Coast Guard Station Chatham receives new surf boat

BOSTON - Coast Guard Station Chatham, Mass., will be showing off the Coast Guard’s newest search and rescue asset on Monday at 9:30 a.m.

The new 42-foot boat, manufactured by Safe Boat International, is designed to be highly maneuverable in breaking surf conditions and will eventually replace Station Chatham’s other two surfboats.

Station Chatham requires surf-capable boats with shallow drafts due to the area’s shallow and shifting sand bars.

“The new boat will have much greater sea capability than the 32-foot Halmatic,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer David Jonason, the officer in charge at Station Chatham.

The Halmatic is about six years old and is only capable of going out in 10-foot surf and 40-knot winds. The new boat can maneuver through 15-foot surf and 50-knot winds.

Station Chatham also has the Coast Guard’s last 44-foot motor lifeboat in service. It can handle 20-foot surf, but is more than 46 years old and will soon be replaced by another Safe boat.

Chief Petty Officer David Pierias, the executive petty officer at Station Chatham, said the Safe boat’s greater capabilities are important for crew training. They are required to have two surfboats out during training, one acting as a training platform and the other as a safety standby. Although the 44-footer is rated for 20-foot surf, if it exceeds 10-feet, they are unable to train because of the Halmatic’s limitations.

Coast Guard Announces Successful Launch of Nationwide AIS Satellite

WASHINGTON (HQ Publc Affairs) - The U.S. Coast Guard has announced the launch of an ORBCOMM concept demonstration satellite, equipped with Automatic Identification System (AIS) capability, from Kapustin Yar, Russia, Thursday.

The satellite attained a proper orbit and is expected to start transmitting operational data within the next three months. The U.S. Coast Guard Nationwide Automatic Identification System (NAIS) Project sponsored equipment on the satellite to test the feasibility and effectiveness of AIS message reception and reporting from space for ship tracking and other navigational activities. The launch marks an important milestone in the development of the NAIS project.

The NAIS project will improve maritime domain awareness for the U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security by using the integrated network of AIS equipment and user interface services that display and exchange AIS-equipped vessel information for maritime safety and security. Data collected by the NAIS supports the nation’s maritime interests by promoting vessel and port safety through collision avoidance, and through detection, traffic identification, and classification of vessels out to 2,000 nautical miles from shore.

The NAIS project is being implemented in three primary increments. Increment one, fielded in September 2007, currently provides the capability to receive AIS messages at 55 critical ports and nine coastal areas across the nation. Increment two (with nationwide AIS transmit and receipt coverage) will provide the capability to receive AIS messages out to 50 nautical miles and transmit AIS messages out to 24 nautical miles along the entire coastline of the U.S. and designated inland waterways. Increment three will extend the coverage for receipt of AIS messages out to 2,000 nautical miles from shore. The upcoming satellite testing will assist in the development of Increment three of the NAIS project.

For more information on the project visit: http://www.uscg.mil/nais/, and for more information on automatic identification system technology, standards and carriage requirements visit: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/enav/ais/

Chatham Light Turns 200

Cape Cod - The Cape Cod Chronicle has an interesting article about the history of Cape Chatham Light, which turns 200 years old this year.

On Saturday, June 21, there will be a public open house between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., with guided tours of the lighthouse. In case of rain, the open house will take place Sunday at the same time.

Humboldt Bay to Hold Change of Command Ceremony

MCKINLEYVILLE, Calif. — The U.S. Coast Guard Group/Air Station Humboldt Bay will hold a change of command ceremony Friday, June 13, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in the hangar.

Captain Christopher A. Martino will be relieving Captain Mark E. Butt as the Group Commander. Martino comes to Group Humboldt Bay after serving a two-year tour as the Executive Officer of Aviation Training Center Mobile.

Upon his relief, Butt will be reporting as Project Officer, Asset Project Office, Engineering Logistics Center, and Logistics Transformation Program Integration Office, located in Baltimore, Maryland. As Project Officer, Butt will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Coast Guard’s new asset tracking system which covers all Coast Guard vessels and aircraft.

