Bertholf, Dallas and Morgenthau, as well as USS Bunker Hill.

The change-of-command ceremony is a time-honored tradition which formally restates that the continuity of command will be maintained and is a formal ritual conducted before the assembled unit.

It conveys to the officers, enlisted members, civilian employees and auxiliary members of the Coast Guard that although the authority of command is relinquished by a leader and is assumed by another, it is still maintained without interruption.

Coast Guard Cmdr. John D. Cole conducts the personnel inspection of the Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane crew during the cutter's change-of-command ceremony on Base Portsmouth, Virginia, July 18, 2017. Cmdr. Gregory M. Tozzi relieved Cole as commanding officer of the Harriet Lane. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Fireman Aidan Cooney/Released)

 

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