Submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) held a change-of-command ceremony Oct. 21.

Capt. Douglas A. Bradley relieved Capt. Mark A. Prokopius and became the 25th commanding officer of Emory S. Land.

Prokopius commanded Emory S. Land for more than 14 months. Under his leadership, Emory S. Land successfully completed a five-month deployment, executed a homeport shift from Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory to Guam, and assumed lead maintenance responsibilities on the Guam waterfront -- successfully completing several extensive maintenance availabilities for forward-deployed submarines.

For his accomplishments, Prokopius was awarded the Legion of Merit by Rear Adm. Frederick J. Roegge, commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (SUBPAC) during the ceremony. Prokopius has been assigned to the staff of Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic.

Bradley served aboard attack submarines USS Philadelphia (SSN 690), USS Memphis (SSN 691), USS La Jolla (SSN 701), guided-missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN 728), and served at Naval Submarine School. He also served at Submarine Squadron 7; Submarine Force Pacific Fleet; Office of the Secretary of Defense's Director, Operational Test and Evaluation; and Naval Reserve Battle Group Staff Unit 306 before taking command of Emory S. Land.

Emory S. Land is one of two forward-deployed, expeditionary submarine tenders homeported in Guam, conducting maintenance on submarines and surface ships in the U.S. 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operations.

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