HONOLULU — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (WMSL 756) held a change of command ceremony, Friday, on Coast Guard Base Honolulu.
Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson, deputy commander of U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area, presided over the ceremony in which Capt. Bob Kinsey relieved Capt. Tom D’Arcy as Kimball’s commanding officer.
D’Arcy served as Kimball’s commanding officer from June 2021 to July 2023, sailing over 66,000 nautical miles to nine ports and three foreign countries. Spanning the vast Pacific Ocean, D’Arcy led Kimball on patrols in the Arctic Circle, Bering Sea, Eastern Pacific, and Western Pacific.
In support of the Joint Interagency Task Force-South, Kimball and crew were responsible for the seizure and handling of $223 million worth of illegal narcotics. While patrolling in the Bering Sea, Kimball’s crew intercepted a combined Russian and Chinese naval surface action group operating along the Aleutian Island chain. Meeting presence with presence, Kimball’s crew supported Operation Frontier Sentinel, followed the activity and ensured the maritime rules-based order was upheld.
Most recently, Kimball deployed to Kagoshima, Japan, in support of Operation SAPPHIRE (Solid Alliance for Peace and Prosperity with Humanity and Integrity on the Rule of law-based Engagement), where the crew enhanced interoperability with the Japan Coast Guard through a series of in port and at-sea cooperative maritime engagements.
Under Capt. D’Arcy’s leadership, Kimball earned a Unit Commendation, the Overall Operational Readiness Excellence Award, a Special Operations Service Ribbon for the 2022 Eastern Pacific patrol, an Arctic Service Medal for the 2022 Alaska Patrol, and the 2022 Rear Admiral R. S. Lucas Plaque award for Engineering Afloat Excellence.
“To my Kimball ‘Ohana, thank you,” said D’Arcy. “I am continuously amazed with your outstanding work ethic, positive attitudes, and the care you provide for each other. It is a bittersweet feeling that my seagoing career is coming to an end; however, being a part of this crew has been one of the greatest honors of my career.”
D’Arcy next assignment is to serve as the Fourteenth District’s Chief of Response, facilitating partnerships with Pacific Island Nations, and directing operations in an area of responsibility encompassing Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa.
Kinsey reports to Kimball from the Seventh District where he was the Enforcement Branch Chief, where he led the nation’s whole of government operational response to the largest maritime migration surge in over 20 years and directed all maritime response operations during hurricanes Ian, Fiona, and Nicole and the response to the devastating 2021 Haiti earthquake. Kimball will be Kinsey’s eighth ship and third command. His previous commands were aboard the Coast Guard Cutters Sapelo (WPB 1314) and Mohawk (WMEC 913).
The change of command ceremony is a time-honored tradition and formal ritual conducted before the assembled company of a command to confirm to the unit’s men and women that the authority of command is maintained. The ceremony is a transfer of total responsibility, authority, and accountability from one individual to another.
Commissioned in 2019, Kimball is one of two Coast Guard legend-class national security cutters homeported in Honolulu. National security cutters are 418 feet long, 54 feet wide and has a top speed in excess of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 nautical miles, endurance of up to 90 days and can hold a crew of up to 170. The advanced technologies of the national security cutter class ships are designed to support the national objective to maintain the security of America’s maritime boundaries and provide long range search and rescue capabilities.
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