Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Tuesday, September 06, 2016

COAST GUARD CUTTER TAMPA RETURNS HOME, INTERDICTS $68 M IN DRUGS

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa returned to Portsmouth, Virginia, Friday, following a successful 65-day, counter-narcotics patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central and South America.

During their patrol, Tampa’s crew successfully interdicted approximately 2,059 kilograms of narcotics with an estimated wholesale value of $68 million. They also forced traffickers to abandon an estimated 1,950 kilograms at sea, preventing an additional $64 million worth of narcotics from reaching shore.

Tampa crewmembers also worked with the Helen Keller School for the Blind in Panama City, Panama, where crewmembers restored the school’s playgrounds and repainted classrooms.

Commissioned in 1983, Tampa is a multi-mission 270-foot medium-endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth. The cutter is responsible for a variety of Coast Guard missions including search and rescue, enforcement of laws and treaties, maritime defense, and protection of the marine environment.


The Coast Guard Cutter Tampa, along with the service's 27 other medium endurance cutters, is slated to be replaced by a new fleet of Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC) that will have the endurance to operate more than 50 miles offshore to carry out the Coast Guard's maritime security and safety missions.

The OPC will be a state of the art, multi-mission ship, providing pursuit boat and helicopter capabilities as well as interagency interoperability. Its advanced technical features include modern sensors and enhanced surveillance capabilities necessary to detect threats far from U.S. shores and meet the demands of the Coast Guard’s homeland security, search and rescue, law enforcement and other vital missions.

For more information on the Tampa visit: https://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/cgcTampa/

8 comments:

lmclain said...

Good job, but keep in mind that we are stopping ships from other countries under threat of destroying/sinking their ship. In international waters.
Think of what WE would do if a North Korean ship stopped and boarded one
of our ships in international waters. Or a Russian ship stopped one of OUR ships in international waters, searching for weapon shipments to countries they are fighting.....under the threat of "stop and be boarded and searched or die in a hail in a hailstorm of fire?
And what is the COAST GUARD (supposed mission? protect the coastal waters of the ......United States) doing 3000 miles away off the coast of Peru?
And I'm POSITIVE the Coast Guard's mission statement does not include rebuilding ANYTHING in Panama.
Be careful what you cheer for.....
It has been proven --- the ends do NOT justify the means. That is the realm of dictators, tyrants, and countries who think law only applies to OTHER countries.
Pretty much how we act anyway.

Anonymous said...

I suppose the CIA had already made its profit from those drugs.

Anonymous said...

Party at the Coast guard !

Anonymous said...

Exactly imclain..who the hell do we think we are!!

Anonymous said...

Repainting Hellen Keller classrooms. Now that's funny!

I hope the students appreciate the new look. LOL!

Anonymous said...

we are the wolf the rest of the world worries about!

Anonymous said...

Official military press releases are so boring.

Anonymous said...

7:25 while I do agree with the US's track record of thinking that we are in charge of the whole world and therefore can do what we want when we want and to whom we want the ships mentioned are not other countries ships.
They are cobbled together pieces of crap most likely stolen to begin with and traveling under whatever flag will bring the least attention.