A couple of interesting bits caught my eye lately and warmed my salty old heart.
On PCU Nantucket (LCS 27), the planned third commissioned ship in naval service to carry the name of the Massachusetts island and the 14th of 16 Freedom-class littoral combat ships, a mast-stepping ceremony was held last week.
“The crew commemorated the occasion by passing a vessel containing mementos from the ship’s namesake town and coins from the crew, which was then welded to the mast, symbolizing the union of the ship and its heritage.”
Listed as “In Service, Special” in the NVR, the event celebrated the 3rd birthday of Nantucket’s christening.
While a little thing, it is still nice to see a mast stepping on one of these “little crappy ships,” despite their problems.
Of course, I’ve always thought that masts should carry rum or whisky, but that is just me.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard Historian’s Office recently visited the service’s Surface Acquisition Logistics Center, Cutter Transition Division located at the CG Yard in Baltimore to retrieve relics saved from recently mothballed surface assets.
The haul looks like lots of gear from recently decommissioned 87-foot patrol boats (Sea Dragon, Sea Devil, Sea Dog, Mako, et. al) as well as some very long-serving ships such as the 35-year veteran Island class cutter Orcas (WPB1327), and the 210-foot Reliance-class cutters Confidence (WMEC-619) and Dauntless (WMEC-624) which had over 110 years of service between them.
As retired cutters almost always either get recycled by some other government agency for continued use or donated to some third-world ally, never to see American waters again, it is good to grab these relics to retain the memory of the vessels and those who served on their decks.
As noted by the USCGH:
A recent trip to the Cutter Transition Division netted a trove of ship boards, bells, and plaques that will be well preserved by the Historian’s Office. Some of the items will be placed into the Historian’s educational collection that the National Coast Guard Museum takes on the road to teach communities about the Coast Guard and its various missions
Plus, as the service is steadily activating new CGJROTC units, some of these historic relics may soon find new homes.