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USCGC Vigorous

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USCGC Vigorous (WMEC-627)USCGC Vigorous (WMEC-627)
History
United States
BuilderAmerican Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio
Laid down10 November 1967
Launched4 May 1968
Acquired2 May 1969
Commissioned2 May 1969
HomeportJEB Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia Beach, VA
Identification
Motto
  • Paratus Gerere
  • Ready for War
StatusActive
General characteristics
Displacement1050 lt
Length210 ft 6 in (64.16 m)
Beam34 ft (10 m)
Draught10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) max
Propulsion2 x V16 2550 horsepower ALCO diesel engines
Speedmax 18 knots; 2,700 mile range
Rangecruise 14 knots; 6,100 mile range
Complement12 officers, 63 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems		2 x AN/SPS-73/SINS
Armament
Aircraft carriedHH-65 Dolphin

USCGC Vigorous (WMEC-627) is a United States Coast Guard Reliance Class medium endurance cutter.

Service summary

Her keel was laid down by American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio 10 November 1967 and she was launched 4 May 1968. Vigorous was commissioned 2 May 1969 and her current homeport is Virginia Beach, VA.

Her initial homeport was in New London, Connecticut where she was moored at the United States Coast Guard Academy. She was decommissioned for modernization at the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, in early 1992 and was recommissioned on 11 January 1993.

During the 2010 Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, the Vigorous maintained a security zone in Mayaguez harbor.

On 11 February 2013, the Vigorous stood by the disabled 102,000-ton cruise ship Carnival Triumph adrift in the Gulf of Mexico waiting to be towed. On Sunday, 10 February 2013 at 5:30 a.m. CST, the Carnival Triumph suffered a fire in her aft engine room. Although the fire was automatically extinguished and there were no injuries to passengers or crew, it resulted in a loss of propulsion and power to all support systems. With 4,229 persons on board, raw sewage began to back up into the lower passenger deck areas. This caused the media to dub the event "The Poop Cruise." A Coast Guard supplied emergency generator was providing minimal electrical power, while the ship was adrift about 150 miles off the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship was originally expected to be towed to the Mexican port of Progreso. However, after being carried north by currents while awaiting arrival of large, seagoing tugboats, she was towed to Mobile, Alabama instead. Vigorous escorted Carnival Triumph during her tow.

During May 2014, the Vigorous was spearheading the search for the Yacht Cheeki Rafiki one thousand miles east of Cape Cod, which went missing on a delivery voyage from Antigua to Southampton, England. The overturned hull of the capsized Cheeki Rafiki was found on the evening of 23 May 2014 with the keel broken off and the uninflated life raft inside the hull. All four sailors on board were presumed lost at sea.

Awards

While in service, Vigorous has been awarded:

References

  1. Mark Morgenstein; Ben Brumfield & Mike Pearson (13 February 2013). "Supplies reach befouled cruise ship in Gulf of Mexico". CNN.
  2. "CNN Exclusive: Carnival knew of fire danger before cruise, documents show".
  3. Newcomb, Alyssa (10 February 2013). "Carnival Cruise Ship Stranded Near Mexico". ABC News. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  4. Sloan, Gene (10 February 2013). "Carnival cruise ship on emergency power after fire". USA Today. Retrieved 10 February 2013.

External links

Media related to USCGC Vigorous (WMEC-627) at Wikimedia Commons

USCGC Vigorous stands by to assist the cruise ship Carnival Triumph adrift in the Gulf of Mexico on 11 Feb. 2013 after an engine room fire the day before.
Reliance-class cutters
 United States Coast Guard
 Colombian National Navy
 Sri Lanka Navy
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