Harriet Lane News

The U.S. Coast Guard has rejected comments by a Chinese diplomat that its recent boardings of Chinese fishing boats in the Pacific Islands alongside local police are illegal, saying the joint patrols are at the behest of Pacific nations to protect coastal fisheries.Reuters reported last month that six Chinese fishing boats were found to be violating Vanuatu's fisheries law after being inspected by local police who were on board the first U.S. Coast Guard boat to patrol the waters of the Pacific Islands nation.China's Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong…

The much-needed replacement for the U.S. Coast Guard’s long-serving medium endurance cutters (WMEC) took a giant step closer to joining the fleet as the first Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) was launched and christened at Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) in Panama City, Fla. on October 27, 2023.The future USCGC Argus (WMSM 915) was christened by the ship’s sponsor, Captain (Ret.) Beverly Kelley, the first woman to command a U.S. military vessel, the 95-foot patrol boat, USCGC Cape Newagen (WPB 95318).

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane returned to homeport from a 94-day patrol in drug trafficking zones of the Eastern Pacific, after seizing approximately 17,203 pounds of cocaine from suspected smugglers, April 8, 2016. The drugs were seized from nine suspected drug smuggling vessels. The contraband is valued at more than $260 million. Harriet Lane’s crew worked in conjunction with detachments from the Coast Guard’s Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team (PACTACLET) from San Diego…

The Coast Guard offloaded approximately 36,000 pounds of cocaine Tuesday, which was seized during a counter-drug patrol in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The contraband offloaded by the Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf's (WMSL-750) crew represents 17 interdictions of suspected smuggling vessels off the coasts of Central and South America by five Coast Guard cutters between early February and early March. “This offload by the Bertholf represents the great work being conducted in the Eastern Pacific combating the transnational organized crime groups, behind the drug trade which spread instability, fear and harm to people, communities and entire nations,” said Rear Adm.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton is scheduled to offload approximately 7 tons of cocaine Tuesday in Port Everglades worth an estimated $190 million wholesale seized in international waters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The drugs were interdicted off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America by multiple U.S. Coast Guard cutters. The cutter Hamilton was responsible for two cases, seizing an estimated 1,931 kilograms of cocaine. The Coast Guard Cutter Northland was responsible for two cases, seizing an estimated 2,871 kilograms of cocaine.

Adm. Robert E. Kramek, former Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, has died October 20, 2016. Kramek served as the Coast Guard's 20th commandant from 1994 through 1998, during which time he significantly expanded the Coast Guard's global reach and influence as commandant, including directing active participation in the combined service/international anti-narcotic smuggling operations Frontier Shield and Gulf Shield, along with other law enforcement operations. He led the Coast…

The 86-foot fishing vessel Buzzards Bay, which became disabled with five people aboard 50 miles northeast of Cape Cod, was towed in by U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane on Tueday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England were notified by the captain of the Buzzards Bay at around 3:30 a.m. that the boat was disabled due to a main diesel engine failure. Harriet Lane, a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Va., was diverted to assist and arrived on scene at around 8:30 a.m. The crew was able to safely put Buzzards Bay in tow at around 9:30 a.m.

1859- U.S. signs "Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation" with Paraguay at Asuncion after the revenue cutter Harriet Lane, as part of a US Navy expedition, forced the opening of the Paraguay and Parana Rivers. 1863-  Commissioned officers of the Revenue Cutter Service were to be appointed by the President by and with advice and consent of the Senate. This act contained the first statutory use of term "Revenue Cutter Service."  Previous laws referred only to "revenue cutters". 1982- Attorney General William Smith declared at a press conference that Operation Tiburon was "the most successful international marijuana interdiction effort to date."  The operation began in November, 1980, and accounted for the seizure of 95 vessels.