The change of command ceremony is a formal ceremony conducted before the assembled personnel of the command, and it confirms to the men and women of the unit that total responsibility, authority and accountability is transferred from one individual to another.

Cutter Healy change of command Friday

SEATTLE - The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy will conduct a change of command ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday at the Integrated Support Command at Pier 36.

Capt. Fredrick Sommer will take command of the nation’s largest icebreaker, and the Coast Guard’s largest ship, USCGC Healy, from Capt. Ted Lindström who has commanded Healy since 2006. The traditional ceremony will highlight the continuity of command as the responsibility for the Healy and its crew passes from one individual to the next. Radm. John Currier, the commander of the Coast Guard’s 13th District, which covers the Pacific Northwest will preside over the ceremony.

Captain Sommer is a 1985 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. Upon graduation he reported to the USCGC Polar Sea, based here in Seattle. He went on to serve on several smaller ice breakers on the east coast before serving as the Executive Officer of the USCGC Midgett also based in Seattle. During his shore assignments, Captain Sommer pursued a civil engineering career and completed a Masters of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. Captain Sommer’s military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, four Coast Guard Commendation Medals, and two Coast Guard Achievement Medals. Captain Sommer spent most of his childhood in Honolulu, San Diego, and Seattle and is a graduate of Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington. He is married to the former Valerie Nelson of Cushing, Wisconsin. They have two teenage sons, Steven and Christopher.

Captain Lindström is a 1978 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with High Honors in Marine Science. Upon graduation he reported to the USCGC Resolute in Alameda, Calif. He went on to serve on numerous cutters, commanding several, including the USCGC Midgett based here in Seattle. Captain Lindström’s assignments ashore have been varied. After completing his Masters of Science degree in Operations Research at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., he taught at the Coast Guard Academy as an Associate Professor in the Mathematics Department. Captain Lindström’s military awards include four Meritorious Service Medals, four Coast Guard Commendation Medals, and three Coast Guard Achievement Medals. A native of Martinez, California, Captain Lindström is married to the former Lynila Gunter of Sacramento, Calif. They have four children and four grandchildren and reside in Port Orchard, Wash.

The Healy is the newest and largest of the nation’s three heavy icebreakers and the only one with extensive scientific capabilities. The 420-foot cutter was commissioned in 2000 and has a permanent crew of 80. Scientific support is its primary mission, but as a Coast Guard Cutter, Healy is also a capable platform for supporting other potential missions in the Polar Regions, including logistics support, search and rescue, ship escort, environmental protection, and the enforcement of laws and treaties. There is much speculation as to what will happen in the Arctic if less ice leads to more shipping and human activity in the region. When speaking of the future, Admiral Thad Allen, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, has said that “Icebreakers will have an important role to play.”

The Healy will be departing Seattle on the June 25 to commence her second 2008 deployment. The ship is headed first to the Bering Sea to continue ecological work started during her spring deployment, and then on to the Arctic Ocean for a suite of four missions that focus on the deployment of scientific moorings and mapping America’s Extended Continental Shelf.

Coast Guard Honoring Tom Lee Posthumously for Heroic Rescue Effort

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Coast Guard will present the Coast Guard Certificate of Valor to the family members of Tom Lee at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at the Council Chambers of the City of Memphis to nationally recognize Lee posthumously for saving the lives of 32 people on the Mississippi River, on May 8, 1925.

While piloting his 28-foot skiff boat, Zev, he witnessed the sinking of a Corps of Engineers vessel, M. E. Norman, with 74 people on board. The sinking occurred in the fast currents 16 miles south of Memphis, Tenn. Lee, who was alone, quickly navigated the skiff upstream toward the people in distress. Disregarding his own safety and the river’s hazardous undercurrent, he rescued 32 people, pulling them onto his skiff and transporting them, a few at a time, to the safety of the shore. After bringing the last person to shore, he collected wood drifting on the river and built a fire for the rescued survivors. Lee then returned to the skiff and spent the night searching the river for others who might have survived. Lee battled physical exhaustion and his inability to swim so that others may live.

