CAPE MAY, N.J. — The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous, homeported at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, is scheduled to return at 12:30 p.m. Monday following a two-month patrol of the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.
During the patrol, the Vigorous crew conducted a 6-day escort of the cruise ship Carnival Triumph to a cruise ship terminal in Mobile, Ala., after Triumph became disabled and adrift following an engine room fire. The Vigorous crew also medevaced one Triumph passenger.
Additionally, the Vigorous crew worked in support of the Joint Interagency Task Force – South, which combines agency capabilities to jointly stem the flow of narcotics into the U.S. During their deployment, the Vigorous crew partnered with the Colombian Navy for a drug interdiction, and a search and rescue case in which a vessel ran aground.
The crew also participated in a community service project in Boca Del Toro, Panama, to help restore a nursing home.
Medium-endurance cutters, like the 44-year-old Vigorous, are built for multi-week offshore patrols, including operations requiring enhanced communications, and helicopter and pursuit boat operations, which provide a key capability for homeland security missions at sea.
