Atlantic Area Command News

A Coast Guard lieutenant commander and graduate of Hastings High School in Houston, took command of Maritime Safety and Security Team Galveston during a ceremony in Galveston Thursday. Lt. Cmdr. Steve Morris and his wife are both from Houston and he enlisted in the Coast Guard through the recruiting station here. "When it came time last year for me to make known the units that I desired, there's no doubt that MSST Galveston rose right at the top of the list," said Morris. Prior to taking command of MSST Galveston…

The Coast Guard formally established the Incident Management Assistance Team during a ceremony held at Base Portsmouth Thursday morning. The IMAT is the first full-time, national incident management team comprised of 41 active and reserve military and civilian personnel. The IMAT supports the operational commander in complex incident crisis management for all-hazard, all-threat incidents and events. The team is a rapidly deployable, scalable resource that addresses capability gaps within an incident management organization wherever required.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today named Rear Admiral James A. Watson IV as the Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). BSEE was one of the two agencies to succeed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) on Oct. 1, 2011. Admiral Watson will begin as BSEE Director on December 1, 2011, and will succeed Michael R. Bromwich. Admiral Watson is currently the U.S. Coast Guard’s Director of Prevention Policy for Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship in Washington, D.C.

Rear Admiral James Watson, the United States Coast Guard’s Deputy Commander for the Atlantic Area, will kick off the membership year of the Propeller Club Chapter of New York/New Jersey on February 3rd with a presentation designed to inform the attendees about changes and initiatives on the horizon for the region. The meeting will run from 5-7PM at the Harvard Club (27 W. 44th St., NY, NY) and will include a reception. The cost to attend is only $25 for members and $50 for non-members.

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.

Admiral Robert Natter, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and Vice Adm. Thad Allen, Commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area, jointly announced the assignment of four Cyclone-Class Navy Patrol Coastal (PC) ships in support of the nation’s homeland security Operation Noble Eagle. Two additional PCs will be assigned to the Pacific Coast. For the first time, U.S. Navy ships will be employed jointly with the U.S. Coast Guard to help protect our nation’s coastline, ports and waterways from terrorist attack. “The Atlantic Fleet is working closely with the Coast Guard to ensure the security of our Gulf and east coast ports,” said Admiral Natter. “These ships will be used for coastal patrol and interdiction efforts with the Coast Guard.

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 increasing attention is paid to ensuring the nation is secure from attacks - whether direct or covert - via the waterways, companies that supply vessels and equipment to the Coast Guard and Navy are quickly planning for an expected upturn in business. Last month Admiral Robert Natter, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and Vice Adm. Thad Allen, Commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area, announced the assignment of four Cyclone-Class Navy Patrol Coastal (PC) ships in support of the nation's homeland security Operation Noble Eagle. Two additional PCs will be assigned to the Pacific Coast. For the first time, U.S. Navy ships will be employed jointly with the U.S. Coast Guard to help protect the nation's coastline, ports and waterways from terrorist attack.

The U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area, Fifth District and Maritime Defense Zone Atlantic Command will welcomed a new commander during a change-of-command ceremony 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday . Vice Admiral James D. Hull will relieve Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen, who is taking the position of Chief-of-Staff for the Coast Guard. Admiral James M. Loy, Commandant U.S. Coast Guard, and Navy Vice Admiral Albert H. Konetzni, Jr., Deputy and Chief of Staff, U.S. Atlantic Fleet are scheduled to preside. Hull comes to the Atlantic Area Command from his assignment as Commander of the Ninth Coast Guard District.

Fourteen Senegal nationals arrived in Brooklyn today aboard a merchant ship after being plucked from their 60-foot catamaran about 800 miles east of Cape Cod, Mass., Saturday afternoon. All 14 rescued, reportedly in good physical condition, were placed in the care of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command Center received a distress report and diverted the "AMVER"-participating merchant ship OOCL Melbourne to render assistance. The merchant ship OOCL Melbourne was transiting from Barcelona, Spain to Brooklyn. A joint-agency boarding team of Coast Guard Sector New York and Customs and Border Protection officers met the merchant ship OOCL Melbourne at Ambrose Light Anchorage, about 12 miles outside the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Coast Guard Atlantic Area Chief of Staff, Captain Christopher C. Colvin, was promoted to the rank of rear admiral lower half today at a ceremony held at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command. Rear Adm. Colvin is currently assigned as the Chief of Staff for the Coast Guard Atlantic Area, which encompasses the eastern half of the world from the Rocky Mountains to the Persian Gulf. He will report Nov. 8, to the United States Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base located in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he will serve as Deputy Director of Operations. Rear Adm. Colvin has served afloat on ten Coast Guard cutters and has been the commanding officer of the Dallas home ported in Charleston…

A U. S. Navy 179-ft. Cyclone class patrol boat is scheduled to be formally commissioned as a Coast Guard cutter during a ceremony in their new homeport of Naval Station Pascagoula. After commissioning, the Coast Guard Cutter Tempest will conduct homeland security, search and rescue and law enforcement operations in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Western Atlantic. The Tempest is the fifth Cyclone class patrol boat commissioned as part of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Navy and Coast Guard signed in 2004. Coast Guard cutters Monsoon (WPC-4) and Zephyr (WPC-8), homeported in San Diego , Calif., and cutters Tornado (WPC-14) and Shamal (WPC-13), homeported in Pascagoula.

The Coast Guard is alerting mariners along the Gulf coast from Tampa, Fla., to Galveston, Tx., to be on alert and report any sightings of debris possibly related to the tragic loss of the space shuttle Columbia to the Coast Guard. There are no confirmed reports of debris in the Gulf of Mexico as of 5 p.m. An Urgent Marine Information Broadcast (UMIB) was transmitted to mariners via marine radio channel 16 (VHF-FM). The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been designated as the lead federal agency for the search, find, and secure efforts in response to the loss of space shuttle Columbia. Coast Guard ships, aircraft and personnel along the Gulf coast are standing by ready to assist and support FEMA as necessary. As of 3 p.m.

Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) Halifax, Canada reported a MAYDAY F/V Atlantic Pride to the USCG Atlantic Area Command Center. The six-person crew reported they were sinking, and were donning survival suits in preparation for abandoning ship. A British VC-10 aircraft was diverted along with an Air Station (AIRSTA) Elizabeth City C-130 aircraft. The VC-10 located a strobe light but no sign of survivors. Several vessels were diverted, including a Canadian Coast Guard vessel, to assist with the search. Searches continued by the VC-10 and C-130 yielding a life raft with no people on board. A Canadian C-130 located an aluminum skiff with three people and a second group of three individuals in the water a short distance away.