USCG 24-foot SPC-SW File Photo
The station, on the south shore of Long Island, received a new 24-foot Special Purpose Craft- Shallow Water (SPC-SW), designed to operate in areas that other response boats are unable to transit. The SPC-SW will enhance capabilities in a variety of missions including search and rescue, maritime law enforcement and port, waterway, and coastal security.
The SPC-SW, designed especially for shallow water use, can reach speeds of more than 40 miles per hour and tow vessels weighing up to five tons. The twin-150 horsepower outboard engines are mounted on a hydraulic jacking plate used to control engine draft during shallow water operations, which provides Coast Guard crews greater mobility on the water, particularly in the 32 square miles of Jones Beach Back Bay waters where charted depths are changing annually, and the channels, creeks, and bays are all confined, surrounded by island marshes, and hard to reach by rescue crews in the unit’s larger boats.
Station Jones Beach responded to more than 100 search and rescue cases during Summer 2010, including 35 disabled or aground vessels, 12 sinking vessels, 15 cases of people in the water, four boating accidents, 12 medical injuries, and five vessels on fire.
The additional boat is part of the nationwide process to upgrade the Coast Guard’s cutter and small boat fleets with newer and more versatile vessels.
