Change-Of-Command Ceremony Held At U.S.S. Constitution

BOSTON (AP) — The U.S.S. Constitution's new commander is another native New Englander.

Cmdr. Sean Kearns was handed command of the historic warship docked at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston in a rainy onboard change-of-command ceremony Friday morning.

Kearns, from Hampden, Maine, takes over from Cmdr. Matt Bonner, a Meredith, N.H., native who is moving on to a job at the Pentagon.

Kearns holds degrees from Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He recently completed a tour at the Surface Warfare Officers School Command in Newport, R.I.

As commander, Kearns' duties are to protect, promote and preserve the wooden warship and oversee a crew of about 75 active-duty sailors.

The Constitution is the world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat, and sails in Boston Harbor several times per year.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.