I found these two videos about United States Coast Guard Cutters and was deeply impressed with two things in them: the quality of these ships and the quality of their Coast Guard crews. I think you will find them very informative and interesting. Many of you may come away from them with a new understanding and respect for the United States Coast Guard.
The first video is of the newly commissioned USCG Rollin Fritch, a Sentinel-class cutter. It is a small cutter and will be the first of its kind to be based outside of the Caribbean. She has a crew of 20 Coasties, and her home base is Cape May, N.J. You will get a good look inside of the Roland Fritch and see what its mission is and what its capabilities are.
The occasion of the filming of this video of the USCG Cutter Rollin Fritch was a visit and inspection of the new ship by one of the senators from Delaware, Senator Tom Corker, while the Rollin Fritch was in port at Wilmington, Delaware. She looks like a beautiful ship to live and work on, and her young crew is eager and skilled.
The second Cutter is a much larger Legend-class National Security Cutter that was commissioned in 2017. She is a beauty and packed with some heavy-duty armament for sea-to-air and sea-to-sea fighting capabilities. She is fast, with a 29,500 horsepower power source that can drive her through the water at 25 knots.
Watch this one to see the much greater size and mission capabilities of this larger class of United States Coast Guard Cutters. You will be touring the USCG Munro in this video. You will get a complete tour of her and see how wide-ranging her mission capabilities are with large weapons systems for defense and offense, helicopter landing and launching, and small fast boat launching abilities.
You will see the enthusiasm and knowledge that these young Coasties have in their individual ratings. They seem very proud of their ship, and you can see that as each of the crewmen take their turn to guide you through the various operations of the USCGC Munro.
The Coast Guard is often thought of as the “red-headed stepchild” of the U.S. Military. But since I have been writing articles about the Coast Guard and meeting many of the Coasties who serve in that service, I have come to a very deep respect for them and what they do. I am glad to help spread the word about this great part of our United States military services.
To all who serve in the United States Coast Guard, we say Thank You for your service and we wish for all of you, “Fair Winds and Following Seas”. Semper Paratus!