Coast Guard working dog retires after eight years of service during ceremony in Chesapeake, Va

Coast Guard working dog, Senior Chief Petty Officer Tin, was honored at a retirement ceremony held by the Maritime Security Response Team in Chesapeake, Thursday morning.

The ceremony marked Tin’s retirement from the Coast Guard after eight distinguished years of service.

Tin served as an explosive ordnance detection canine for the Coast Guard from 2011 to 2019. He was named after Santos Valentin, a New York Police Department officer who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

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Coast Guard, partner agencies oversee removal of sailboat from Connecticut River

Pollution responders from Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection oversaw the removal of a 53-foot sailboat that sank in the Connecticut River near Old Lyme, Connecticut Feb. 20, 2019.

A commercial salvage company used float bags and dewatering pumps to re-float the sailboat.

During the salvage operation, no fuel was released into the Connecticut River. The sailboat was removed from the water for further examination.

The sailboat originally sank Jan. 27, 2019. The cause of the sinking is still under investigation.

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The shipwreck that changed the Coast Guard forever

Story and artwork by Petty Officer 2nd Class Corinne Zilnicki

When the clock tolled 12 a.m. on Feb. 12, 1983, the 605-foot cargo ship Marine Electric trekked northward 30 miles off Virginia's Eastern Shore, plowing slowly through the gale-force winds and waves stirred up by a winter storm.

An able-bodied seaman relieved the watch and peered forward, noticing for the first time that the ship's bow seemed to be riding unusually low in the water. Dense curls of green ocean rushed over the bow, some of them arching 10 feet over the deck before crashing back down. The crew had been battling 25-foot waves for hours, but until now, the bow had bucked and dipped as normal.

Now it seemed only to dip.

Over the next two hours, the waves intruded with increasing vigor. The entire foredeck was swallowed in 6 feet of water. The main deck was completely awash.

At 2:30 a.m., the ship's master, Phillip Corl, summoned his chief mate, Robert Cusick, to the bridge and shared his fears: the bow was settling, they were taking on too much water, and the crew was in real trouble.

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Coast Guard Foundation Activates Coast Guard Family Support Program

Relief for Coast Guard Members Impacted by Government Shutdown

A crew aboard the 52-foot Motor Life Boat Invincible II from Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor prepares to tow a disabled vessel while a second Station Grays Harbor boat crew aboard a 47-foot Motor Life Boat standby near Grays Harbor, Washington, Jan. 7, 2019.
(U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Station Grays Harbor)

 The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education and welfare of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced today that the organization is sending an initial $250,000 in family support to assist Coast Guard families impacted by the government shutdown.

As noted by the U.S. Coast Guard Commandant, this is the first time in the Nation’s history that service members in a U.S. Armed Force have not been paid during a lapse in appropriations.

A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircrew flies over the 650-foot Sincerity Ace on fire 1,800 nautical miles northwest of Oahu in the Pacific Ocean, Dec. 31, 2018. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by HC-130 Hercules 1720)

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