Buoy Tender

Manitowoc Launches Coast Guard Cutter

The Manitowoc Company, Inc. has launched the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Fir, the thirteenth ship in a series of 16 seagoing buoy tenders being built at Manitowoc's Marinette Marine subsidiary. This 225-ft. Juniper-class vessel is part of a series of contracts that were awarded to Marinette in 1993 and 1998. "Like its sister vessels, the Fir contains the most advanced technology available for buoy tenders," said Terry D. Growcock, Manitowoc's president and chief executive officer. "We believe the new FIR is as strong as Manitowoc's commitment to the U.S. Coast Guard and will serve with the same uncompromising dedication as its predecessor." The launch ceremony, which took place August 18, featured Vice Admiral Thomas J. Barrett, Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, as the keynote speaker. His wife, Sheila Barrett, the sponsor of the ship, performed the traditional christening ceremony. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter FIR will operate from Astoria, Oregon, under the command of LCDR Hal Pitts. It will have a complement of six officers and 34 enlisted personnel. FIR and her sister cutters now operating in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are equipped to perform search and rescue, law enforcement, pollution response, and domestic icebreaking missions, as well as servicing aids to navigation.

Manitowoc Marine Launches USCG Cutter Hickory

The Manitowoc Company, Inc. successfully launched the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hickory, the twelfth ship in a series of 16 seagoing buoy tenders being built at Manitowoc's Marinette Marine subsidiary. This 225-foot Juniper-class vessel is part of a series of contracts that were awarded to Marinette in 1993 and 1998. "This launch marks another milestone event for both the U.S. Coast Guard and Manitowoc Marine Group," said Terry D. Growcock, Manitowoc's president and chief executive officer

Manitowoc Launches New Cutter

The Manitowoc Company, Inc. has launched the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SEQUOIA, the 15th ship in a series of 16 seagoing buoy tenders being built at Manitowoc's Marinette Marine subsidiary. This 225-foot, Juniper-class vessel is part of a series of contracts that were awarded to Marinette in 1993 and 1998. "SEQUOIA joins her sophisticated sister cutters in helping the U.S. Coast Guard to successfully complete a variety of important missions," said Terry D.

WMG & Thales Teaming Agreement Signed

Washington Marine Group (WMG) announced the signing of a Teaming Agreement with Thales Canada forming a strategic alliance to provide the Government of Canada a single solution for the future build and in service support of the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS). The AOPS program is worth over $2b dollars, delivering six ice breaking patrol vessels to the Canadian Navy, as part of the Federal Government’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS)

USCG Photo: Sycamore Sets Buoy in Valdez

The Coast Guard Cutter Sycamore crew sets one of two security zone buoys marking the restricted navigational area the Coast Guard patrols helping to protect the Trans Alaska pipeline terminal in the port of Valdez Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. The Sycamore is a 225-foot buoy tender homeported in Cordova, Alaska, and is responsible for helping maintain 130 aids to navigation in Alaska. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Ensign Carla Geyer

Coastguard Rescues Lakers Stuck in Ice

Three icebreaking cutters worked together to keep traffic moving through the St. Mary’s River. The  U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, a 240-foot icebreaker homeported in Cheboygan, Mich., along with Coast Guard Cutter Alder, a 225-foot buoy tender with ice-breaking capabilities homeported in Duluth, Minn., and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Samuel Risley assisted vessels in the ice-bound river. The Mackinaw, CCGS Samuel Risley along with the Coast Guard Cutter Alder

Coast Guard Safeguards Captured Oil Platforms

Members of Coast Guard Port Security Units 311 and 313 relieved U.S. Marines earlier today of responsibility for security on two gas and oil platforms in the Northern Persian Gulf. The Marines had held both platforms after U.S. Navy SEALS took them from the Iraqi regime. Members of PSU 311, from San Pedro, Calif., and PSU 313, from Tacoma, Wash., are among the approximately 650 Coast Guard men and women participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Persian Gulf

This Day in Coast Guard Hisory – Oct. 13

1883 - Between 4 and 5 o’clock in the afternoon, a small sailboat, owned at West Hampton, New York, capsized In crossing the bay with one man on board. Three of the crew of the Petunk Station (Third District) sprang into a skiff, rowed out, rescued the man, and towed the boat ashore. 1988 - The first U.S. merchant marine World War II veterans received their Coast Guard issued discharge certificates.  Congress gave the merchant mariners veterans' status and tasked the Coast Guard

Coast Guard Suspends Search for Missing Captain of HMS Bounty

The Coast Guard suspended its search Thursday for the missing captain of the HMS Bounty 200 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C. Missing is Robin Walbridge, 63. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Walbridge and Christian families," said Capt. Doug Cameron, the chief of incident response for the Coast Guard 5th District. ”Suspending a search and rescue case is one of the hardest decisions we have to make.”  

Subsea SE Alaska: Seismic Sensors Deployed

The US Coast Guard Cutter 'Maple' helps the U.S. Geological Survey to deploy 12 seismic sensors along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault, northwest of Craig, Alaska. The team placed the ocean-bottom seismometers along a 28-mile section of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault to improve understanding of recent earthquake activity and associated seismic and tsunami hazards in Southeast Alaska coastal communities.