Future Maritime Center of Excellence to transform CGA waterfront. A more than $23 million project is now underway at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at New London, Connecticut, that will transform the waterfront area of the 90-year-old campus. The future Maritime Center of Excellence (MCOE) will enhance the waterfront facilities at the Academy by offering interactive and high-tech classrooms for a variety of educational and leadership development courses. With a curvilinear vaulted roof, wooden decks, and true north orientation, the building is designed to highlight the waterfront landscape. The new facility will also feature interactive and high-tech classrooms such as the Science and Engineering Innovation Laboratory, designed to encourage collaboration in areas of digital processing, robotics, alternative fuels and emissions, and environmental and coastal resiliency among other things. This represents a significant step forward as the Academy works to recapitalize 1930’s infrastructure and build modernized training and education venues to deliver the knowledge, skills, experience and values necessary to develop the future Coast Guard workforce. Learn more.
U.S. Coast Guard commissions 3 Fast Response Cutters in Guam. On July 29, the Coast Guard’s three newest Fast Response Cutters (FRC) were commissioned during a ceremony presided over by Adm. Karl Schultz, the commandant of the Coast Guard, in Santa Rita, Guam. The Coast Guard Cutters Myrtle Hazard, Oliver Henry, and Frederick Hatch were commissioned during a rare triple-commissioning ceremony at their new homeport at Coast Guard Forces Micronesia Sector Guam. “These initiatives cultivate relationships, and they solve practical problems,” Schultz said. “In this way the Coast Guard’s distinct contributions to maritime government are built on people-to-people relationships.” Each FRC has a standard 24-person crew. This brings over 70 new Coast Guard members to Guam, along with their family members. Prior to the FRCs’ arrival, the Coast Guard presence in Guam was composed of approximately 250 active-duty personnel and 40 reservists. Learn more.
USCG, Royal Bahamas Defense Force conduct international port security engagement. The U.S. Coast Guard International Port Security Program team hosted a six-member delegation from the International Ship and Port Security Compliance Unit of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force. This was a five-day engagement with representatives from the maritime industry in Port Everglades in early June 2021 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Coast Guard and the Royal Bahamas Defense Force have a long-standing partnership ensuring the security of the marine transportation system in the Straits of Florida. Millions of passengers and millions of dollars in cargo transit the area each year safely and securely due to the continuous efforts of both organizations. Learn more.
Coast Guard breaks ground on new cutter support facility at Base Los Angeles/Long Beach. On July 28, the Coast Guard broke ground on a new facility at Base Los Angeles/Long Beach, in San Pedro, California, that will be home to the service’s newest additions to its fleet. The new $35 million, 11,500 square-foot Naval Engineering Department facility is scheduled to be an extension to the existing Maintenance Augmentation Team (MAT) building that will support the Coast Guard’s first two offshore patrol cutters. Once completed in October 2022, the facility will accommodate approximately 60 personnel who will provide maintenance, weapon, and naval engineering support for the fast response and offshore patrol cutters. The offshore patrol cutters are the newest vessels in the Coast Guard's fleet. The state-of-the-art ships are scheduled to replace the service's 270-foot and 210-foot medium endurance cutters and will be used to patrol the open ocean in the most demanding maritime environments. Learn more.
Coast Guard Cutter Dependable crewmembers return home in Virginia Beach, Virginia, following 29-day patrol. Throughout the patrol, the Coast Guard Cutter Dependable’s crew conducted over 15 living marine resource boardings resulting in several violations. These ranged from commercial fishing vessel safety discrepancies to various fishing violations. Living marine resource enforcement patrols are vital to the continued sustainability and safety of the multi-billion-dollar U.S. seafood industry, as well as the safeguarding of marine-protected species. The Dependable is a 210-foot Medium Endurance Cutter that routinely deploys in support of counter-drug, alien-migrant interdiction, fisheries, search and rescue and homeland security missions. Learn more.