PORT ANGELES — The cutter Active has a new commander.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Christofer German relieved Cmdr. Benjamin Berg as commanding officer of the 210-foot-long vessel in a formal ceremony at Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles on Friday.
German was previously assigned as executive officer of the cutter Mellon, a vessel homeported in Seattle.
The Active is a medium-endurance cutter homeported in Port Angeles.
German became the 26th commander of the Active since it was commissioned in 1966.
Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro, deputy commander of the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area, presided over the change of command.
Berg sailed more than 58,000 nautical miles — nearly three times around the globe — in two years commanding the Active.
He led the 75-member crew through six counter-narcotics patrols, resulting in the interdiction of seven drug-smuggling vessels, the detention of 12 suspects and the seizure of more than 10,500 pounds of contraband, Coast Guard officials said.
Berg will now report to the 13th Coast Guard District in Seattle as the chief of planning for contingency preparedness and force readiness.
After joining the Coast Guard, German served as deck watch officer, weapons officer and first lieutenant on the Astoria, Ore.-based cutter Alert.
He was executive officer and commanding officer of the Coos Bay, Ore.-based cutter Orcas and executive officer of Astoria-based cutter Steadfast before his assignment on the Mellon, according to a biography.
An Idaho native, German has served more than a decade at sea and held numerous leadership positions on shore.
Last month, the cutter returned to Port Angeles after seizing more than 3,500 pounds of cocaine during a two-month deployment off the coasts of Central and South America.
