The official blog of the U.S. Coast Guard
A team of U.S. Coast Guardsmen at the National Data Buoy Center helps to maintain a nation-wide network of data collecting weather buoys. The team organizes, coordinates and manages the deployment, service and recovery of 106 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorological weather buoys.
The Thomas Point Shoal Light is the last screw-pile lighthouse in its original foundation in the United States and the last lighthouse that Coast Guardsmen served in on the Chesapeake Bay. It represents a shared history with both Aids to Navigation and maritime and Coast Guard ATON crews maintain the aid with the same dedication as the crews that came before them for the last 230 years.
To keep the system moving safely and smoothly, Coast Guard members in Alaska have the unique opportunity of maintaining navigational aids to ensure the consistent flow of goods throughout Alaska’s marine highway. Despite limiting factors, Aids to Navigation Team Kodiak crew members work diligently to ensure the navigational aids are maintained, re-built and serviced.
The Japan Coast Guard presented commemorative stamps commissioned to mark the 150th anniversary of Japan’s first lighthouse during an official visit with the U.S. Coast Guard Nov. 16.
The calm swells of the Port of Panama gave the Fir’s crew a perfect opportunity to show the Panama Canal Authority how buoys are maintained in the U.S. As the Panamanian crew traversed to the whistle buoy, they searched for the black-hulled tender sporting the iconic 64-degree Coast Guard red, white and blue racing stripe. There it was, on time, dead center of dozens of floating cargo ships.
The U.S. Coast Guard was recognized by the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) for its use of electronic Aids to Navigation (eATON) during the 2017 hurricane season.
The members of the international technical association selected the U.S. Coast Guard for its best practices award during its quadrennial conference in the Republic of Korea’s third largest city.
After Hurricane Matthew dumped 18 inches of rain on North Carolina, Coast Guard Western River Flood Punt Team worked with local and state agencies to assist. The team, comprised of members from Coast Guard Sector Lower Mississippi River, Upper Mississippi River and Aids to Navigation Team Colfax, Louisiana, completed a total of 23 missions, eight rescues and more than 280 wellness checks.
Stannard Rock Lighthouse stands sentinel in the middle of Lake Superior, further from shore than any other lighthouse in the United States. One of the top ten engineering feats in American history, the lighthouse was built in 1835 to mark an uncharted hazard.
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, built in 1881, remains a fixture off the coast of Oregon. The lighthouse may no longer run using lanterns but continues to light the way to ensure the safety, security and stewardship of Pacific Northwest waterways.
Like the city it proudly serves, the New Canal Lighthouse in New Orleans is a survivor. In 1893 Hurricane Cheniere Caminada hit New Orleans. The lighthouse was not only the lone structure left standing in the area after the hurricane hit, but it also sheltered more than 200 survivors. Hurricanes pummeled the lighthouse again in 1915, 1926 and 1927. Then it was hit with the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that temporarily knocked it out of commission in 2005.