Station Pascagoula News

An ailing crewmember was medevaced from a towboat Friday afternoon, approximately seven miles south of Pascagoula, Miss., the U.S. Coast Guard said.Coast Guard Sector Mobile watchstanders received a call from the crew of the U.S.-flagged Miss Beth reporting a 60-year-old crewmember on board was experiencing heart attack-like symptoms.The watchstanders coordinated the launch of a Coast Guard Station Pascagoula 29-foot Response Boat - Small boatcrew to assist. The boatcrew arrived on scene, loaded the crewmember and transferred him to awaiting emergency medical services personnel at Station Pascagoula.The man was last reported to be in stable condition.

An ailing crewmember was medevaced from a Marshall Islands-registered oil tanker near Pascagoula, Miss., on Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Coast Guard Sector Mobile watchstanders were notified by the master of the tank vessel Yufu Crown at 5:13 p.m. that a 36-year-old crewmember was suffering from heart-attack-like symptoms. Sector Mobile watchstanders coordinated with Coast Guard Station Pascagoula to launch a 45-foot Response Boat - Medium boatcrew to assist.The RB-M boatcrew arrived on scene, transferred the patient to awaiting emergency medical services who transported him to a local Pascagoula hospital.The mariner was last reported to be in fair condition, the Coast Guard said.

The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to a vessel collision 18 miles south of Pascagoula Sunday evening. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Mobile received a hailing mayday at 10:40 p.m. from a 74-foot shrimping vessel 18 miles south of Pascagoula, Mississippi. The vessel reported colliding with a 130-foot offshore supply vessel, the Gloria May. All three crew on board the shrimper successfully entered into their life raft and were subsequently picked up by the Gloria May. Boatcrews from Coast Guard Station Pascagoula responded in a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium to provide assistance. The shrimping vessel has sustained significant damage and has approximately 10,000 gallons of diesel and 200 gallons of oil on board.

The Coast Guard escorted the disabled Carnival Triumph to the Alabama Cruise Ship Terminal in Mobile Thursday evening. The tug vessel Roland Falgout and four assist tugs towed the Triumph to the Alabama Cruise Terminal following more than a 100-hour voyage from Cozumel, Mexico to Mobile. Resources used to assist the Triumph: The 210-foot Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous and crew, homeported in Cape May, N.J.; Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile MH-60T crew; The 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Stingray crew; Three Coast Guard Station Dauphin Island 45-foot Response Boat — Medium crews; One Coast Guard Station Pascagoula boatcrew; Coast Guard Gulf Strike Team. The Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous arrived on scene Sunday night and safely medevaced one passenger to the Carnival Legend.

The Coast Guard is searching for possibly one or more people in the water after an overturned boat was discovered approximately six miles north of Patit Bois Island.Two rescue boatcrews from Coast Guard Station Pascagoula were dispatched after they received a report of an overturned boat drifting near the Mississippi Sound island.The boat was since righted and a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station New Orleans was launched to assist in the search. The 15-foot boat is white with a black bottom and red stripe near the top. The boat's engine is gray with a red stripe.Anyone with more information is encouraged to contact their nearest Coast Guard unit.

USS Yorktown (CG 48) will return home to Naval Station Pascagoula Aug. 17, after a successful six-month deployment with the USS Wasp (LHD 1) Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 2. Yorktown made key contributions to Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and Market Time II in support of the global war on terrorism. The ship, with embarked Helicopter Squadron Light (HSL) 42 Det. 2 from Mayport, Fla., set sail Feb. 17 from Pascagoula, and rendezvoused with the rest of the strike group off the coast of North Carolina three days later.

"Back in February 2001, Rumsfeld announced his intention to hold a round of base closures. February 2001 was a whole different world than the one we're in now," said Taylor. "On September 11th, 2001, we were attacked. Since then, we've gone to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. We've declared a global war on terrorism. We're closing bases abroad and bringing home thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. But, Rumsfeld is hell-bent on closing our bases, and he seems to ignore long-term considerations for our nation. Taylor, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, cited Rumsfeld's past missteps, saying, "Rumsfeld sent our troops into war without body armor. He hemmed and hawed on up-armoring our military vehicles.

The Coast Guard Cutter Shamal is scheduled to hold a formal change of command ceremony at Naval Station Pascagoula. Lt. Cmdr. Lee Petty will relieve Lt. Cmdr. Joe Raymond as Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Cutter Shamal. Lt. Cmdr. Petty reports to the cutter Shamal from Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he served as a program analyst in the Office of Mission Analysis in the Policy and Planning Directorate. Upon his relief, Lt. Cmdr. Raymond and his family will be moving to Washington, D.C., where he will be assigned as the Coast Guard Military Advisor to the Director of Net Assessments within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Capt. Eric Brown, Chief of Major Cutter Forces for Coast Guard Atlantic Area, will serve as the presiding official. Lt. Cmdr.

According to the AP a Navy plan to pay Gulf Coast shipbuilders about $1.7 billion for losses related to damages and construction delays from Hurricane Katrina may overstate the actual costs and could dampen efforts to collect insurance payments, according to a Congressional report. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said Northrop Grumman may be able to collect insurance claims for future increased costs related to labor and overhead. If the government pays now, the report said, the company will have little incentive to negotiate with insurers for those payments. The researchers said Northrop Grumman may be covered for losses related to disruption of work caused by the hurricane…

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.

A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station New Orleans rescued a man on Saturday after the 30-ft. bait boat he was operating capsized in the Mississippi Sound 10 miles southeast of Pascagoula, Miss. The Coast Guard was notified 10:15 a.m. by the crew of a passing fishing vessel that there was a capsized 30-ft. boat located 6 miles south of Pascagoula. A helicopter was dispatched from Air Station New Orleans to assist a 47-ft. patrol boat from Station Pascagoula and a rescue jet from Aviation Training Center Mobile, Ala., in locating any vessel occupants. On scene the helicopter crew located Anthony Weaver, 36, of Bayou Casotte, Miss., clinging to debris approximately four miles northeast of where his overturned bait boat was located.