Coast Guard cutter Stratton changes command at anchor off Kotzebue

Capt. Matthew Press relieved Rear Adm. Dorothy Hernaez as commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton on Monday, in a ceremony aboard the 418-foot cutter at anchor off Kotzebue. Rear Adm. Jeffery Novak, deputy commander of Coast Guard Pacific Area, presided.

Hernaez took command in July 2025, though Coast Guard materials list her tenure as 2024 to 2026. She moves on to serve as judge advocate general. Under her command the crew ran interdiction operations and scored high on readiness assessments.

Press arrives from the National War College with a master's degree in national security strategy, after tours aboard the cutters Bertholf and Hamilton. The Legend-class Stratton was commissioned in 2012.

The Coast Guard keeps no permanent presence north of the Bering Strait. Its Kotzebue operation is seasonal, running July 1 through Oct. 31.

Willie Goodwin of the Arctic Waterways Safety Committee told senators in 2018 that the region needs "a consistent Coast Guard presence."