Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Charlotte Oliver | KITTERY, Maine (May 28, 2025) - Captain Kenneth Sowell, left, salutes Rear Adm. Jorge...... read more read more
KITTERY, Maine (May 28, 2025) – Capt. Kenneth Sowell relieved Capt. Benjamin Wainwright as commander, Officer in Charge of Construction Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, during a change of command ceremony held May 28.
Rear Adm. Jorge Cuadros, commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Atlantic, and U.S. Fleet Forces Civil Engineer, presided over the ceremony and presented Wainwright with his end of tour award for his exceptional service.
Cuadros stressed the importance and magnitude of the level of work being performed at PNSY, including Wainwright’s oversight of a multibillion-dollar construction portfolio of critical industrial infrastructure, as part of the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP). SIOP is a comprehensive, long-term recapitalization effort that is delivering integrated investments in infrastructure and industrial plant equipment at the Navy’s four public shipyards, expanding shipyard capacity and optimizing shipyard configuration to meet the Navy’s nuclear-powered fleet maintenance requirements. Recapitalizing the shipyards' century-old infrastructure increases maintenance throughput and improves quality of service for the Navy’s 38,000 shipyard employees.
“Our public shipyards represent some of the largest projects we’ve ever taken on as a nation,” said Cuadros. “This is not business as usual, and you are not a business-as-usual team. We know what we are building here has a mission, and we are building it to support you, our shipyard partners; to provide you with world-leading shipyard facilities so that, in turn, you are able to keep these platforms ready for war.”
Cuadros praised Wainwright for outstanding leadership and highlighted many of his accomplishments at the shipyard.
“With very short notice, we asked Wainwright to move up here after arriving in Washington, D.C.,” Cuadros said. “You went without hesitation, the Navy needed you, NAVFAC needed you, this team needed you, and you answered the call. You drove your team to successfully navigate many first-of-their-kind scenarios and some of the most complex engineering challenges I’ve seen in 34 years in naval engineering.”
Wainwright is the third commanding officer since OICC PNSY stood up and now moves to be the next commanding officer of NAVFAC Southwest located in San Diego, California.
In his remarks, he emphasized teamwork and the resilience of his team, who never let any challenge keep them from completing the mission at hand.
“As commanding officer, I’m wrapping up a tour that was short in time, but long on complexity and long of the list of command accomplishments,” said Wainwright. “The award may be pinned on me, but it represents all the tremendous achievements of the OICC team, which is easy to do when you are surrounded by superstars. On my short watch, you’ve delivered $355 million in work in progress projects, we cut the ribbon on a $98 million waterfront support facility, replaced the Dry Dock 1 East caisson, and made auxiliary seawater environmental upgrades to Dry Dock 2. That’s not just execution, that’s domination.”
Wainwright also underscored the importance of ongoing and upcoming SIOP projects to the future of PNSY and the significant global impact they will have. He next welcomed Sowell.
Sowell thanked those in attendance, those who planned the ceremony and supported the event, and went on to thank Wainwright for his leadership.
“Thank you, Adm. Cuadros, for your years of mentorship and for entrusting me with this incredible opportunity,” said Sowell. “Since 1842, NAVFAC has existed to support the fleet. As Navy Civil Engineer Corps officers, that mission – to support the fleet – in ingrained in us from day one. It’s never been more relevant to me than it is here, where our success is so directly linked to the readiness and lethality of the submarine force. OICC will remain steadfastly aligned with your intent and we will deliver for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.”
Sowell, a native of Rolla, Missouri, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1991 and was commissioned as a naval officer through Navy Officer Candidate School in April 2004. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Engineering Management from various universities. He is also a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Sowell has served in operational, contingency, and shore installation assignments of increasing complexity and responsibility throughout his career as a Navy Civil Engineer Corp Officer. His most recent assignment was as Public Works Officer at Naval Station Rota, Spain.
“As Wainwright concludes a short but superb tour, we welcome Capt. Sowell to the OICC team,” said Cuadros. “I can’t think of a better successor to the great leaders we have had recently in Capt. Wainwright and in Capt. Brooks before him. Capt. Sowell, welcome to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and to the OICC. We are honored to have you take the helm.”
| Date Taken: | 05.28.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.29.2025 11:24 |
| Story ID: | 499174 |
| Location: | KITTERY, MAINE, US |
| Web Views: | 187 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, PNSY Hosts OICC Change of Command, by PO1 Charlotte Oliver, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
