USCG honors author Alex Haley in commissioning of latest cutter

Sea Power, Aug 1999 by Burgess, Richard R

The Coast Guard has fulfilled a promise made two years ago to name a cutter after its first chief journalist, the late Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alex Haley. The former Navy salvage and rescue ship Edenton (ATS 1) has been converted into a 282-foot medium-endurance cutter and commissioned in the Coast Guard as the USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC 39). The new cutter is believed to be the first U.S. military ship named for a journalist.

Haley, famed for his best-selling book Roots, served in the Coast Guard for 20 years, beginning in 1939 as a steward and retiring in 1959 as a chief journalist. Haley, who started writing as a hobby, was valued by his shipmates for his talent in "ghostwriting" love letters for them. His writing talent was recognized with an assignment to the Coast Guard's public affairs office in New York. After retiring from the Coast Guard, Haley continued his writing career and also worked to promote literacy and education. He died in 1992.

Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater was the keynote speaker at the 10 July commissioning ceremonies at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Md. Also in attendance were Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), Coast Guard Commandant Adm.

James M. Loy, Haley's first wife Nannie Haley, his oldest son William Haley, his daughter Lydia Haley, his sister Lois Butts Haley, his brother Julius Haley, and his daughter-in-law Doris Haley (whose husband, U.S. Ambassador to Gambia George Haley, was unable to attend).

The Edenton, converted at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, features significant upgrades in habitability and in environmental-compliance systems, new electronics and mechanical systems, an emergency diesel generator, and a helicopter flight deck.

Installation of a retractable helicopter hangar is planned for the future. The conversion of the 28-year-old ship cost $20 million.

The Alex Haley will be homeported in Kodiak, Alaska. Her primary duty will be to carry out fisheries-enforcement and search-and-rescue missions in the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and North Pacific.

Marinette Marine Launches New Coastal Buy Tender

The Coast Guard's 1I th Keeper-class coastal buoy tender has been launched by Marinette Marine Corporation in Marinette, Wis. The Harry Claiborne (WLM-561) will be commissioned later this year and be stationed in Galveston, Texas. The tender is named for a former keeper of the Bolivar Point Light across the bay from Galveston.

Sponsor of the 175-foot ship and keynote speaker at the launch ceremonies was the Honorable Nancy E. McFadden, general counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Also speaking at the 26 June ceremonies was Vice Adm. James C. Card, vice commandant of the Coast Guard.

The Harry Claiborne is equipped with an advanced navigation and positioning system-which includes the global positioning system-and a zdrive propulsion system that allow for the exact positioning of buoys even when the tender is battling extreme wind and currents. The new tender also will be assigned to SAR (searchand-rescue) missions and marine environmental protection missions.

Coast Guard Says U.S. Ports Will Stay Open for Y2K

The Coast Guard has announced that U.S. ports will remain open on 1 January 2000, and that the service plans to collect the information needed from port authorities and vessel operators to ensure that the so-called Y2K (Year 2000) computer problem does not affect maritime safety.

"Through dedicated efforts of many people at the U.S. Coast Guard, local ports, and private industry, the maritime transportation sector is readying itself for the Year 2000," said Deputy Secretary of Transportation Mortimer L. Downey. "We believe we are well on our way to having a transportation system that will operate properly before, during, and after the millenium change.

Rear Adm. George N. Naccara, the Coast Guard's director of information and technology, said that the Coast Guard is treating the Year 2000 problem with "the same heightened state of readiness" that it would employ with other marine hazards, such as spills and severe storms.

Navy Deactivates Two More Patrol, Reconnaissance Units

The Navy has deactivated two more combat squadrons, one carrier-based, the other land-based. Patrol Squadron 91 (VP-91), a reserve P-3C squadron, and Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 5 (VQ-5), one of the Navy's two carrier-based ES-3A squadrons, have been retired as the result of budget constraints.

VP-9 1, known at various times as the Pink Panthers, Stingers, and Black Cats, was established at Naval Air Station (NAS) Moffett Field, Calif., on 1 November 1970. For more than two decades the squadron operated, in succession, the P-3A, P-3B, P-3B (MOD), and P-3C Update III versions of the Orion maritime patrol aircraft.

VP-91 annually provided many detachments to the Pacific Fleet and made deployments all over the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas, conducting such operations as tracking Soviet submarines and detecting drug-running ships. VP-91 was the only reserve P-3 squadron deployed in support of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, during which one of its crews participated in the destruction of Iraqi naval vessels.