1885-Keeper Marcus Hanna of the Cape Elizabeth Light Station saved two men from the wrecked schooner Australia. For this rescue Hanna was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Port Hudson in 1863. He is the only person to have ever received both awards. 1915- President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the "Act to Create the Coast Guard," an act passed by Congress on 20 January 1915 that combined the Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service to form the Coast Guard (38 Stat. L., 800). The Coast Guard, however, still considers the date of the founding of the Revenue Cutter Service, 4 August 1790, as its "official" birthday, even though the Lighthouse Service, absorbed in 1939, is even older than that, dating to 7 August 1789.

1808- Subsistence for Army officers fixed at 20 cents per ration, later that year applied to all officers of the revenue cutters. 1843- Captain Alexander V. Fraser, Revenue Cutter Service, appointed Chief of newly-created Revenue Marine Bureau of Treasury (he was, in effect, the service's first "Commandant"). 1861-The Revenue cutter Harriet Lane fired the first shot from a naval vessel in the Civil War. The cutter fired across the bow of the merchant vessel Nashville when the latter attempted to enter Charleston Harbor without displaying the national flag. 1900- An Act of Congress (31 Stat. L., 77, 80) extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the noncontiguous territory, of Puerto Rico and adjacent American waters.

1859- U.S. signs "Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation" with Paraguay at Asuncion after the revenue cutter Harriet Lane, as part of a US Navy expedition, forced the opening of the Paraguay and Parana Rivers. 1863-  Commissioned officers of the Revenue Cutter Service were to be appointed by the President by and with advice and consent of the Senate. This act contained the first statutory use of term "Revenue Cutter Service."  Previous laws referred only to "revenue cutters". 1982- Attorney General William Smith declared at a press conference that Operation Tiburon was "the most successful international marijuana interdiction effort to date."  The operation began in November, 1980, and accounted for the seizure of 95 vessels.

1885-Keeper Marcus Hanna of the Cape Elizabeth Light Station saved two men from the wrecked schooner Australia. For this rescue Hanna was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Port Hudson in 1863. He is the only person to have ever received both awards. 1915- President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the "Act to Create the Coast Guard," an act passed by Congress on 20 January 1915 that combined the Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service to form the Coast Guard (38 Stat. L., 800). The Coast Guard, however, still considers the date of the founding of the Revenue Cutter Service, 4 August 1790, as its "official" birthday, even though the Lighthouse Service, absorbed in 1939, is even older than that, dating to 7 August 1789.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane will welcome a new commanding officer in a change of command ceremony here Tuesday at 10 a.m. The crew will welcome Cmdr. John W. McKinley and bid farewell to Capt. Christopher P. Scraba. McKinley comes to the Harriet Lane from an assignment as executive officer aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell, homeported in Alameda, Calif. McKinley graduated from George Mason University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration. In 1990, he graduated from the Coast Guard's Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, Va. From January to July 2003, McKinley deployed to the Middle East as the first officer in charge…

The Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane returns home Saturday, June 7 at 1 p.m. from a 61-day patrol in support of maritime homeland security, counter-drug operations and alien migrant interdiction in the Florida Straits and Caribbean Sea. At the opening of Operation Iraqi Freedom and with the national threat level at orange, Harriet Lane was ordered to patrol the Florida Straits and positively identify shipping traffic approaching the southern U.S. through the well-traveled old Bahama channel. The immediate threat in the region was high-speed small boats (often called go-fasts), which ferried illegal Cuban migrants between Cuba and the Florida Keys 80 miles to the north.

More than 2,400 Coast Guard personnel from Florida to Louisiana are continuing to conduct search, rescue, response, waterway reconstitution and environmental impact assessment operations today. To date, the Coast Guard has used air and boat crews to rescue more than 22,000 people and has assisted with the joint-agency evacuation of an additional 9,400 patients and medical personnel from hospitals in the Gulf coast region. More than 11,000 of the rescues were made via air and almost 11,000 rescues were made via boat operations, and hundreds of people are continuing to be rescued daily by Coast Guard crews. In total, the Coast Guard has 43 helicopters, eight fixed-wing aircraft and 13 Coast Guard Auxiliary aircraft supporting the operations.