cutter – Fishermens News

Polar Star Heads South from Seattle for Antarctica’s Operation Deep Freeze

22Nov

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Polar Star Heads South from Seattle for Antarctica’s Operation Deep Freeze

For the 27th year running, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Polar Star is enroute to Antarctica to break a navigable channel through ice for Operation Deep Freeze (ODF). It’s a task described by Polar Star Commanding Officer Capt. Keith Ropella as a unique, important mission that requires year-round effort from crew to prepare the now 47-year-old vessel for the 20,000 nautical mile round trip, where the Polar Star will be subject to extreme environmental conditions. The Coast Guard said that it’s recapitalizing its polar icebreaker fleet to ensure continued access to the polar regions and to protect the country’s economic, environmental and national security interests. To date, the Polar Star has completed the third of five planned phases of the service life extension project at a cos...

Coast Guard Cutter Kimball Returns to Honolulu After 85-Day Patrol

8Nov

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Coast Guard Cutter Kimball Returns to Honolulu After 85-Day Patrol

The Coast Guard cutter Kimball returned to its homeport in Honolulu on Nov. 2 after completing an 85-day patrol covering 14,000 nautical miles from the Hawaiian Islands north to the Arctic Circle. While at sea, the crew provided search-and rescue coverage and conducted living marine resources (LMR) and counter Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing operations during the patrol, following a response to wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui. On Aug. 8, while en route to the Aleutian Islands, the cutter received a report of people in the water attempting to escape a raging wildfire on Maui. The cutter shifted to the tactical control of Sector Honolulu and altered course to support the mass search and rescue efforts. Arriving on scene within hours, the Kimball became ...

Coast Guard Cutter Healy Embarks on Arctic Ocean Mission

30Aug

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Coast Guard Cutter Healy Embarks on Arctic Ocean Mission

The Coast Guard cutter Healy and a team of researchers have embarked on a months-long missing to gain insight on how warmer water from the Atlantic Ocean is being introduced into the Arctic at the shelf water level, deep basin interior and upper ocean. The mission was announced by the Coast Guard on Aug. 26. According to the announcement, researchers from the National Science Foundation and International Arctic Research Center will service the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS), in hope of developing an understanding of water circulation in the region and will sample the water column in areas normally inaccessible due to pack ice. Research findings would be of interest to the Crab Plan Team of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which has ongoing...

Coast Guard Cutter Munro Arrives for Training With Japan Coast Guard

23Aug

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Coast Guard Cutter Munro Arrives for Training With Japan Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Munro is now in Yokosuka, Japan on its first international port visit, to conduct training and engagements with the Japan Coast Guard. The Munro arrived Aug. 6 while deployed in the Indo-Pacific and hosted several members of the Japan Coast Guard for professional exchanges, including showcasing the Munro’s small boar and aerial capabilities, and search-and-rescue operations. The visit allowed members of both Coast Guard services to discuss their shared mission objectives and shared maritime security challenges. The Munro’s commanding officer, Capt. Rula Deisher, said it has been a privilege for the Munro to work alongside of its Japanese partners to support a free and open Indo-Pacific. Munro, a 418-foot national security cutter under the tactica...

Coast Guard Cutter Healy Embarks on 5-Month Deployment

16Aug

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Coast Guard Cutter Healy Embarks on 5-Month Deployment

A crew of 84 people aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy have embarked on a five-month deployment in support of the Office of Naval Research’s science mission across the Arctic. On board with the crew are a team of international scientists there to recover and redeploy oceanographic instruments as part of the Nansen and Amundsen Basin Observational System (NABOS). The instruments have been collecting Arctic date for over two decades, contributing to an international body of knowledge through the U.S. National science Foundation’s Arctic Observing Network. The Healy, commissioned in 1999, is the larger and more technologically advanced of the Coast Guard’s two icebreakers. So far in August, during the first month of its deployment, the Healy was reported to be maintaining p...

