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Press Release | July 8, 2024

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Coast Guard Sector Boston to conduct change-of-command ceremony

WHO: Captain Kailie J. Benson, Coast Guard Sector Boston Commander; Captain Jamie F. Frederick, the incoming Sector Boston Commander

WHAT: Coast Guard Sector Boston change-of-command ceremony

WHEN: Friday, July 12 at 10 a.m.

WHERE: Coast Guard Base Boston at 427 Commercial Street, Boston MA

Editor’s Note: Media interested in attending should RSVP to the Coast Guard at (617) 212-7853 or the Coast Guard Sector Boston Public Affairs Officer at sectorbostonpa@gmail.com by July 10. Media should be prepared to show media credentials and a government issued photo ID to gain access to the base. Entry to the base will be allowed on the day of the event at 9:00 a.m.

BOSTON — Coast Guard Sector Boston is scheduled to conduct a change-of-command ceremony Friday at Base Boston. The change-of-command ceremony marks a transfer of total responsibility and authority from one individual to another. It is a time-honored military tradition conducted before the assembled crew, as well as honored guests and dignitaries, to formally demonstrate the continuity of the authority within a command.

During the ceremony, Captain Kailie J. Benson is scheduled to transfer command to Captain Jamie C. Frederick where he will become the 8th Commander of Coast Guard Sector Boston. Sector Boston was created in 2005 by combining Marine Safety Office and Group Boston to consolidate federal authorities to one operational commander.

Captain Benson assumed the duties as Commander of Sector Boston in 2021. Since that time, she directed all Coast Guard missions from Plymouth, Massachusetts to the New Hampshire state border, and all waters extending 200 nautical miles offshore. She commanded over 1,500 active duty, reserve, civilian and auxiliary personnel, and employed 7 cutters and 22 boats across 4 multi-mission stations and an Aids to Navigation Team to protect and secure vital infrastructure, rescue mariners in peril at sea, enforce federal law, maintain our navigable waterways, and respond to all hazards impacting the maritime transportation system and coastal region. Following the change-of-command ceremony, she will celebrate her retirement from the Coast Guard with a formal retirement ceremony after 31 years of service.

Captain Frederick arrives at Sector Boston after serving as the Enforcement Branch Chief at the First Coast Guard District, where he provided oversight of maritime law enforcement, security operations, and cutter management across the Northeast. Additionally, he served as Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator and Active Search Suspension Authority, including overseeing search efforts for the TITAN submersible that went missing near the Titanic site in June 2023.

The institutions that form the modern-day Coast Guard were born in Boston. The first commissioned cutter in the Revenue Cutter Service, the MASSACHUSETTS, was built in Newburyport in 1789, homeported in Boston, and commanded by Boston-born John Foster Williams; his final resting place is in the North End within sight of Sector Boston. Fabled lifesaver, Joshua James, served in the surfboat services from 1841 starting at age 15 until his death in 1902 at the age of 75; he was personally credited with over 200 lives saved. He commanded the Point Allerton Lifesaving Station in Hull, Massachusetts in 1889 at age 62 and died on the beach after drilling with his hand-rowed surf boat crew. During his 13-year command, his station was credited with 540 lives saved. The Coast Guard operates a station at Point Allerton to this day. The nearby Boston Lighthouse celebrated its 300th anniversary in September 2016 and was the first light house constructed in the United States and the last one continually manned – or “wo-manned” by Keeper Sally Snowman - who retired from federal service at the end of last year. Built in 1716 on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor, it was destroyed by withdrawing British forces in 1776 during the Revolutionary War, and later reconstructed to the same exact dimensions in 1783 by the Massachusetts government. The Light was ceded to the United States government in 1790 and was administered under several Lighthouse bureaus before being made part of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1942. The Aids-to-Navigation Team from Sector Boston cares for the light to this day. Boston’s strategic importance was further underscored during both World Wars, where it served as a crucial hub for maritime defense and operations.

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