BRUNSWICK

Capt. Robert Crowe on Friday retired with all the pomp and circumstance befitting a 27-year career in the Navy — the last three of which were spent as the Supervisor of Shipbuilding at Bath — at a ceremony at Waterfront Park.

Crowe’s final assignment, the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Bath, or SUPSHIP, collaborates with Bath Iron Works and other shipyards to build, modernize and repair warships such as the Arleigh Burke and Zumwalt-class destroyers.

Crowe oversaw the delivery of seven vessels during his tenure from 2011 until now.

The most high-profile ship constructed at BIW during Crowe’s tenure was the stealth destroyer Zumwalt.

The change of command comes at challenging financial time for BIW, which last month notified 53 workers they were being laid off due to lack of work at the yard, according to a report in the Bangor Daily News.

The Zumwalt, the first of its class, has also come under fire from lawmakers who balk at its $3.3 billion price tag.

Echoing remarks made at Zumwalt’s christening earlier this year, Crowe said, “The Navy need these ships.”

Crowe came from a military family and said he endured ribbing from relatives with careers in the Army and Marines for choosing to go Navy.

His nearly three-decade career took him around the world. Crowe recalled steering a ship tethered to an oiler at 2 a.m. through the Bering Sea to transporting personnel to Saudi Arabia shortly after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Crowe said he has always tried to follow advice given to him by a former commanding officer to “always know your course” to get to safe waters.

“I got to work with the finest of shipbuilders in the United States,” said Crowe. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve as your commanding officer.”

Vice Adm. William Hilarides called Crowe’s departing “bittersweet.”

Those sentiments were echoed in a poem recited by Chief Petty Officer Robert Whynot: “For 27 years he stood the watch so that our fellow countrymen could sleep soundly in safety each night, knowing that he stood the watch.”

Crowe’s service in the Navy began at a time when the Soviets were still considered “the evil empire” and when the Navy was patrolling the Black Sea in order to “keep an eye on Russia.”

“Funny how history repeats itself,” Hilarides said.

Crowe has been “an incredible officer” who had undertaken massive responsibilities as SUPSHIP, said Hilarides. “It’s only right that we celebrate that service.”

“There’s a new guy responsible for whatever bad is happeneing over our shoulder,” Hilarides joked, chucking a thumb in the direction of BIW.

Capt. Michael Taylor is succeeding Crowe in overseeing 290 military and civilian personnel at four shipyards throughout the U.S., including BIW.

Taylor was described by Hilarides as “a leader who knows how to get things done.”

Taylor, who was previously assigned to SUPSHIP Bath from 2002 to 2009, said he remembered looking over the Kennebec River and dreaming about becoming the SUPSHIP at Bath.