JUNEAU -- The Sitka-base Coast Guard cutter Maple is getting a new commander.

KINY-radio reports Lt. Cmdr. Fred Seaton will take over for Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Gray in a ceremony Thursday.

Gray has commanded the 225-foot Maple since 2009. The Maple is a Juniper-Class buoy tender that was commissioned in 2001.

Gray is being reassigned to the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va.

Seaton most recently was assigned to Seattle. He was the operations officer for the cutters Polar Star and Polar Sea. Seaton spent four years in the Air Force. He enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1992.