Coast Guard Command News

Canadian safety officials on Friday opened an investigation into the undersea implosion of a tourist submersible that killed all five people aboard while diving to the century-old wreck of the Titanic, raising questions about the unregulated nature of such expeditions.A debris field from the submersible Titan was found at the bottom of the North Atlantic on Thursday by a robotic diving vehicle deployed from a Canadian search vessel, ending an intense five-day international rescue effort.Fragments of Titan…

A passenger vessel lost steering and went a drift in a highly trafficked area near Galveston, Texas, on Saturday.The U.S. Coast Guard said its watchstanders at Sector Houston-Galveston received a call on VHF-FM channel 16 at about 11 a.m. from the captain of the Baywatch Too stating the dolphin sightseeing vessel had lost steering and was drifting toward a dredge pipe near Seawolf Park with 33 people on board.The Coast Guard issued an urgent marine information broadcast and directed the launch of a Coast Guard Station Galveston 45-foot Response Boat–Medium (RB–M) crew.

A containership rescued a boater clinging to the hull of his capsized vessel approximately 86 miles east of Port Canaveral, Fla., Sunday.Stuart Bee departed Cape Marina in Port Canaveral on Friday and was reported missing Saturday after he did not return from his day trip. A marina member contacted watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville at 11:40 a.m., Saturday stating that 62-year-old Bee typically does not stay out overnight on his 32-foot boat Stingray.Watchstanders…

The U.S. Coast Guard and Air National Guard completed a four-day, long-range, joint rescue mission to medevac a critically injured 39-year-old man aboard a cargo ship located approximately 1,300 miles west of San Francisco, Friday.The Hong-Kong-flagged bulk carrier Ocean Applaud contacted 11th Coast Guard District command center watchstanders Monday regarding a crewmember who reportedly fell 30 feet while working on the vessel.Due to the limited offshore range of Coast Guard aircraft…

In recent years the U.S. Coast Guard has identified an increasing trend in the use of cellular phones by the maritime public when communicating distress. In 2018, leadership in the Office of Search and Rescue (SAR) at Coast Guard Headquarters asked the Research and Development Center (RDC) to investigate available technologies that could assist Coast Guard responders in adapting to this trend by leveraging the cellphone’s internal GPS. The RDC, located in New London, Conn., has been serving the Coast Guard for nearly 50 years through research…

First Coast Guard District command center crews, from Maine to Northern New Jersey, have a new tool to help distressed mariners come home to their families after being out to sea.The i911 program allows for watchstanders to use a mariner’s cellphone number to assist in finding their location for Coast Guard rescue crews to locate them faster. Once the number is entered, the mariner receives a text message authorizing them to share their location with the U.S. Coast Guard. Once shared…

At a signing ceremony held at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) offices in Ankara, Turkey, Vladimer Gvilava, chief of mission IOM in Turkey, and Boran Bekbulat, Damen sales manager Turkey, signed a contract for the building and delivery of nine Damen SAR 1906 search and rescue boats for the Turkish Coast Guard Command.Financed by the European Union, these 19-meter boats will be in addition to the six vessels of the same class ordered in 2016, which were delivered to Turkish Coast Guard Command the following year.

Coast Guard Sector Northern New England officially opened a new 24-hour command center Wednesday in South Portland, Maine.Sen. Susan Collins, Atlantic Area Commander Vice Adm. Scott Buschman, and First District Commander Rear Adm. Andrew Tiongson were all on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony. The command center is the hub for all Coast Guard operations across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and parts of New York. Located at Coast Guard Base South Portland, the command center's exterior remained the same, but the interior is completely new.

