Vessel Profiles – Page 2 – Pacific Maritime Magazine

04 Mar

USCG Cutter Polar Star on Verge of World Record

Karen Robes MeeksNews, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

Crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Polar Star are working with Guinness World Records to become the new official record holders of being able to reach the planet’s southernmost navigable waters. While traveling the Bay of Whales in February, the Seattle-based cutter surpassed USCG cutter Polar Sea’s 1997 Guinness World Record, reaching “a position of 78 degrees, 44 minutes, 1.32 seconds south latitude at 12:55 p.m. (Feb. 17) New Zealand time, holding a distance of approximately 500 yards from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf,” according to the agency. Polar Star traveled in waters that used to…

11 Feb

USCG Cutter Active Returns to Washington Homeport

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

After 55 days supporting counterdrug missions off the Central American coast, crew members with the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Active returned to Port Angeles and their loved ones earlier this month. During their patrol on the 55-year-old medium-endurance cutter known as “Li’l Tough Guy,” crew members also took part in helicopter training and proficiency operations that resulted in qualifying and certifying eight pilots and certifying 18 shipboard aviation support crewmembers. Active also teamed up with Florida-based Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron and Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco. “The crew performed superbly in every assigned mission during this patrol, bringing their…

08 Feb

USCG Cutter Polar Star Makes It to Antarctica

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

On Feb. 7, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star made it to McMurdo Station in Antarctica for its annual participation in Operation Deep Freeze, which helps the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Antarctic Program’s lead agency. This is the 25th time the 399-foot, 13,000-ton Seattle-based Polar Star, the Coast Guard’s only heavy icebreaker, is supporting the mission, which involves cutting through ice as thick as 21 feet to clear a pathway for vessels to bring fuel and supplies to the station, considered the U.S. Antarctic Program’s logistics hub. Each year, the crew pilots the 399-foot, 13,000-ton cutter to break…

07 Dec

USCG Cutter Cypress Arrives in Kodiak, Alaska

Karen Robes MeeksNews, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

After traveling more than 7,600 nautical miles from the U.S. Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Coast Guard Cutter Cypress and her crew arrived at the vessel’s new homeport in Kodiak, Alaska on Sunday, Dec. 5. Cypress is replacing Coast Guard Cutter SPAR as the “Aleutian Keeper,” the 225-foot Juniper Class Buoy Tender, tasked with servicing buoys throughout Kodiak Island and the Aleutian chain. After being commissioned in 2001, Cypress was based in Mobile, Alabama, then in Pensacola, Florida managing navigational aids along 900 miles of coast from Apalachicola, Florida, to the Mexican border. The crew of Cypress assisted in hurricane…

12 Nov

USCG Cutter Polar Star To Journey to Antarctica

Karen Robes MeeksNews, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

On Saturday, crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star and various scientists are planning to embark on a journey from Seattle to Antarctica for Operation Deep Freeze, a mission to replenish the National Science Foundation’s U.S. Antarctic stations. They are expected to leave Saturday afternoon and make the annual trek with the help of Polar Star, America’s only heavy icebreaker able to carve out a path through ice as thick as 21 feet. They plan to replenish ships with fuel and supplies to reach McMurdo Station, the biggest Antarctic station and the U.S. Antarctic Program’s logistics base.…

09 Nov

USCG Cutter Juniper Returns to Hawaii

Karen Robes MeeksNews, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

After 45 days and 10,000 nautical miles patrolling Oceania for Operation ‘Aiga, crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Juniper recently returned to Honolulu. Operation ‘Aiga aimed to bring together Coast Guard capabilities and operations with Pacific Island area partners to accomplish shared national interests, protect against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and bolster maritime sovereignty in the region, according to the USCG. (‘Aiga is the Samoan word for ‘family.) While on patrol, Juniper crew members teamed with the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and worked with a U.S. Marine Corps linguist to question 11 foreign fishing…

20 Aug

USCG Cutters Midgett, Healy Patrol Bering, Chukchi Seas

Pacific MaritimeNews, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

As part of an effort to secure the Arctic and partner with their Canadian and Russian counterparts on common maritime interests, the crews of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Midgett and Healy teamed up this summer to patrol the Bering and Chukchi Seas off the Alaskan Coast. Late last month, Cutter Midgett, a national security cutter homeported in Honolulu, ran joint operations and training with the Canadian coast guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier in the Chukchi Sea, as well as partnered with Russian Border Guard vessel Kamchatka to patrol the U.S.-Russia maritime boundary north of the Diomede Islands. Midgett also…

27 Jul

USCG Cutter Healy Departs Seattle for Arctic

Pacific MaritimeNews, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

Earlier this month, crew members of the 420-foot-long medium polar icebreaker U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy left its Seattle homeport and embarked on its months-long deployment to the Arctic. The crew, which set out July 10, will be part of several science and research missions, further U.S. interests along the U.S.-Russia maritime border, conduct operations that “build preparedness, prevention and response capabilities,” and work and train with foreign Navy and patrol partners as part of its annual work in the region. Members will also sail around North America through the Northwest Passage and the Panama Canal and support the Coast Guard’s Arctic…

06 Jul

USCG Cutter Alex Haley Returns from Bering Sea Patrol

Pacific MaritimeNews, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

After 52 days patrolling the Bering Sea, the crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley returned last week to their homeport in Kodiak, Alaska. During their deployment, the crew of the 282-foot medium endurance cutter lent search and rescue support to fisheries in the region and patrolled the Aleutian chain, conducting 17 law enforcement boardings. They were there to enforce maritime law and regulation compliance and ensure that illegal harvesting of U.S. fish stocks was prevented by watching the maritime boundary line. “Assuming the duties as commanding officer of Alex Haley during a patrol afforded me the opportunity to learn a…

11 Jun

USCG Cutter Alert Undergoes Change of Command

Pacific MaritimeNews, PMM Online News, Vessel Profiles

Cmdr. Matthew Kolodica is now the commanding officer of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Alert and its crew following a change of command ceremony earlier this month. Kolodica takes the 210-foot medium endurance cutter from Cmdr. Tyson Scofield, who will report to the Eisenhower School of National Security and Resource Strategy in Washington, D.C. “It has been a privilege to lead the Alert crew over the last two years,” said Scofield. “Despite the challenges of the COVID pandemic, maintenance on a 52-year-old cutter, or the stormy conditions of the Pacific Northwest, this crew continuously rose to occasion to safely and successfully…