uscg – Page 4 – Pacific Maritime Magazine

29 Nov

Coast Guard Rescues Mariners Stranded Near Santa Cruz Island

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newsrescue, uscg

A pair of stranded mariners were able to make it home for Thanksgiving with help from the U.S. Coast Guard, the agency said Friday, Nov. 25. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles–Long Beach command center were alerted to an activated Digital Selective Calling (DSC) distress signal near Santa Cruz at 10 a.m. on Nov. 24. After making radio calls on VHF Channel 16, watchstanders figured out that the signal was coming from sailing vessel LULA, which ran aground in the area. Coast Guard officials deployed a helicopter from Forward Operating Base Point Mugu and a 45-foot response vessel…

22 Nov

Alaska Coast Guard Sector Helps Battle Tanker Fire

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newsatlanticlily, uscg

U.S. Coast Guard members in Alaska, with the help of the Port of Alaska and the Anchorage Fire Department, battled a fire the night of Nov. 18 on the Atlantic Lily, a 600-foot foreign-flagged tank vessel. Crew members used fire hoses to put out the fire, which apparently occurred around 10 p.m. when “thick, black smoke was seen billowing from the exhaust stack,” followed “by a loud boom and flames,” according to the Coast Guard. The vessel was apparently transferring jet fuel at the time, the Guard said. USCG said there were no injuries or pollution reported at the time…

18 Nov

Coast Guard Seeks Public Input on Proposed Seattle Base Expansion

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newsseattlebase, uscg

On Friday, Nov. 18, the U.S. Coast Guard has a public meeting scheduled to discuss the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Coast Guard Base Seattle expansion. The meeting is planned for 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Jackson Federal Building’s South Auditorium in Seattle, the agency announced. The goal of the draft statement is to look into possible “environmental and socioeconomic impacts, and identifies related mitigation measures, associated with land acquisition, facility and infrastructure modernization, and continued operation to support current and future Coast Guard missions at Base Seattle,” according to the Guard. The public can view…

15 Nov

USCG Cutter Healy Returns to Seattle

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newscutterhealy, uscg

After 17,000 nautical miles and 124 days at sea, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy has returned to its Seattle homeport, the Guard announced Nov. 11. The crew’s journey was considered a historic one as the 420-foot medium icebreaker traveled in high Arctic latitudes and reached the geographic North Pole Sept 30, “only the second time a U.S. surface vessel had reached 90 degrees north unaccompanied,” USCG said. The crew also provided law enforcement presence in the Arctic and the Gulf of Alaska. “It is more important than ever before to provide security and sovereign presence in the Arctic and expand oceanographic…

11 Nov

Coast Guard Sector Anchorage Nets Award

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newsanchorage, uscg

U.S. Coast Guard Sector Anchorage has scored the 2021 Rear Adm. Bennett “Bud” Sparks award for the “under 100 reservist assigned” category, the agency announced Nov. 8. Given every year by the Reserve Organization of America, the award spotlights a unit considered “the most supportive of an operationally ready Coast Guard Reserve Force as demonstrated by its practical use and support.” Throughout 2021, reservists at Sector Anchorage worked on skill sets that delivered on readiness requirements while they provided additional vital support on missions. Sector reservists recorded 384 hours of training and 46 boardings, which resulted in three boarding officers…

01 Nov

USCG Cutter Kimball Returns to Honolulu

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newscutter, kimball, uscg

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Kimball returned to its homeport of Honolulu on Oct. 28 after participating in search and rescue activities and did patrols in fisheries enforcement in the Bering and Chukchi Seas and netted the vessel’s first Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal. The medal is awarded to any member of the United States Coast Guard who performs 21 days of non-consecutive duty afloat or ashore north of the Arctic Circle. While traveling more than 100 days and 22,000 miles, the crew came across Russian and Chinese naval vessels in the Bering Sea. “The formation, which was transiting through…

25 Oct

USCG Cutter Alert Returns From Eastern Pacific Ocean Patrol

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newscutter, uscg

After 68 days patrolling the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alert (WMEC 630) returned to its Astoria, Oregon, homeport on Oct. 8. During that time, crew members of the 210-foot medium endurance cutter traveled more than 13,700 nautical miles from Oregon to Columbia, providing law enforcement support for various initiatives, including counter-drug missions, search-and-rescue operations and international law enforcement training engagements, according to the Coast Guard. Crew members also approached three Costa Rican fishing vessels and seized 1,440 pounds of marijuana worth $1.4 million. “Furthermore, during the boarding of the fishing vessel Mujer Gitana, Alert’s crew detected…

18 Oct

U.S., Canadian Coast Guards Participate in Joint Alaska Exercise

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newscutter, jointexercise, uscg

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton and Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier took part in a search-and-rescue exercise Oct. 12 near Point Hope, Alaska. Both crews practiced maneuvers with an unmanned craft that simulated being a ship in need of help, complete with an imitation distress call, according to the Coast Guard. Sir Wilfrid Laurier responded to the call and alerted USCG’s District 17 Command Center, and Stratton, a 418-foot national security cutter, used an aerial drone to find the “distressed” vessel, which was recovered. “Exercises such as this help strengthen our international partnerships and increase our emergency…

11 Oct

USCG Cutter Steadfast Returns to Astoria, Oregon

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newscutter, steadfast, uscg

After 55 days on narcotics enforcement patrol, the crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Steadfast returned to Astoria, Oregon on Oct. 7. The 210-foot medium endurance cutter traveled over 11,000 miles between Oregon and Central America, doing training, law enforcement, search and rescue and helicopter operations in international waters, the agency said. The crew was deployed with Maintenance Augmentation Team Seattle, Electronic Support Detachment Petaluma and cutter Argus, which is expected to be commissioned soon. During their tour, Steadfast crew members pursued a high-speed, panga-style vessel suspected of smuggling contraband before handing off the case to a partner…

04 Oct

Coast Guard Cutter Douglas Denman Commissioned in Alaska

Karen Robes MeeksNews, News Briefs, PMM Online Newsdouglasdenman, uscg

The U.S. Coast Guard’s newest 154-foot fast response cutter, Douglas Denman, was officially commissioned Sept. 28 in Ketchikan, Alaska. Vice Adm. Andrew J. Tiongson, commander of Coast Guard Pacific Area, and Rear Adm. Nathan A. Moore, commander of Coast Guard 17th District, were on hand to formally accept the cutter, named in honor of a man who helped crew members evacuate a sinking USS Colhoun after it was attacked by an aircraft in 1942. Denman was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart medals and served in the Coast Guard for 20 years before retiring in 1961 as a senior…