LONG BEACH : Naval Station Gets Its First Black Commander
In a historic ceremony at the Long Beach Naval Station Tuesday, the station’s first woman captain handed over command to its first black captain.
Capt. Isaiah John Jones, an Alabama native who began his 32-year Navy career at the Long Beach station, has returned as its skipper. Jones assumed the command held by Capt. Patricia A. Tracey, who became the second woman in Navy history to take charge of a station when she was assigned to Long Beach two years ago. Jones said the Long Beach command showed that the military offers equal opportunity to minorities.
The 50-year-old naval station, once the home base of more than 100 ships and a pillar of the Long Beach economy, is scheduled to be closed in 1996 as a result of budget cutbacks.
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