Lt. John Stone ... USCGC Oliver Henry's New Commanding Officer
by U.S. Coast Guard CPO Lisa Ferdinando
October 1, 2026

Lt. John “Jack” P. Stone relieved Lt. Raymond J. Cerrato III as commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) during a change of command ceremony in Apra Harbor, Guam on August 21, 2026.

Cmdr. Grant Johnson, chief of response, U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/ Sector Guam, presided over the ceremony.

Cerrato, a native of Melbourne, Fla., led Oliver Henry through more than 75,000 nautical miles of operations across Oceania and the Micronesian subregion. During his command, the cutter conducted search and rescue missions, law enforcement, disaster response, diplomatic engagements and partner-nation operations in support of U.S. Coast Guard missions throughout the region.

During Cerrato’s three-year command, Oliver Henry and crew:

• Rescued 28 people in multiple\, multi-agency responses

• Responded to Super Typhoons Mawar and Sinlaku\, facilitating the reopening of critical ports in Rota and Tinian

• Delivered more than 45\,000 pounds of relief supplies to remote Pacific communities in support of Operation Rematau and in response to Super Typhoons Mawar\, Sinlaku\, and Bavi

• Conducted more than 30 Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission boardings

• Executed bilateral shiprider agreements with Palau\, FSM\, Marshall Islands and Kiribati to combat transnational criminal organization activity

• Executed the first U.S.-Kiribati shiprider agreement patrol in 8 years

• Made historic port calls ... including the first U.S. ship visit to Nauru (also known as the Republic of Naoero), and the first Coast Guard Fast Response Cutter visits to Tarawa and Rota

• Completed more than 60 professional exchanges with regional maritime police forces

Stone, a native of Atlanta, earned his commission in 2022 from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where he received a Bachelor of Science in management. He previously served aboard the Coast Guard cutter Mohawk (WMEC 913) as an electronics material officer, weapons officer and assistant operations officer.

In 2024, he began a two-year assignment aboard the U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge, where he served as a navigator.

Oliver Henry arrived in Guam Sept 2022, and is one of four Fast Response Cutters homeported in Guam, along with the Coast Guard cutter Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143), Coast Guard cutter Vincent Danz (WPC 1162), and Coast Guard cutter Myrtle Hazard (WPC 1139).

The cutter is named in honor of Oliver T. Henry, Jr., an African American enlisted Coast Guardsman who served from 1940 to1966. Henry broke the service’s color barrier after becoming the first African American to transfer from the mess steward rating, then an all-black rating, to another rating ... motor machinist.

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