Crow takes command of USS Wasp

NORFOLK, Va. - Capt. Lowell D. Crow relieved Capt. Daniel H. Fillion Thursday during a change of command ceremony onboard the USS Wasp.

Crow, a native of Fort Lafayette, Indiana, becomes the USS Wasp's sixteenth Commanding Officer since the ship was commissioned in July, 1989.

Crow, a 1984 U.S. Naval Academy graduate, began his career in surface warfare aboard the dock landing ship USS Anchorage (LSD 36). His tours of duty include assignments with the USS New Jersey (BB 62), the USS Germantown (LSD 42), the USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52), the USS Ogden (LPD 5), as well as with the Amphibious School Little Creek, Va., U.S. Transportation Command, Commander Naval Base Pearl Harbor and Chief of Naval Operations Expeditionary Warfare Division.

Fillion expressed his gratitude to the crew and praised their successes while under his command.

"You amaze me with your teamwork - Wasp sailors always strive to build the team and to be a part of it," said Fillion. "Commanding Wasp was an amazing tour, and I will treasure it as the highlight of my career."

The USS Wasp is the lead ship of the Navy's eight Wasp-class multipurpose amphibious assault ships, and the tenth ship to bear that name.

Compiled from report by Specialist 1st Class Johnny Michael, USS Wasp