The Long Blue Line: Warren Deyampert – African-American rescue swimmer of World War II
In a time of unrest, when U-boats patrolled the icy waters of the North Atlantic, a crew of three bravely volunteered to serve the hazardous duty of rescue swimmer aboard Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba. Second Class Officer’s Steward Warren Deyampert worked on the cutter to develop a system of tethered rescue swimmers that ultimately saved well over 100 lives after an enemy submarine torpedoed U.S. Army transport Dorchester. Despite his secondary status in a segregated service, Deyampert placed the needs of others before his own and was posthumously awarded the Navy & Marine Corps Medal and Purple Heart Medal.
Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty: Cmdr. Bill McKinstry
The Foundation for Coast Guard History presented an individual achievement award to Cmdr. Bill McKinstry for volunteering to serve on the fast response cutter naming tiger team. The team helps identify and locate relatives of former enlisted personnel heroes who were under consideration as possible FRC namesakes.
The Tezanos sketchbook
Coast Guard Art Program artist Robert Selby deployed with Coast Guard Cutter Joseph for two weeks in May 2018. While aboard, Selby executed an artist’s sketchbook in preparation for a painting that will take the work of the Coast Guard at Sector San Juan as its theme.
Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Berry crew sets new horizons for cutter operations
In July, Oliver Berry’s crew set a new milestone by deploying over the horizon to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The 4,400 nautical mile trip marked marking the furthest deployment of an FRC to date for the Coast Guard and is the first deployment of its kind in the Pacific.
The Long Blue Line: Maurice Jester
The Coast Guard recently released the names of the newest Fast Response Cutters to be commissioned. Each FRC is named after a Coast Guard hero. One such Coast Guardsman is Maurice Jester, a WWII hero.
The Long Blue Line: Fast Response Cutters – the mainstay of the Coast Guard’s coastal patrol fleet
The Coast Guard is building a class of cutters similar to the Morris-class designed to serve a multi-mission role. The “Sentinel”-class Fast Response Cutters (FRC) perform drug and migrant interdiction; ports, waterways and coastal security; fishery patrols; search and rescue; national defense; and much more. The Fast Response Cutters will form the mainstay of the Coast Guard’s coastal patrol fleet, providing multi-mission capabilities and interagency interoperability.
24th Fast Response Cutter commissioned, begins watch over Hawaiian Islands
The Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Berry is the first of three operational fast response cutters to be commissioned in Hawaii. The FRCs are named after Coast Guard enlisted heroes and replace the 110-foot Island-class patrol boats.
Prioritizing recapitalization of Coast Guard assets
Recapitalization. It’s a word that gets used regularly in the Coast Guard, but what does it really mean for the service? By prioritizing recapitalization, the Coast Guard is ensuring that it will receive the appropriate assets and systems necessary to successfully meet today’s demands and is laying the framework for continued efforts to replace and enhance the fleet in the decades to come.
Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty: Seaman 1st Class Rollin Fritch
The Coast Guard will commission its newest Fast Response Cutter, the Rollin A. Fritch, Nov. 18, 2016, in Cape May, New Jersey. The cutter’s namesake was a crewmember aboard the USS Callaway during World War II and died during a Kamikaze attack January 8, 1945.
Sustaining mission effectiveness as Coast Guard surface fleet transitions
The U.S. Coast Guard Western Hemisphere Strategy is built around three priorities, combating networks, securing borders and safeguarding commerce. To meet these priorities, the strategy emphasizes the critical importance of offshore vessel and aircraft presence to support effective governance and sovereignty, as well as other concepts to ensure long-term success. That long-term vision relies heavily upon the ongoing acqusition of national security cutters and fast response cutters and future acquisition of offshore patrol cutters by the service but also requires us to lean heavily on an aging medium endurance cutter fleet made up of 210-foot and 270-foot cutters, some of which have been operational for as many as 45 years.