The two surviving crewmembers of the bulk-carrier Tamar explosion were medevaced at approximately 4:30 a.m., by a Portuguese aircrew along with three New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing pararescuers to continue medical care. The aircrew arrived in Terceira Island, Azores at about 7 a.m. A Portuguese Air Force jet is scheduled to be waiting along with a medical team to bring the injured to Lisbon, Portugal for medical treatment. The captain of the Marshall Islands-flagged 623-foot bulk carrier Tamar contacted watchstanders at the Coast Guard command center reporting an explosion in the ship’s forward storeroom. New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing pararescuers arrived on board the Tamar at about 9:30 p.m.…

At approximately 7:45 p.m., Monday, the captain of the bulk carrier Tamar reported that a second crewmember was killed from an onboard explosion. The New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing pararescuers arrived on board the Tamar at about 9:30 p.m., after deploying from their HC-130 with two small boats and advanced life-saving equipment. They are staying with the ship until higher medical authority can take over care of the injured crew. The Portuguese Coast Guard are scheduled to launch a helicopter and pick up the injured crew members and bring them to Ponta Delgada. They are expected to be within range of the Azores, Portugal within 24 hours.

An explosion aboard Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Tamar has killed one crewmember and left three others severely injured roughly 1,300 miles offshore Cape Cod, Mass. At approximately 7 a.m., Tamar’s captain contacted watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard command center reporting an explosion in the ship’s forward storeroom killed one crewmember and caused three others to suffer massive burns and are in need of immediate medical attention. The U.S. Coast Guard is coordinating with the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing and the Canadian and Portuguese Coast Guards to provide a medical emergency response. The New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing launched an HC-130 aircrew with six pararescuers and one combat rescue officer.

Professional captains and pilots in all sectors of the maritime industry confront daunting challenges and hazards every day on every trip. From piloting oceangoing ships into congested harbors and safely docking them, to navigating ferries, tourist vessels and water taxis through harbors and rivers teaming with other commercial vessels and recreational craft and everything in between, U.S Coast Guard licensed deck officers have one of the most difficult, pressure-packed jobs in any industry.

The Coast Guard's Command, Control and Communications Engineering Center (C3CEN) awarded a contract to FLIR Maritime US, Inc., of Nashua, New Hampshire, Wednesday, for the Scalable Integrated Navigation System, Two (SINS-2). The single award Firm Fixed Price Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract is valued at $50 million and consists of a five-year base with a five-year option. The total period of performance is 10 years. The Coast Guard originally procured legacy SINS for a portion of the small boat fleet in 2002, and the original components have significantly exceeded their life expectancy. Efforts to refresh legacy SINS began in August 2013 with revising the system’s required specifications…

Qatar’s Coast Guard Command has taken delivery of the first in a series of 17 composite hull boats powered and propelled by MTU high-speed engines and Rolls-Royce Kamewa waterjets. The vessels, two Ares 75 and one Ares 110 Hercules, will be the first three boats of this program to be delivered by the end of this month. Two additional boats are planned to be delivered by the end of the year; one Ares 75 and one 110 Hercules. Meanwhile, preparations for the construction of the first Ares 150 class boat have already been completed and its launch is expected towards the end of next year.

The Coast Guard rescued a father and son Saturday after their sailboat grounded near Sarah Island in Hingham Harbor. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Boston’s command center were alerted to the distress at about 5 p.m. after the pair used a cell phone to call for help. They explained their recently purchased sailboat grounded while trying to take it across the harbor. They were wearing life jackets but had no radio, no boating safety equipment, and no boating experience. A 29-foot response boat crew from Coast Guard Station Point Allerton, in Hull, quickly arrived on scene and assessed the situation. They determined the boat was too hard aground, transferred the men to the Coast Guard boat, and took them to shore with no reported injuries.

The Coast Guard is reminding boaters and paddlers heading out on the water this holiday season to keep safety in mind. Weather forecasts are slated to bring unseasonably warm air, but the water can be dangerously cold. The current water temperature in Boston Harbor is 46 degrees Fahrenheit, but last winter during the coldest month it averaged 36 degrees Fahrenheit. “Excited boaters and paddlers in their new canoes and kayaks will understandably want to take advantage of the mild weather,” said Walt Taylor, the 1st Coast Guard District’s recreational boating safety specialist. The ocean and inland waterways in New England pose unique dangers in the wintertime. “When a person falls in cold water, their body responds to initial shock with an instantaneous gasp for air," said Taylor.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a man and woman after their 17-foot skiff ran aground near Sitka, Alaska Saturday. Coast Guard command center personnel at Sector Juneau received a 911 call relayed by the Sitka Fire Department concerning the skiff and its occupants after it grounded near Kanga Bay 10 miles south of Sitka Saturday night. It was reported that both passengers were ejected from the skiff when it struck the shore and the male passenger had suffered injuries to his head and face. The skiff then drifted away from the couple before they could secure it.

