Navy Command Passes From Husband to Wife

Jim and Kathy Donovan agreed it wouldn’t be proper Navy protocol to kiss, even for a husband and wife.

So when he handed his command to her Friday, they crisply saluted and then slapped hands in a high five.

Cmdr. Katherine M. Donovan, 40, relieved Cmdr. James M. Donovan Jr., 47, at the helm of Naval Ocean Processing Facility, Dam Neck. The change of command involving husband and wife may be a first for the Navy, a spokesman said.

The facility employs about 250 sailors performing undersea surveillance using sonar data gathered on the East Coast.

Co-workers have been known to mumble about a “Donovan dynasty,” Jim Donovan said with a smile. Last week, they gave the couple a pair of gold paper crowns.

In 1994, Jim Donovan became operations officer at the facility. When he left, Kathy Donovan spent a tour of duty there as second in command. Her husband took command of the facility in 1999.

Navy brass were originally concerned that Donovan’s wife might be reluctant to expose mistakes he might have made during his tour, Jim Donovan said. So he went to bat for her.

“It sounded like discrimination to me that she would not get the job only because she’s my wife,” he said.

The couple have been married 14 years and have two children.

Jim Donovan’s next job is chief of staff at a naval computer and telecommunications station at the Norfolk Naval Station.