Coasties get the keys to their brand-new ship
November 9th, 2009 | Coast Guard Maritime operations Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Unpronouncable name, fine-looking ship. // Coast Guard
Nothing puts a Coast Guardsman in a better mood than getting a new ship. Navy Times has had the privilege of being around when the Coast Guard showed off new vessels, all the way from the small (a Response Boat-Medium) to the large (the national security cutter Bertholf) and saw how the associated crew members glowed. And although we weren’t there Friday, it’s fair to say that glow was in effect when the lifesaving service accepted its second national security cutter, the Waesche.
Rear Adm. Ron Rabago, the Coast Guard’s top acquisition officer, signed the paperwork in Pascagoula, Miss., to transfer ownership of the Waesche from its Northrop Grumman shipyard to the U.S. government. The ship is set to sail to its new homeport of Alameda, Calif., in January.