ATC Mobile to hold change of command

MOBILE, Ala. — Coast Guard Capt. David R. Callahan, who was officer in charge of Aviation Training Center, Mobile when it was the largest operational air station in Coast Guard history during search and rescue operations after Hurricane Katrina, will hand over command of ATC Mobile to Capt. Steve C. Truhlar, who is reporting from the U.S. Army War College.

Captain David R. Callahan has served as commanding officer of ATC since June 2005. Rear Admiral Joel R. Whitehead, commander, Eighth Coast Guard District, is scheduled to preside.

ATC Mobile is the Coast Guard’s aviation and capabilities development and traing center, is used to qualify all Coast Guard pilots, and is also an operational air station. The crew consists of nearly 450 Coast Guardsmen and 29 civilians.

The crew of ATC Mobile operates and maintains a fleet of seven HH-65C Dolphin helicopters, four HU-25A Falcon jets, four HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters, and three HC-144 Ocean Sentry Turboprop aircraft. Operationally, ATC operates under the tactical control of the Eighth Coast Guard District and has area of responsibility that stretches from the Louisiana/Texas border to the eastern edge of the Florida panhandle, through the Caribbean and into South America.

Under Captain Callahan’s command, ATC has been responsible for all of the Coast Guard’s aviation training and aviation operational capabilities development. Most recently during Hurricane Katrina, Captain Callahan’s command became the largest operational air station in U.S. Coast Guard history, and played a key role in the Coast Guard’s rescue of over 30,000 people in Mississippi and Louisiana. Callahan’s departure from ATC leads him to Cleveland, OH, where he will be Chief of Staff for the Coast Guard’s Ninth District, covering the entire Great Lakes region.

Captain Truhlar is reporting from the U.S. Army War College. His previous aviation tour of duties included: Coast Guard Air Station (CGAS) Miami, ATC Mobile, CGAS Traverse City, Michigan, and Commanding Officer, Navy Training Squadron TWO Pensacola, FL. Captain Truhlar will be the seventeenth officer to serve as Commanding Officer of ATC.

The Change of Command ceremony is a time-honored event preserved by the rich heritage of naval tradition. It is a formal custom that is designed to strengthen the respect of authority, which is vital to any military organization.

USCG Cutter James Rankin sets Francis Scott Key buoy

BALTIMORE- The Coast Guard Cutter James Rankin set the historic “Francis Scott Key” buoy near the Key Bridge during a ceremony today.

The buoy marks the spot where the ship carrying Francis Scott Key, the author of the Star Spangled Banner, was anchored during the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. Each year the buoy is set in the spring marking the location of the event and then removed in the fall.

A small ceremony was held on the Rankin where the history of the Star Spangled banner was told, the anthem was played and the Fort McHenry Guard issued a gun salute.

“With our friends from the park service, we go through a memorial service to honor Francis Scott Key,” said Lt. Wayne Wallace, commanding officer of the James Rankin.

In attendance was members from the National Park Service from Ft. McHenry, Navy League of the United States, Dundalk Patapsco Neck National Historical Society, Flaghouse Museum in Baltimore, Todd’s Inheritance Historic Site, Coast Guard Academy Parents Assoc., French Embassy, Helen Bentley, former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives and the great-great-great-great-grandson of Francis Scott Key, F. Key Kidder.

The first buoy was put in the harbor in 1914 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the writing of our nation’s anthem. However, the buoy did not become seasonal until 1972 when the Coast Guard Cutter White Pine placed it where it now goes every year.

The buoy painted as the American flag is the only one of its kind. It is taken out of the water after boating season to protect it from ice damage and to be refurbished for the next year.

“If your out on your boat this summer and you happen to come by the Francis Scott Key Bridge, take a look at the buoy because its the only one,” said Wallace.