This Day in Coast Guard History, October 27

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

USCGC BARANOF (WPB-1318) decommissioning.

1997  The crew of CGC Baranof confiscated two .50-caliber sniper rifles, ammunition and other military supplies that were allegedly to be used in an assassination attempt against Cuban President Fidel Castro.  Four Cuban exiles were arrested for illegal possession of firearms after the 46-foot La Esperanza was ordered into Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, by the Baranof.  There a search of the vessel turned up the weapons.  One suspect confessed that the sniper rifles were to be used to assassinate Castro on his arrival on Venezuela’s Margarita Island for the Ibero-American Summit Conference.  A magistrate in the U.S. District Court in San Juan later dismissed the charge of conspiracy to assassinate Castro but let the charges of illegal importation of firearms and making false statements stand.

2014  A humpback whale was reported entangled with a weather buoy approximately 25 nautical miles off Moss Landing, California.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requested USCG assistance. On October 29, an Air Station San Francisco MH-65 helicopter located the entangled whale and vectored a NOAA vessel to the location.  NOAA officials were able to successfully free the whale and preserve the buoy mooring.  The whale was observed swimming away after it was freed.  NOAA officials believe the whale will survive.

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