COMMANDING OFFICER
Commander Ryan Kelley
Commander Ryan Kelley graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 2004 with a degree in Business Management. His first assignment was as a Deck Watch Officer aboard USCGC Chase (WHEC 718), homeported in San Diego, CA. After CHASE, CDR Kelley assumed command of USCGC Manowar (WPB 87330) homeported in Galveston, TX in July 2006. After a successful two-year tour as Commanding Officer he reported to the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area - Force Allocation branch in Alameda, California .
Following his tour at PACIFIC AREA, CDR Kelley assumed the role of Operations Officer onboard USCGC Boutwell (WHEC 719) homeported in San Diego, CA. CDR Kelley served onboard Boutwell from July 2012 to June 2014 completing three patrols in the Eastern Pacific in support of Joint Interagency Task Force South counter narcotics missions and one deployment in the Bering Sea in support of the Coast Guard’s Seventeenth District Search and Rescue and Living Marine Resource protection missions.
After his tour as the Operations Officer on the Boutwell, CDR Kelley attended San Diego State University, where he graduated with a Master of Arts in Communication in May of 2016. Following post-graduate school he reported to the Coast Guard’s Seventh District in Miami, Florida where he directed public communication and media relations as the Public Affairs Officer for District Seven from July of 2016 until May of 2019. CDR Kelley departed District Seven in the spring of 2019 to serve as the Executive Officer on the USCGC Confidence (WMEC 619), homeported in Cape Canaveral, Florida, from May of 2019 to May of 2021. This tour was highlighted by the opportunity to conduct multi-mission patrols in both the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific theaters conducting maritime border security and law enforcement missions. Following his tour on the Confidence, CDR Kelley attended the Naval War College from 2021 to 2022 and graduated with a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies. CDR Kelley assumes command of CGC Thetis (WMEC 910) after serving two years (2022 - 2024) in the Coast Guard Headquarters Office of Emerging Policy (DCO-X) in Washington, DC, where he was responsible for helping develop Service strategy and policy and integrating strategic foresight into Service culture.
CDR Kelley was born in Frankfort, Germany to a U.S. Army family and attended high school in Brandenburg, Kentucky where he met his wife Ginny (Bruington) Kelley, who is also from Brandenburg. They join the Thetis family with their son Chase and dog O’Honey.