KODIAK, Alaska — Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley (WMEC-39) and crew held a change of command ceremony, Thursday, in Kodiak.
Vice Adm. Andrew Tiongson, commander, Coast Guard Pacific Area, presided over the ceremony where Cmdr. Stephen Brickey relieved Cmdr. Steven Baldovsky as the commanding officer of the Alex Haley. The change of command ceremony is a military tradition representing a formal transfer of authority and responsibility for a unit from one commander to another.
Brickey reported to Alex Haley having most recently served as the Press Assistant to the Commandant of the Coast Guard. He previously commanded Coast Guard Cutter George Cobb (WLM 564) and Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock (WLB 214). “Alex Haley is renowned for ensuring America’s maritime safety, economic prosperity, and national security throughout Alaskan waters and the Bering Sea,” said Brickey. “I am deeply honored to join the crew and execute the Coast Guard’s enduring missions to control, secure, and defend America’s border and maritime approaches.”
Under Baldovsky's leadership from June 2023 to June 2025, Alex Haley made five deployments to the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean and was the first cutter to win back-to-back Captain Hopely Yeaton Cutter of the Year Awards. In addition to protecting U.S. interests and sovereignty, Alex Haley conducted over 100 living marine resource law enforcement boardings across the infamous Bering Sea to help safeguard Alaska’s $5 billion fisheries industry. Most notably, Alex Haley saved and assisted 11 lives and received an International Maritime Organization Letter of Commendation for bravery during the heavy weather rescue of F/V Aleutian No. 1 along the Aleutian Islands.
“The ‘Bulldog of the Bering’ is a one-of-a-kind cutter with an incredible legacy of service to Alaska and the Bering Sea,” said Baldovsky. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to operate and sail throughout such a breathtaking and dynamic region, while executing core Coast Guard missions, with such an amazing can-do crew.”
Alex Haley is a 282-foot Medium Endurance Cutter that performs search and rescue, fisheries law enforcement, and maritime security and has been homeported in Kodiak, Alaska since 1999.