JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – U.S. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville held a change-of-command ceremony Thursday morning at Naval Station Mayport.
Capt. Janet D. Espino-Young relieved Capt. Mark R. Vlaun as the Sector Commander of Coast Guard Jacksonville.
Commander of Coast Guard Seventh District Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson presided over the ceremony.
According to a news release, Espino-Young previously served as the prevention division chief at Coast Guard District Seven.
Vlaun’s retirement ceremony preceded the changing of commands. He retired after 28 years of service. He was joined by his wife and two children to receive many awards such as a Certificate of Participation from his crew and an acknowledgment of service from President Joe Biden.
“During Capt. Vlaun’s tenure, this sector marked several firsts. Sector Jacksonville is the Coast Guard’s premier expert in space launch recovery safety as well as safety policy development. You were faced with the exponential growth of government and commercial space launches and you tackled it head-on these past few years,” McPherson said. “You safely assisted in the execution of the first launch and recovery of NASA-sponsored astronauts on commercially provided rockets, the first space tourism launch and recovery, and the first limitation of a coast guard safety zone within international waters.”
Vlaun has also been front and center for big incidents such as missing firefighters lost at sea, a plane that slid off the Naval Air Station Jacksonville runway into the St. Johns River in 2019, a diver who went missing off the coast of Mayport in 2021 and countless more.
Sector Jacksonville is responsible for all Coast Guard mission programs in the Jacksonville Captain of the Port Zone, including maritime law enforcement, maritime response, maritime prevention, marine transportation systems management, maritime security operations, and defense operations.
Sector Jacksonville’s area of responsibility encompasses 40,000 square miles of ocean and inland waterways.
Within the sector’s AOR are 190 miles of coastline stretching from King’s Bay, Georgia, to Port Malabar, Florida. Along this coastline are 10 inlets, which provide safe passage to inland waterways. Inland waters within the AOR include 248 miles of the Intracoastal waterway, 161 miles of the St. John’s River, and numerous rivers, creeks, and marshes.
Also located within the AOR are five Department of Defense installations, the U.S. Eastern Space and Missile Center, the Naval Ordnance Test Unit, Kennedy Space Center and three major ports including Fernandina, Jacksonville, and Port Canaveral.