Fred's Place - The Place To Meet Old Coast Guard Shipmates

Welcome Aboard The CGC Escanaba

On Fisheries Patrol 2006

Greetings from USCGC ESCANABA! We join the crew of the Cutter Escanaba underway on their six week Fisheries Patrol.

ENS Jacob Paarlberg will be keeping us up-to-date during this voyage with weekly updates. So check back each week to see what it is like to be aboard a Coast Guard Cutter underway on a Fisheries Patrol.

The Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba, homeported in Boston, MA.

Catchin' Up

Hello, and welcome to the Coast Guard Cutter ESCANABA. We are proud to welcome you to our online journal. ESCANABA was originally commissioned in Grand Haven, Michigan on August 29, 1987 and is currently homeported in Boston, MA. It is the third cutter to bear that name and is proudly carrying on the traditions of her predecessors. ESCANABA typically fulfills a variety of missions for the Coast Guard. These missions cover everything from Law Enforcement and Search and Rescue in the waters off of New England, to drug and migrant interdiction in the Caribbean. Over the next several weeks ESCANABA will be operating in the North Atlantic. During this time, every effort will be made to provide our readers with a place to come to follow the ship, gain an appreciation of a vast range of activities that take place on a daily basis, and the amount of training and expertise required in order to complete our missions. The crew onboard ESCANABA works extremely hard and takes a lot of pride in what they do as well as ESCANABA’s history.

The original ESCANABA (WPG-77) was commissioned on November 23, 1932. It measured 165 feet, and was powered by a 1,500 horsepower steam turbine. The cutter was stationed in Grand Haven, MI from 1932 until 1940. ESCANABA’s primary missions were ice breaking and search and rescue on the Great Lakes. In 1941, ESCANABA was assigned to the Greenland patrol, performing escort duty and search and rescue missions. On June 13, 1943 while escorting a convoy, ESCANABA exploded and sank within 3 minutes. Only 2 of the 103 crew members survived. One of whom still survives today, Mr. Ray O’Malley. Prior to her sinking ESCANABA had distinguished herself numerous times. She was credited with sinking two enemy submarines in a single day. She was also credited with saving 132 people from the SS Dorchester and another 20 from the SS Cherokee. In honor of ESCANABA’s rich history, the current cutter’s motto is “The Spirit Lives On”.

Blogs

This week two of the ship’s Operational Specialists (or OSs) contributed to the journal. They included information about themselves, their jobs, and their reasons for becoming an OS.

Operational Specialists
Aaron Silva

My name is Aaron Silva and I am a third class Operations Specialist onboard ESCANABA. While I work within the Operations Department my specific responsibility is in the Communications Center - otherwise known as Radio.

I am on the short list to advance to the E-5 pay grade in the months ahead. A promotion will allow me more responsibilities onboard the ship. For now though I stand watch to ensure ESCANABA has reliable radio communications with the rest of the fleet and other units around the world. That doesn’t just mean voice communications. I also take care of the classified and unclassified message traffic that we receive from Coast Guard and Navy units.

Radio is a secure space, so I help maintain the operations security and communications security for all our operational plans and communications. My shipmates and I take daily inventories of several safes and keep updated logs on the equipment used. Almost every day I tend to the communications equipment that allows us to maintain reliable, secure communications with the rest of the fleet.

I've become a better, more responsible Coast Guardsman since I joined the crew onboard the ESCANABA and I hope to set a good example for new shipmates joining the Coast Guard throughout the rest of my career.

Operational Specialists
Thomas Macnab

Hi, my name is Thomas Macnab. When I was 22 years old, I wanted to join the military service. I had been thinking about joining for about 2 years before this and finally thought, “If I’ve been thinking about it for so long, why not do it.” So, I went down to the recruiting center and took a look around to see what they had to offer. I looked through all the brochures and pamphlets and found out the Coast Guard had a pretty interesting program. That same afternoon I told my parents about it and received your usual run of the mill reaction. My dad was proud, my mom nervous, but they were both very happy for me. Actually choosing my job in the Coast Guard was another matter.

Going into the Coast Guard, I didn’t know you could join as a non-rated enlisted member. I thought you had to choose your job before you even signed up. This belief led me to the nearest Coast Guard base where I started asking questions. I decided I was very interested in the Operational Specialist rate of the Coast Guard and fortunately for me I would be able to go to “A” School right after boot camp. From a member on base I heard about all the interesting things you get to do such as setting up intercept courses to catch drug runners and assisting in migrant operations. Even the intelligence spreadsheets, which may sound dry to some people, interested me. What made it even better was that it wasn’t the recruiter that was telling me all this, it was an actual Operations Specialist in the field. I put in my 2 weeks notice at my job and prepared to head out to Cape May, NJ.

After boot camp, the 8 longest and shortest weeks of my life, I went off to “A” school and learned all about communications, my security clearances, and how to navigate the ship. I had a blast. It had to have been one of the most exciting 18 weeks I have ever had. At some point I want to go back there to instruct, but for the most part I’m interested to get a little more training under my belt and become more seasoned in my craft. My reenlistment date is coming up soon and I am ready to take the plunge for a few more years. Who knows what my future holds?

Photos

BM1 Ferretti, BM3 Lopez and FN Simon, put in long hours over the past as small boat crewmen.

FS3 Tornabene and FS3 Castor enjoy some good times in the galley, while prepping for the evening meal.

The Boston skyline as the ESCANABA pulls into an evening anchorage in the Boston harbor.

YN1 Gustafson acts as a sound powered phone talker during special sea detail.

ENS Gabinelle flexes as her boarding team, consisting of ENS Hieb, GM2 Winfield, MK3 Staniewicz, BM3 Higgins, and SN Crocker , prepare for a boarding.

The ESCANABA’s small boat worked long hours the past week shuttling the boarding teams from vessel to vessel.

BM2 Hasche ponders a problem at the chart table on the bridge.

MK3 Staniewicz takes a moment to consider the wake up logs as MK1 Coe looks on.

ET3 Boldt and OS3 Newland enjoy good company and a little snack on the mess deck.

OSC Borland stands proud in front of the American flag.