INDIAN ISLAND — Command of Naval Magazine Indian Island changed Friday during an official ceremony on the island.
Capt. Jonathan Kurtz, commanding officer since July 2004 of the Navy’s most strategically important weapons base on the West Coast, handed that role to Cmdr. George Whitbred during the morning ceremony.
Kurtz’s next assignment will be as commanding officer of Naval Weapons Seal Beach in Southern California.
Whitbred, a 41-year-old native of Campbell, N.Y., served on the staff of U.S. Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Norfolk, Va., as the Maritime Homeland Defense Special Operations Forces staff officer from 2003 to 2005.
He is a 2006 graduate of the Air War College, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in Strategic Studies.
‘Seamless transition’
Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan, D-Cape George, introduced himself to the new commander during the command change ceremony.
“I went because I wanted to put a face on the county government,” Sullivan said.
It’s crucial that communication between the community and the Navy be clear, said Sullivan.
Public interest heightened after the Navy announced late in 2005 that the Naval Magazine Indian Island would expand its mission to dock up to two nuclear-powered submarines annually at the loading pier, which can be seen from the city across Port Townsend Bay.
The submarines would be loaded and unloaded with conventional weapons, such as guided Tomahawk missiles and torpedoes.
No nuclear weapons would be involved, Kurtz has said.
Sullivan said he looks forward to working with Whitbred in the future.
“It’s very important that we cooperate on emergency management,” Sullivan said.
Commissioner Phil Johnson, D-Port Townsend, and Port Townsend Mayor Mark Welch also have been working with the Navy on public outreach by offering to produce taped interviews on PTTV with Kurtz.
The second of the shows was taped recently and will be aired at an as-yet unscheduled date on Channel 48, which is available only in Jefferson County.
Gary Lemons, station manager of PTTV, said he hopes to air the show, which he and a Navy communications officer are editing, by Friday.
Kurtz said the shows were a way to get information out to the public about the base, its environmental stewardship, its expanded mission and emergency response.
The shows will continue, said Chris Haley, public information officer for Navy Region Northwest, despite Kurtz’ transfer.
Although Johnson did not attend the ceremony, he said he’s sure he’ll have a chance to meet Whitbred in the future.
“I’ll make an effort to meet him,” said Johnson.
“I’ve had a very affable relationship with Capt. Kurtz and I think that would be good to continue [with Whitbred].”
Welch, who was also unable to attend the ceremony, had a similar perspective.
“I don’t see this as anything but a seamless transition.”
Kurtz oversaw the final stages of cleanup that led to the Island’s removal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List in 2005.
Before that, the 2,716-acre Island spent 11 years on the list of 19 Superfund sites of extreme pollution.
The base has 138 civilians and 10 military employees working on it.
It shares the island with wildlife that relies on critical habitat areas for forage, refugia, nesting materials and spawning areas.