ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Coast Guard Capt. Catherine T. Carabine relieved Capt. William “Chip” A. Lewin II as commanding officer of Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City Friday during a change-of-command ceremony.
Rear Adm. Shannon N. Gilreath, commander of the 5th Coast Guard District, presided over the ceremony.
Carabine most recently served as the Assistant Chief of the Coast Guard Personnel Service Center’s Officer Personnel Management (OPM) Division where she was responsible for the personnel management actions for 8,500 officers, including all active-duty promotion boards and panels, evaluation, assignments, career counseling, accessions, promotion and separations.
Lewin assumed command of Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City in June 2020 and retired with nearly 28 years of active-duty military service.
As one of the oldest air stations in the Coast Guard, Air Station Elizabeth City has served the nation and citizens of North Carolina since 1940. It consists of 300 members operating a fleet of three MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters and five HC-130 Hercules airplane in the execution of maritime safety and security missions in the Atlantic region.
The change-of-command ceremony is a historic, time-honored military tradition representing the formal transfer of total authority and responsibility for a unit from one unit commander to another. This event reinforces the continuity of command and provides an opportunity to celebrate the crew’s accomplishments.