Manitowoc marine launches Juniper-class buoy tender

Sea Power, Oct 2003

Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Gordon R. England gave the keynote address at the launching of the 15th Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender for the Coast Guard. England's wife, Dorothy, the ship's sponsor, christened the new cutter Sequoia in a traditional ceremony at Manitowoc Marine Group's Marinette Marine facility in Manitowoc, Wis.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thomas H. Collins also spoke at the Aug. 23 launching and christening ceremonies.

The Sequoia is equipped with sophisticated navigation and station-keeping propulsion systems to support the ship's missions of servicing aids to navigation; environmental protection; search and rescue; and domestic icebreaking.

"Sequoia joins her sophisticated sister cutters in helping the U.S. Coast Guard to successfully complete a variety of important missions," said Terry D. Growcock, chairman and chief executive officer of Manitowoc. "As we near the end of this project for the Coast Guard, we are very proud to have been chosen to provide ships that help protect our national security."

Manitowoc currently is building the 16th and last unit of the Juniper class, the Alder.

The 225-foot-long Sequoia is named for a previous Coast Guard cutter-built for the U.S. Lighthouse Service by New York Shipbuilding Company in Camden, N.J.-that served as a lighthouse tender from 1908 until 1946.

The Sequoia and her crew of six officers and 34 enlisted personnel-under the command of Capt. R. A. "Mac" McCullough-are scheduled to arrive in Apra Harbor, Guam, in late summer 2004.