U.S. Coast Guard – Professional Mariner

11 May

Coast Guard ends seasonal icebreaking in East, Great Lakes

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsIcebreaking, Navigation, U.S. Coast Guard

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Coast Guard concluded all icebreaking operations in America’s Eastern and Great Lakes waterways on Thursday following a severe winter season that continued well into spring in some regions. Operation Taconite, the Coast Guard’s final ongoing domestic icebreaking operation, has ended as ice throughout the western Great Lakes has nearly melted and icebreaking in support of commercial…

07 May

NMC issues guidance on expired shipping labels, processing delays

Professional Mariner StaffLicensing & TrainingNMC, U.S. Coast Guard

(MARTINSBURG, W.Va.) — The National Maritime Center (NMC) is implementing an update to its policy regarding the use of customer-provided U.S. Postal Service (USPS) shipping labels for credential delivery. Due to current application inventory levels and extended processing timelines, applications may not be completed for several months after submission. In accordance with USPS shipping policy, shipping labels that are more…

07 May

Safety alert: Importance of bridge visibility, trained lookouts

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsLicensing and training, Navigation, Safety alert, U.S. Coast Guard

(WASHINGTON) — Major contributing factors to several recent collisions and near-collisions included cargo-loading conditions that negatively impacted the operator’s visibility from the navigation bridge. Failing to address obstructions to visibility from the navigation bridge, by either moving cargo or posting trained lookouts, has repeatedly resulted in catastrophic outcomes including loss of life and property damage. Vessel operators, owners, and crews…

04 May

NMC resuming normal operations; processing delays likely

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsLicensing and training, NMC, U.S. Coast Guard

(MARTINSBURG, W.Va.) — Funding for the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Coast Guard has been restored, and the National Maritime Center (NMC) and Regional Examination Centers (RECs) are resuming normal operations in a phased approach to prioritize the most critical functions and address the backlog of applications and examinations resulting from the lapse in appropriations. Application procedures and processing…

01 May

Wreckage of WWI Coast Guard cutter discovered off U.K.

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime NewsSalvage, U.S. Coast Guard

(WASHINGTON) — The wreckage of the Coast Guard cutter Tampa has been located and confirmed by the British technical-diving team Gasperados. The site lies approximately 50 miles off Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom, at a depth exceeding 300 feet deep in the Atlantic Ocean. Tampa was lost in 1918 during World War I after being torpedoed by a German submarine in…

30 Apr

SAFE Boats delivers response demonstrator to Coast Guard

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime Newsshipbuilding, U.S. Coast Guard

(BREMERTON, Wash.) — SAFE Boats International has delivered a response boat-small (RB-S) demonstrator unit to the U.S. Coast Guard in Charleston, S.C. The delivery marks a key milestone in the Coast Guard’s evaluation of next-generation capabilities for one of its most critical and widely deployed operational platforms. Purpose-built to meet the evolving demands of Coast Guard missions, including search and…

29 Apr

Coast Guard suspends search for crew of capsized vessel off Saipan

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty NewsNTSB, Search and rescue, U.S. Coast Guard

(HONOLULU) — The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Tuesday night for the missing crewmembers of the cargo vessel Mariana. Mariana reportedly experienced a disabled engine approximately 140 miles northwest of Saipan on April 15. The six crewmembers aboard at the time of the incident were Frederick L. Nosek Jr., Landon Delos Reyes, Jose L. Ramirez, Mohammed A. Rahaman, Chet R. Brochon, and Vincent B. Agulto. One body…

23 Apr

Internal corrosion of hoisting wire led reel to fall to OSV’s deck

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty NewsNTSB, Offshore services, U.S. Coast Guard

(WASHINGTON) — On April 3, 2025, about 2145 local time, the offshore construction vessel Island Venture’s crane was being used to lift a wire reel from the back deck of the offshore supply vessel C Enforcer in Bayou Lafourche, Port Fourchon, La. The crane’s hoisting wire parted, causing the reel to drop onto C Enforcer’s main deck. There were no…

22 Apr

Mariana search update: Body recovered, five crew still missing

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty NewsSearch and rescue, U.S. Coast Guard

(HONOLULU) — The U.S. Coast Guard and partners continued to search Thursday for missing crewmembers of the cargo vessel Mariana, which capsized last week in the Pacific Ocean north of Saipan. Coast Guard air crews and the crew of fast response cutter USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) searched east of the Northern Mariana Islands. A Japan Coast Guard Gulfstream V jet crew was slated to conduct additional searches Thursday afternoon.…

21 Apr

NMC update: Civilian staff return to work, RECs still closed

Professional Mariner StaffLicensing & TrainingNMC, U.S. Coast Guard

(MARTINSBURG, W.Va.) — While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Coast Guard remain without an appropriation providing full fiscal year 2026 funding, National Maritime Center (NMC) civilian staff have returned to work under alternative funding arrangements. As this funding stream is not a full appropriation and the duration of funding is uncertain, NMC staff have resumed normal…