Nav Notes
Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
CGF 2010 Volume: 2 Issue: 3 (July)
Waesche Ready for Active Duty
The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned its second National Security Cutter (NSC), Waesche, in a ceremony on Coast Guard Island, which featured a flyover by one of its MH-65C Dolphin helicopters.
The 418-foot Waesche is the second ship in the new Legend class of cutters designed to be the flagship of the Coast Guard’s modernized fleet. Eight cutters are planned for the class. The third NSC, Stratton, is approximately 40 percent complete and will be christened this summer by its sponsor, First Lady Michelle Obama.
During the ceremony, Captain Lance Bardo assumed his position as Waesche’s commanding officer and Dr. Jeffrey Waesche, grandson of the cutter’s namesake Admiral Russell R. Waesche, passed the long glass and set the first watch. Marilla Waesche Pivonka, Admiral Waesche’s granddaughter and the ship’s sponsor, then ordered the crew to “man our ship and bring her to life.”
Coast Guard Installs New Navigation Aids
The Coast Guard recently installed and activated a new foghorn in Mission Bay, San Diego to replace outdated technology and place the activation of the navigation aid into the hands of the boating public. The aids to navigation team has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers to help repair Mission Jetty, which was destroyed in a storm.
As a part of the repair, two new solar navigational lights marking the entrance to the jetty and the new foghorn have been installed. Mariners who enter the channel under foggy conditions by way of the Mission Jetty can now use VHF radios to activate the foghorn for navigational guidance. They can also tune their radio to channel 79A and depress their microphone five times to activate the foghorn.
“This is the same technology that small airports use to active lights on the runways,” said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Tapp. “The foghorn does not need to be on all of the time when it is foggy, just when a boater is transiting the area. This means it will only be on when someone really needs it, and this system will help cut down on noise pollution in the area.”
This is the second foghorn of its kind that has been installed on the west coast. The technology is also being used throughout the Great Lake region.
Direction Finder Technology Helps Coast Guard Save Lives
Rockwell Collins’ DF-430 direction finder is designed to help the U.S. Coast Guard find vessels in distress and help save lives. The technology recently helped the Coast Guard perform a sea rescue of the 19-member crew of the California during the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race.
The 68-foot stripped down racing yacht had encountered a fierce Pacific Ocean storm as the yacht raced from Qingdao in China across the Pacific to San Francisco. It was disabled after it was rolled 120 degrees by a huge wave, which broke its mast and injured one of the crewmembers. Because the wave took out all of the electronics and communication equipment, the emergency locator beacon was activated, enabling a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft outfitted with the DF-430 direction finder to locate the disabled vessel. The Kodiak, Alaska rescue crew flew 1,200 miles to the south and picked up the emergency signal from 175 miles away and nearly 50 miles from the reported position.
When Coast Guard personnel reached the distressed vessel, they dropped a VHF radio within two meters of the California so that the crew could communicate with rescuers. The Coast Guard then flew over a yacht participating in the competition and communicated the situation to its crew, who relayed the situation to the race organizers. The Coast Guard then asked the merchant ship Nord Nightingale, on passage from Yokohama to Los Angeles, to divert and take the injured crewmember onboard. Eventually, the crew of the California was able to perform makeshift repairs and sail into San Francisco.
“Using the new direction finder, we were able to fly to the vessel’s precise position, saving time and fuel,” said Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Mike Woodrum. “A visual search of the waters in the rough sea conditions would have been extremely difficult and there’s a significant chance we wouldn’t have been able to find the vessel without these tools.”
Introduced in 2007, the DF-430 system is being installed on all Coast Guard aircraft. The system enables aircraft to receive and immediately locate activated 406 MHz emergency position-indicating radio beacon signals, allowing Coast Guard crews to go directly to people in distress. The technology also allows Coast Guard rescuers to home in on a signal from far greater distances than previously available, allowing them to pinpoint the location of distressed vessels from as far away as 200 nautical miles.
“Over the years, we’ve built a tremendous relationship with the Coast Guard by providing them with a variety of systems and products, along with logistics support, to help them carry out their missions every day,” said Bruce King, Rockwell’s vice president and general manager of surface solutions. “It is very satisfying for our employees to know that more than 100 rescues have been made possible by using our equipment.” ♦