Free Republic

The U.S. Coast Guard transferred a high-endurance cutter to its Vietnamese counterpart in Honolulu, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said on Friday, in the latest effort to deepen ties with its former foe.

As Russia is building literally a new armada of new icebreakers, ice-capable supply ships, a massive arctic "research" submarine and icebreaker surface combatants armed with cruise missiles, the Pentagon is now looking at arming its relatively tiny fleet of future icebreakers with similar weapons as well. The revelation came during a House subcommittee on Homeland Security hearing where Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft was discussing the service's plans to build three new medium icebreakers, with the first delivery occurring by 2023. A major design study is underway now and the nature of the icebreaker's capabilities still remain up for...

..... Clinton campaign had contacted the Coast Guard for permission to pull off a 2 minute long fireworks display over the Hudson River when the election results went final. The fireworks would be visible from the Jacob Javits....

The Coast Guard was searching Wednesday for an upstate New York woman who plunged into the water from a Carnival cruise ship off the coast of Grand Bahama Island. The passenger "was witnessed jumping overboard" from the 11th deck of the Carnival Ecstasy around 2:30 a.m. ET, Carnival Cruise Line spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said in a statement."

Hundreds of passengers on board a packed ferry are being forced to abandon ship after a blaze broke out on board. US Coastguards raced to the scene after receiving reports that a huge fire caught hold of a massive ship carrying more than 500 people. A number of people are feared to be in the water - according to the Coastguard - but it is not yet known if any are injured. Lifeboats According to reports, the vessel is a passenger ferry that caught fire just a mile outside San Juan bay in Puerto Rico. The US Coastguard revealed it...

All four life rafts from the two choppers that collided off Oahu's North Shore have been recovered on Monday but with no sign of any survivors, according to an official with the U.S. Marines. In spite of this, rescuers on Tuesday will continue searching for the 12 Marines who were on board the two helicopters when they crashed late Thursday. This would be the fifth day of search-and-rescue operations.

HONOLULU (AP) — Authorities searching the area where two Marine helicopters crashed off Hawaii have found some life rafts that were carried aboard the aircraft, but still no sign of the 12 crew members who were on board. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Sara Mooers said Monday she believes three life rafts have been recovered so far. Some were inflated, but it was unclear how they came to be inflated, she said. The search for the Marines entered its fourth day Monday. Mooers said at this point, it is still a search for survivors. Rescuers from various agencies have been...

U.S. Marine Corps 22 mins *The Marine Corps can confirm there is an active search and rescue operation ongoing for two CH-53 helicopters of the coast of Oahu. The U.S. Coast Guard is currently conducting search and rescue operations. The aircraft are from the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing from Marine Corps Base Hawaii. We will provide more details as they become available.* — Major Christian Devine, USMC

The Coast Guard will hold a joint press briefing with the National Transportation Safety Board to provide updated information on the search for the crew of El Faro and the investigation Wednesday afternoon.

A cargo ship with 33 crewmen on board that has been missing since Thursday is believed to have sunk, according to authorities involved in the search for the vessel.

DEVELOPING -- The U.S. Coast Guard was in a desperate search Monday to locate any survivors of a cargo ship that likely sank in a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday. Crews found human remains near the ship's last known whereabouts, according to the Coast Guard. The El Faro had 28 Americans and five Polish nationals on board when it lost power near raging Hurricane Joaquin. “We’re not gonna discount somebody’s will to survive, and that’s why we’re still searching today,” said Capt. Mark Fedor, chief of response for the Coast Guard 7th District. Search crews received multiple reports of immersion...

<p>USCG confirms SS El faro has sunk. 1 body and one damaged life boat found among large debris field. details forthcoming.</p>

An 800 ft. cargo vessel sailing from Jacksonville to San Juan in the vicinity of a major hurricane with 33 crew on board loses power, starts listing, sends a distress signal and goes missing now for four days. Drudge has a link to the story just as a side of other hurricane stories. The story goes largely ignored by the mainstream media. Even Free Republic has taken it down from Breaking and Front Page news. That's 33 souls, 28 of which are Americans, possibly lost at sea or struggling to survive. A major U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue effort...

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -- The U.S. Coast Guard has located a life ring from a cargo ship that lost power and communications during Hurricane Joaquin and is now the subject of an intense search in the southeastern Bahamas. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss says the life ring was 120 miles northeast of Crooked Island. That's about 70 miles northeast of the last known position of the El Faro before it lost contact with authorities with 33 people on board. Doss says the crew of a C-130 airplane spotted the life ring Saturday and a helicopter crew confirmed it...

MIAMI - Coast Guard search and rescue crews are searching for a container ship with 33 crew members that sailed out of Jacksonville and was reported to be caught in Hurricane Joaquin, near Crooked Island, Bahamas. The El Faro, a 735-foot ro-ro cargo ship, was en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville. About 7:30 a.m. Thursday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command center in Portsmouth, Virginia, received an Inmarsat satellite notification stating the El Faro was beset by Hurricane Joaquin, had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list. The crew reported the ship had previously taken...

The U.S. Coast Guard has launched a search for a U.S.-flagged containership with 33 crewmembers aboard reported to be caught in Hurricane Joaquin, near Crooked Island, Bahamas. The Coast Guard reported Friday that at approximately 7:30 a.m. Thursday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command center in Portsmouth, Virginia, received an Inmarsat satellite notification stating the 735-foot cargo ship El Faro was beset by Hurricane Joaquin while en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. The notification said that the ship had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list.

Published on Aug 23, 2013 Freely downloadable at the Internet Archive, where I first uploaded it. "On overseas activities of the Coast Guard in World War II. Includes views of the amphibious invasions of Guadalcanal, North Africa, Anzio, Tarawa, Saipan, Luzon, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Normandy, and South France. Cutters shoot down an airplane, patrol a Persian port, deliver supplies and men to Greenland, release depth charges, and sink a German boat. Coast Guardsmen place buoys in a port, load supplies on B-24 plane, load wounded Marines aboard transports off Tarawa, and rescue sailors of ships sunk by Japanese suicide planes...

‘A Liking for the Sea’ | JFK and the USCG Eagle Jul 21st, 2015 | Categories: Americana, Jared Paul Stern | by Jared Paul Stern A majestic sight greeted visitors to Portland, Maine’s waterfront the other day: the only active commissioned sailing vessel in American military service. The 295-ft. USCG Eagle, used as a training cutter for future officers of the United States Coast Guard, visited the city as part of the Tall Ships Portland Festival. The ship has a rather interesting history. Built as the German training vessel Horst Wessel in 1936, Adolf Hitler presided at its launch and...

Disney has just release its first trailer from its new film The Finest Hours, based on the remarkable true story of “the greatest small boat rescue in U.S. Coast Guard history.” The film tells the story of the SS Pendleton, a 10,448 gross ton “T2″ tanker which broke in half during a fierce nor’easter while off the coast of Cape Cod on February 18, 1952.

Organizers of this weekend's EQT Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta said Friday they canceled all scheduled boat races because of hazardous river conditions