The official blog of the U.S. Coast Guard
Coast Guard Cutter Cuyahoga began its career enforcing Prohibition laws and interdicting offshore liquor smugglers in 1926. It career ended as an Officer Candidate School teaching platform after a collision with a 521-foot bulk carrier in Chesapeake Bay in 1978. The Coast Guard will be honoring its fallen shipmates in ceremonies at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, and at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown, Virginia, Oct. 19-20, 2018 – 40 years after its sinking.
Since the 1970s, women in the Coast Guard have come a long way with female service members occupying every active duty role formerly reserved for men. During this period, female graduates of the Coast Guard’s Officer Candidate School helped shape the Coast Guard and pioneered the role of their gender in the service, the federal government and the nation as a whole. They have made the U.S. Coast Guard into a better institution for all men and women and they will continue to play an important role in leading the service in the 21st century.
From 1968-1980, the U.S. Coast Guard was involved in three major mishaps that had devastating impacts on those who survived. These mishaps also served as the impetus for the Prospective Commanding Officer/Executive Officer Course and the Bridge Resource Management Course, which trains members going back to sea in various leadership roles. Learning from our history in regards to the Coast Guard Cutters Blackthorn, Cuyahoga and White Alder is why the Coast Guard Leadership Development Center runs these courses: to prevent loss of life at sea.
It’s not unusual for a child to follow in their parent’s footsteps. Matthew Walker, a retired Coast Guard captain and former commanding officer of three cutters: Manitou, Polar Star and Steadfast, has two sons who followed him into the Coast Guard – Fireman Maxwell Walker, currently attending Machinery Technician “A” School in Yorktown, Virginia, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Alan Nielsen, a boatswain’s mate at Station Coos Bay in Charleston, Oregon. One of his sons even followed his footsteps to one of the very cutters he commanded.
“The Fleet Plan and Officer Exchange MOU build on the long history of cooperation between NOAA and the Coast Guard. Our shared responsibilities in serving the American people’s interests in the maritime domain are fortified by our even closer relationship,” said Coast Guard Vice Adm. Charles Michel, deputy commandant for operations.
June 18 marks the 25th anniversary of the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative Program. CSPI is a fully funded scholarship program open to students of all races and ethnicities, which may pay up to two academic years of college tuition and books. While in the program, officer trainees are provided with valuable leadership, management, law enforcement, navigation and marine science skills and professional development training. Upon graduation from college, officer trainees attend Officer Candidate School and are commissioned as ensigns in the Coast Guard. In honor of this milestone, we highlight one of the program’s initial candidates, Capt. Robert Smith.
He joined the Coast Guard to fly. And fly he did. Vice Adm. John Currier piloted five Coast Guard and three Navy aircraft types, amassing 6,023 flight hours. He took to the skies, saving lives and protecting our nation, for 38 years. Currier assumed duties as the 28th vice commandant of the Coast Guard in May 2012 and was relived from his duties at a change of watch ceremony held earlier this week. As vice commandant, Currier focused on reawakening the operational safety culture in the Coast Guard.
Perched on a rocky hill overlooking Connecticut’s busy Thames River sits Robert Crown Park, a quiet, forested section of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. On May 7, a hushed group of Coast Guard and NOAA officers gathered in the park to observe NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan and Academy Superintendent Rear Adm. Sandra Stosz place a brass survey marker in the ground.
Co-written by Jennifer Gaudio, Lt. Michael Bell and Eric Alan. Officer candidates participate in a Coast Guard history course July 15, 2013, at the Coast Guard Museum located at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. The course allows officer candidates to examine artifacts relevant to the historical periods they are currently studying. U.S.
Somewhere off the coast of New Jersey: As the Coast Guard Barque Eagle sailed into 17 knot winds and 6 to 8-foot seas, officer candidates entered metaphorically uncharted waters. That’s especially true for two United States Coast Guard officer candidates with no previous maritime experience.