Browsing: Coast Guard

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Drug Smugglers Now Using Low, Fast, Camouflaged Boats, but Are Still Getting Caught

Drug smugglers, it seems, are getting smarter. Well, if not smarter, at least faster. In an effort to thwart increased Coast Guard interdictions of suspected smuggling boats in the Pacific, the cartels are now running drugs in low, fast, camouflaged boats that are hard to pick up on radar, or to catch at sea. Still, a recent joint operation between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Canadian Coast Guard resulted in 23 separate interdictions off Central and South America, capturing 47,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $721 million. The U.S. Coast Guard recently released videos and photos…

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Aging Coast Guard Icebreaker Suffers Engine Failure, Flooding, in the Antarctic

The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, the only heavy icebreaker in America’s fleet, suffered an engine failure and flooding in a recent mission in the Antarctic. The crew was able to shut down the engine that failed and separately solve the flooding, but the two incidents point out the mechanical problems involved in maintaining the 399-foot-long ship that was commissioned in 1976. The Polar Star’s mission was to deliver fuel and supplies to National Science Foundation research stations in the Antarctic, involving cutting a path through ice in the Ross Sea that was up to 10-feet thick. The crew had…

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Coast Guard Seizes 6,000 Pounds of Shrimp from Boat Fishing in Dry Tortugas Sanctuary

The Coast Guard and NOAA just seized 6,000 pounds of shrimp from a 68-foot commercial fishing boat near the Dry Tortugas Shrimp Sanctuary Preservation Area. They cited the boat, the Ronald E., for fishing inside a national marine sanctuary and for various safety violations. The Ronald E. had been seen fishing inside the sanctuary, which is about 70 miles from Key West. A Coast Guard and NOAA response team from the Coast Guard Cutter Raymond Evans boarded the Ronald E. and found the shrimp, which the government says is worth about $60,000. Capt. Jeffery Janzsen, commander of Coast Guard Sector…

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Coast Guard Closes Mouth of Chesapeake Bay Because of Ice, Blizzard

The Coast Guard just closed the entrance to Chesapeake Bay to all inbound and outbound traffic because of hazardous ice formations and the impending blizzard. It officially closed Cape Charles and Cape Henry, which function as the entrance to the bay. The Captain of the Port set “ice condition two,” meaning there is significant ice in navigable waters. Blizzard warnings were issued for much of the Lower Bay, so the situation will probably get worse. “The impending blizzard will cause a variety of maritime hazards, including strong winds, zero visibility, topside icing and heavy seas,” said Capt. Rick Wester, the…

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Let’s Hear It for Beards in the Coast Guard

You may not have been aware of this, but beards have been banned in the Coast Guard ever since 1986, when Admiral Paul Yost said the Coast Guard should “meet the same standards of smartness” as the other military branches. (The Navy had banned beards the year before.) But that was then and this is now, and Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Joshua Wine writes in the U.S. Naval Institute Blog that the ban has outlived its usefulness. The Coast Guard, he says, should revert to its policy permitting beards, a policy that started in 1790. Lt. Cmdr. Wine looks at…

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Coast Guard Warns of Documentation Scam

The Coast Guard is warning about a new scam that promises to make it easier for you to document your vessel, but in reality can cost a lot of money and result in paperwork that is not in compliance with Federal regulations. The problem stems from private websites that look like an official government site and that promise to renew your documentation for a fee – often much more than the Coast Guard’s renewal fee of $26. The Coast Guard says its National Documentation Center in Falling Waters, W.VA, is the only authorized entity to issue certificates of documentation. Coast…

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Increased Drug Smuggling Puts Strain on Coast Guard Resources

If you had seen this on Miami Vice, you probably wouldn’t have believed it, but drug smugglers from Guatemala and El Salvador increasingly are turning to homemade submarines in an effort to evade U.S. authorities, particularly the Coast Guard. This doesn’t always work, as evidenced by the picture above of the Coast Guard boarding a narco-sub in the Pacific. Indeed, the Coast Guard seized six narco-subs just last year, all filled with cocaine. And the subs are vastly outnumbered by fishing boats and speedboats (which the smugglers call pangas) in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. The Coast Guard’s problem…

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Coast Guard Reports Laser Strikes on Ships in the Chesapeake

This is just nuts. Someone is shining laser lights on the helm stations of commercial ships in the Chesapeake near Solomons, in the area between Drum Point and Cove Point. On one recent night four strikes between midnight and 3 a.m. targeted three separate ships and a pilot vessel. There had been three more strikes in the previous days, and several in the past month. Each time the strikes lasted about 15 minutes, long enough to do some serious damage to the helmsman’s ability to see and navigate safely at night. “Laser lights, and other bright lights, can be a…

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Coast Guard Closes Mississippi Near St. Louis: Flooding

Bad news for Loopers trying to get an early start or anyone else cruising on the Mississippi River: Due to heavy rain and flooding, the Coast Guard has closed the Mississippi to all traffic near St. Louis, from mile marker 184.5 to mile marker 179, near the MacArthur Bridge. More rain has raised the possibility of other river closings in the Upper Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois River basins, and the Coast Guard is worried about rising water levels near the Cape Girardeau area this week. For more: http://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-closes-portion-of-upper-mississippi-river-to-all-vessel-traffic/2017/05/02/

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Coast Guard Rescues Five from Sinking Boat in Mona Passage

The first sign of trouble came in to the Coast Guard in San Juan, a Mayday call from a 38-foot recreational power boat with five men on board that was taking on water in the often-treacherous Mona Passage, the strait between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The boat already had taken on three feet of water and more was pouring in. The five men had put on their life jackets and were abandoning ship, and they did not have a life raft. The Coast Guard immediately dispatched a Dolphin helicopter while sending out an urgent message to vessels in…

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