ATLANTIC OCEAN– U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba, a medium endurance cutter homeported in Boston, joined up at with U.S. Navy ships in preparation for this year’s UNITAS event in South America. The American rendezvous will allow for professional personnel exchanges and fleet formation steaming tactics in preparation for UNITAS.
UNITAS, Latin for unity, is a Southern America and U.S., sponsored series of annual military exercises aimed at promoting regional partnerships by building relationships and sharing U.S., expertise to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions
“This deployment continues our efforts implementing the national sea power strategy,” said Cmdr. Edward Westfall, commanding officer of Cutter Escanaba. “In working with our sister sea service, the U.S. Navy, as well as partner nation navies, we are improving our flexibility, interoperability and maintaining a forward presence. These skills are critical in conducting the wide variety of missions and operations that occur on the water, around the globe.”
UNITAS is the world’s oldest ongoing multilateral maritime exercise and provides opportunities to develop international partnerships, exercise naval and seamanship skills, and generally prepare for challenges faced in contributing to the security and stability of each country’s respective maritime domain.
“The Coast Guard’s 29 Medium Endurance Cutters are the workhorses of the offshore patrol fleet, and routinely conduct many of the Coast Guard’s eleven statutory missions. This capability, forward deployed, supports national goals of having the right asset at the right place at the right time. The diverse capabilities of the medium endurance cutter make Escanaba an ideal platform for the demands of a multilateral exercise of this caliber,” said Westfall.
