Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach personnel held a change-of-command ceremony Thursday in San Pedro, where Capt. Rebecca E. Ore assumed command from Capt. Monica L. Rochester.
The Coast Guard 11th District Commander, Rear Adm. Peter W. Gautier, presided over the ceremony.
Rochester served as the Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach commander since June 2018. Under her command, the Coast Guard men and women of Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach conducted approximately 1,076 search-and-rescue cases saving 250 lives, assisting 738 people and preventing the loss of $4.4 million in property. As Captain of the Port, Rochester also ensured the safe delivery of 17.3 million containers representing 40 percent of all containerized cargo entering the United States.
The sector oversees four patrol boats, four 154-foot fast response cutters, three coastal small boat stations, a marine safety detachment, a vessel traffic system and an aids-to-navigation team.
“It has been a true honor to work alongside the Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach team,” said Rochester. “Their commitment and dedication is truly unmatched. This is an amazing region to have served as Captain of the Port, it is rich with a collegial and professional port community and fellow government agencies.”
Rochester was awarded the Legion of Merit for her meritorious service as the Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach commander and is expected to retire at a later date.
Ore previously served as the deputy commander for Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach since June 2018. The sector is a regional operational command responsible for maritime safety, security and environmental protection and law enforcement for an area spanning 350 miles along the California coast, from north of Morro Bay to south of San Clemente and encompassing the nation’s largest container port complex.
Ore is a graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy and holds a Master of Public Policy from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs. Before assuming duties as deputy commander at Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, Ore was a National Security Affairs Fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. She previously worked with maritime communities in the Pacific Northwest, the Port of New York and New Jersey, and Louisiana Gulf Coast to direct safety and security operations, develop response plans for contingencies and respond to disasters including Hurricane Katrina and Deepwater Horizon.
Ore’s public policy work includes Director for Maritime Security and Arctic Region Policy at the National Security Council, program examiner at the Office of Management and Budget, fellow on the United States House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Homeland Security and analyst in Coast Guard’s Office of Budget and Programs.
Annually, Coast Guard teams respond to 500 search and rescue cases, conduct over 1,500 exams and inspections aboard domestic and foreign vessels, oversee 28,000 vessel movements and investigate more than 500 marine casualty, enforcement and pollution events.
The change-of-command ceremony is a time-honored event preserved by the heritage of naval tradition. It is a custom that is formal, follows military protocol and is designed to strengthen the respect for the continuity of command that is vital to military organization. The culmination of the ceremony is reached when both officers read their orders, face one another, salute and transfer responsibility for the command. This provides the entire command with the knowledge that the officer, directed by proper authority, is taking command and provides an opportunity to witness this transfer of responsibility.