Coast Guard Engages in Military Exercises with Japanese Training Ships

9Aug

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Coast Guard Engages in Military Exercises with Japanese Training Ships

The Coast Guard cutter Bertholf conducted training exercises with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) in the Bering Sea and Dutch Harbor during a 120-day Bering Sea summer patrol in support of U.S. national security. The engagements at sea and shoreside, prior to the Bertholf’s return to homeport in Alameda, Calif. on Aug. 3, included multiple formations with JMSDF training ships Kashima and Hatakaze. All three ships came together with the Unalaska community and officials of the Qawalangin Tribe for a ceremony marking the 81st anniversary of World War II’s Battle of Dutch Harbor, to commemorate lives lost and to recognize partnerships built in the decades that followed. Rear Adm. Nathan A. Moore, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Seventeenth District, Unalaska Mayor Vinc...

Coast Guard Confiscates $158M in Narcotics in Eastern Pacific Ocean

19Jul

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Coast Guard Confiscates $158M in Narcotics in Eastern Pacific Ocean

Crew aboard the Coast Guard cutters Steadfast, Vigilant and Mohawk confiscated millions of dollars in illegal drugs during counter-narcotics patrols in the Eastern Pacific Ocean from May through July, the Guard announced this week. On July 17, the crew of the Steadfast offloaded over 11,600 pounds of cocaine and 5,500 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $158 million in San Diego. “Their unwavering commitment while interdicting drug smugglers at sea is not only commended, but their continued efforts are unmatched,” Coast Guard Eleventh District Commander Rear Adm. Andrew Sugimoto said. “The crew of the Steadfast worked incredibly hard, day and night, to stop three smuggling vessels, preventing more than five tons of illicit narcotics from reaching American soil,” Steadfast C...

USCG Cutter Polar Star Home After Operation Deep Freeze

12Apr

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USCG Cutter Polar Star Home After Operation Deep Freeze

The Coast Guard cutter Polar Star and its crew are back in Seattle following a 144-day deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2023. This was the Polar Star’s 26th voyage to Antarctica for Operation Deep Freeze, which is an annual joint military service mission to resupply the United States Antarctic stations, in support of the National Science Foundation, the lead agency for the U.S. Antarctic Program. This year marks the 63rd iteration of the annual operation. The Polar Star is a 399-foot heavy polar icebreaker commissioned in 1976. It weighs 13,500 tons and is 84-feett wide with a 34-foot draft. The vessel has six diesel and three gas turbine engines able to produce up to 75,000 horsepower. The cutter left Seattle for Antarctica on Nov. 12, a journey of over 2...

Coast Guard Counternarcotics Patrol Confiscates More Than 7,500 Pounds of Cocaine

22Mar

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Coast Guard Counternarcotics Patrol Confiscates More Than 7,500 Pounds of Cocaine

The Coast Guard cutter Steadfast returned to its Astoria, Oregon homeport on March 14, following a 69-day counternarcotics patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, during which they confiscated over 7,500 pounds of cocaine valued at $85.6 million. The Steadfast had deployed with a Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and air crew based in Jacksonville, Fla., along with temporarily assigned crew from the Coast Guard cutter Harriet Lane and soon-to-be commissioned Coast Guard cutter Argus. When notified by a Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) of a suspected narcotics smuggling vessel transiting international waters, the Steadfast launched a crew and boarding team that interdicted the vessel after a many-hour pursuit. The Coast Guard said the suspected smugglers jet...

USCG Cutter Steadfast Returns to Astoria, Oregon

12Oct

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USCG Cutter Steadfast Returns to Astoria, Oregon

After 55 days on narcotics enforcement patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Steadfast returned to Astoria, Oregon on Oct. 3. The 210-foot medium endurance cutter traveled over 11,000 miles between Oregon and Central America, doing training, law enforcement, search and rescue and helicopter operations in international waters, the agency said. The crew was deployed with Maintenance Augmentation Team Seattle, Electronic Support Detachment Petaluma and the cutter Argus, which is expected to be commissioned soon, according to the Coast Guard. During its tour, the Steadfast pursued a high-speed, panga-style vessel suspected of smuggling contraband before handing off the case to a partner nation, USCG said. “This was a wildly productive deployment with noteworthy enhancements to cr...