So you think your Hat is old?

[rwaldrop13]

Just a general interest article, as an old Coastie who started on a buoy tender. I wanted to share this with a community that will appreciate it.

FEATURE: Coast Guard’s “Queen of the Fleet” turns 80 > United States Coast Guard News > Press Releases

 

[JD5652]

Very cool...

 

[Jims43DC]

Very cool for sure, wonder how many tons of paint has been chipped off of her over the years.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Another thought;
Another example of what does so much for so little; Probably the most underfunded, under paid, slowest advancement yet with such such of a task, Our USCG and has to keep a 80 year old tender in operation.
They have 2 arctic ice breakers in ancient condition and one is down,, again..
Bless our USCG for doing what they can with what little they have.

 

[Fanfare]

Another USCG "Gold Number" for 50 plus years of service is the USCG Ingham, now a museum ship in Key West, www.uscgingham.org . 52 years in commission 1936-1988, two Presidential Unit Citations for Extraordinary Heroism in Action against an Armed Enemy. Sank U-626 in Atlantic convoy duty, was in action against Germany, Japan, Korea and Viet Nam. What a history--well worth a visit.

 

[Boatsb]

Another thought;
Another example of what does so much for so little; Probably the most underfunded, under paid, slowest advancement yet with such such of a task, Our USCG and has to keep a 80 year old tender in operation.
They have 2 arctic ice breakers in ancient condition and one is down,, again..
Bless our USCG for doing what they can with what little they have.

Make the Coast Guard Great again.

 

[madhatter1]

66 34 C. though she creeks, she holds. As does every old Hatt.

 

[rsmith]

When I was a kid my dad was active in the Auxiliary. The Aux was a more serious organization then and actually interfaced with the groups. We were under group Cape May and got a ride on the buoy tender for a buoy swap. The buoy was 5 miles offshore and Marked Mcrea shoal at the entrance to the Delaware bay. We had trolled by the buoy many times blue fishing but I never imagined how much of the buoy itself was under water. Different times I was maybe 12 and the only thing I was told was stay out of he way and don’t get hurt. I can’t remember the name of the tender it wasn’t the black and white today but black and olive drab like the Army COE boats.

 

[rwaldrop13]

Another thought;
Another example of what does so much for so little; Probably the most underfunded, under paid, slowest advancement yet with such such of a task, Our USCG and has to keep a 80 year old tender in operation.
They have 2 arctic ice breakers in ancient condition and one is down,, again..
Bless our USCG for doing what they can with what little they have.

The polar breakers you mentioned - One of them is semi-permanently down to provide parts for the other one. That has been the case since before I got out in 1996.

 

[rwaldrop13]

When I was a kid my dad was active in the Auxiliary. The Aux was a more serious organization then and actually interfaced with the groups. We were under group Cape May and got a ride on the buoy tender for a buoy swap. The buoy was 5 miles offshore and Marked Mcrea shoal at the entrance to the Delaware bay. We had trolled by the buoy many times blue fishing but I never imagined how much of the buoy itself was under water. Different times I was maybe 12 and the only thing I was told was stay out of he way and don’t get hurt. I can’t remember the name of the tender it wasn’t the black and white today but black and olive drab like the Army COE boats.

That's not black and olive drab, that's "spar" or "buff"... so you've seen the heartbeat of the ATON program.

 

[rsmith]

Did you train in Cape May? The Unimak was there when I was a kid. It was replaced with the Alert.

 

[cww]

First let me say that I appreciate the job they do, and it's obviously something where the entire boating population sleeps better at night knowing that if something goes wrong they'll be there to rescue you. That said, do they have to be such d!cks when they're doing safety boarding inspections in Florida? I've never understood how you can get paid good money to ride around in a boat all day and still have such a crappy attitude. That's my dream job.

Their older vessels tend to be the highly specialized ones like icebreakers and buoy tenders. Those are so tailored to do a job that hasn't changed in 150 years that the cost/benefit analysis for building a new version of the same thing probably doesn't make any sense. These aren't like a normal cutter or a naval vessel, where the newest armament, CGIS suite, faster speeds, more advanced sonar, inter vessel datalinks, more electrical generation capability to run it all, the ability to carry newer missiles, etc., none the reasons you normally want to upgrade naval ship designs really matter to a buoy tender or an icebreaker.

 

[drburke]

I don't have much knowledge of the specialized roles in icebreaking, etc., nor do I have much to say about safety boarding :-(

But here on the West Coast there are a number of long range endurance vessels listed on pages 131 and 132 of this document that are very advanced.
https://www.uscg.mil/Portals/0/documents/CG_Cutters-Boats-Aircraft_2015-2016_edition.pdf

They deploy on missions to the Philippines and Chile from my personal knowledge, as well as the Middle East.

I am very grateful to the Coasties for undertaking those efforts.

 

[rwaldrop13]

Did you train in Cape May? The Unimak was there when I was a kid. It was replaced with the Alert.

I trained in Cape May, and my last ship was USCGC Campbell (WMEC909), replacing the Unimak in New Bedford MA in 1987. I got to see the Unimak decommissioning, as well as the CGC Ingham and CGC Taney. If those 2 names seem familiar, the Ingham is now a museum ship in Key West, and the Taney is a museum ship in Baltimore. The Taney was also the only US warship to get to sea to actively search for and attack Japanese forces on December 7, prior to the Arizona sinking in the entrance.