This Day in Coast Guard History, January 4

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

 44355 was on display at the Bayview Park. Bayview Park is located across from the Long Beach Township Municipal Buildings on Long Beach Boulevard. She was moved to the Tuckerton Seaport (NJ) around 2014.

1980  Coast Guard forces narrowly averted an environmental disaster when the 300-foot barge Michelle F, with more than 2.8 million gallons of No. Six industrial fuel aboard grounded one-half mile offshore from the Brigantine Wildlife Refuge.  Much of her cargo was offloaded before she was successfully refloated.

“I was a coxswain at Coast guard station Beach Haven with the 44355 in January of 1980. The oil barge Michelle f broke loose from its tugboat and went ashore in Little Egg inlet. I was asked to go out and save the crew on that barge in a northeastern storm with 20 ft seas. Coast guard 44355 was there to rescue the crew in that snowstorm. The barge was grounded in the inlet it was almost completely submerged. It took us two tries but we safely got the barge crew off. My crew and myself were awarded the Coast guard medal for extraordinary heroism.”–Matthew Greer uscg ret

The Coast Guard Cutter Healy breaks ice around the Russian-flagged tanker Renda 250 miles south of Nome Jan. 6, 2012. The vessels are transiting through ice up to five-feet thick in this area. The 370-foot tanker Renda will have to go through more than 300 miles of sea ice to get to Nome, a city of about 3,500 people on the western Alaska coastline that did not get its last pre-winter fuel delivery because of a massive storm. If the delivery of diesel fuel and unleaded gasoline is not made, the city likely will run short of fuel supplies before another barge delivery can be made in spring. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard – Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis) NY112

2012  CGC Healy, under the command of CAPT Beverly Havlik, embarked on an Arctic domestic icebreaking mission to escort the Russian tanker vessel Renda through 800 miles of Bering Sea pack ice to deliver 1.3 million gallons of fuel to ice-bound Nome, Alaska.  After 10 days of intense, close aboard ice escorting, the two vessels safely arrived on 14 January 2012 and began a successful 60-hour, over-the-ice fuel transfer while hove to in the ice 468 yards offshore of Nome.

1 thought on “This Day in Coast Guard History, January 4

  1. The ice was right at the max thickness that the Healy could break, this was at the end of their deployment and the Healy was scheduled to return to Seattle by Christmas, the ship gave up it’s Christmas to help others.

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