Brendan Mcpherson News

The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned the 48th Sentinel-class fast response cutter (FRC) Pablo Valent (WPC 1148) into service at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, Fla., Wednesday.Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Seventh District, presided over the ceremony. Cecilia Guillot, Valent’s great-niece, is the ship's sponsor.The cutter’s namesake Pablo Valent was originally from Corpus Christi, Texas, and joined the United States Life-Saving Service in 1912.

USCH Cutter 'Confidence' repatriates 219 Haitian migrants to Cap Haitien, Haiti. Watchstanders at the 7th Coast Guard District command center were notified of a sail freighter northwest of Great Inagua, Bahamas, with 131 Haitian migrants aboard and dispatched the 'Confidence' to the scene to safely embark the migrants and repatriate them. Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants are provided with food, water, shelter and basic medical attention. “U.S. Coast Guard policy is to deter and respond to dangerous…

The Coast Guard remains at its highest state of alert and readiness since World War II, following the president?s authorized military action against the terrorist regime in Afghanistan. "Coast Guard air and sea patrols are keeping a watchful eye on all vessel movements around the clock in many of the more than 300 ports and 88,000 miles of U.S. coast and shoreline," said Lt. Cmdr. Brendan McPherson, a spokesman for the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command in Portsmouth. Ports from Boston to Texas are under tighter security than they have been in more than fifty years. The Coast Guard has stepped up both the frequency and vigilance of its armed patrols, which were significantly increased just hours after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks Sept. 11.

With the country in its second month of action after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the Coast Guard has implemented an unprecedented number of maritime safety and security measures. “We continue to be at a heightened state of alert and awareness,” said Lt. Cmdr. Brendan McPherson, a spokesman with the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area headquarters here. Among the most recent safeguards put in place to maintain port safety and security in more than 360 ports, along 95,000 miles of U.S. · 94 security zones, an all-time high, have been established nationwide. · Beginning today, most commercial vessels bound for U.S. ports will be required to provide 96-hour advance notice of arrival information to the Coast Guard’s new National Vessel Movement Center.

The Coast Guard concluded two days of meetings today with local, state and federal officials as part of its ongoing review to help evaluate the suitability of the Chesapeake Bay for importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) aboard tankships. The Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) Baltimore received a letter of intent to resume LNG import operations from the Williams Company at its Cove Point facility in Calvert County, Md., last October. If approved, LNG import operations will involve moving LNG in tankships on the middle and lower Chesapeake Bay to Cove Point where the cargo will be handled and off-loaded at the company’s waterside facility. Under federal regulation (33 CFR Part 127.009), the COTP is required to evaluate the suitability of the Bay for conducting LNG operations.

As part of the Coast Guard’s ongoing port security mission, extra Coast Guard boats and people will be providing armed escort and enforcing the Naval Vessel Protection Zone (NVPZ) surrounding the USS Roosevelt Battle Group during its return to Hampton Roads Wednesday morning. “We’re very proud of what our Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Marines are doing overseas to protect our homeland,” Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Brendan McPherson said. More than 150 Coast Guard men and women from Coast Guard Group Hampton Roads, the Marine Safety Office and a number of local boats and cutters, including the 210-foot cutter Diligence from Wilmington, N.C., will be conducting a channel clearing operation from 6:15 to 8:35 Wednesday morning.

In the third sailing vessel rescue off the Atlantic coast in a week, three sailors were hoisted this morning from their 30-ft. sailing vessel 25 miles east of Cape Hatteras, N.C., after fighting 15- to 20-ft. breaking seas and 35 knot sustaining winds for about 15 hours. John Springer, 35, of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Wayne Ryland, 59, and Janine Ryland, 34, both of McHenry, Ill., were on the sailing vessel Bath en route to Charleston, S.C., from Maryland when they encountered rough weather. The sailors contacted the Coast Guard via VHF-FM radio at about 7:30 a.m. today requesting to be evacuated. "This case, coming right in the middle of National Safe Boating Week, illustrates several important points that mariners should keep in mind," said Lt. Cdr.