A 15-mile section of the Ohio River was reopened for limited traffic on Wednesday as clean-up of a 5,000-gallon fuel oil spill continued, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday. The Coast Guard closed a stretch of the river between Cincinnati, Ohio and Dayton, Kentucky on Tuesday after a spill during a "routine transfer of fuel oil" at a 60-year-old power plant owned by Duke Energy, 20 miles east of Cincinnati. "The river is open. Vessels can transit as long as they call the Coast Guard command center to get permission first," said Lt. Kate Cameron of the U.S. Coast Guard. Restrictions on traffic will continue as the clean-up progresses, the Coast Guard said, without giving a timeline.

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa rescued two men from a vessel taking on water approximately one mile southwest of Petersburg, Alaska, Tuesday. A smallboat crew from the Anacapa took the 24-foot pleasure craft Deborah K under tow and safely transported its passengers to the port in Petersburg. Coast Guard command center watchstanders at Sector Juneau received a call from passengers aboard the Deborah K reporting they had struck a rock and were taking on water near Wrangell Narrows. Watchstanders directed the crew of the Anacapa to respond and the crew of the Anacapa launched its smallboat crew to assist. "The men aboard the Debra K did the right thing by quickly contacting the Coast Guard," said Lt. Ryan Erickson, chief of incident management, Coast Guard Sector Juneau.

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and local agencies are responding to a plane crash near San Pablo Bay after two planes collided in mid-air above the Bay Sunday. At approximately 4 p.m., the Sector San Francisco Coast Guard command center received a call about a small Cessna and a WWII-era aircraft that had collided. The Coast Guard launched four rescue boat crews and one rescue helicopter crew and established a temporary safety zone in the water while the Federal Aviation Administration has established a temporary flight-restriction zone in the area. Debris has been located in the water, but there are no signs of the downed pilot at this time. The incident is under investigation. The USCG asked Mariners in the area to contact their nearest Coast Guard station if they find any debris in the water.

U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue crews worked throughout the night to find a missing charter boat with four people aboard as far as 70 miles off Galveston. A Coast Guard HC-144 aircrew located them about 40 miles offshore as they started the last leg of their search Tuesday at 10:33 a.m. Logan Foster, operator of the 29-foot fishing charter Reel Deep, departed Galveston Yacht Basin with three other people toward Clay Pile Bank at 5:40 a.m., Monday. Susan Foster, Logan's step-mother, and her husband said they knew something was wrong Monday night.

Former USCG Admiral Thad Allen is a transformational leader in the history of the service, a rock through thick and thin. Today he talks about resource allocation, risk management and homeland security. As part of Booz Allen Hamilton’s Justice and Homeland Security business group, Executive Vice President and former U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen leads the development of thought leadership and client engagements regarding the future direction of law enforcement and homeland security. The Coast Guard is under pressure to either pare its mission mix or downscale what it does.

Under the Radar and also the higher profile Fast Response (FRC) and National Security Cutter (NSC) acquisitions is the U.S. Coast Guard’s effort to replace and upgrade its fleet of smaller response workboats. The building programs involve big money and substantial innovation. But, for all the progress being made, the failure of the federal government to come to a budget deal for the coming fiscal year could also put the brakes on some of the most innovative programs that the Coast Guard has ever embarked upon. In the meantime, it is full speed ahead with a three-pronged small boat program that could eventually involve as many as 650 vessels. The effort to recapitalize the Coast Guard never ends.