Caribbean Loses Long-Time Friend : So Long and Farewell
Story and Photos by PA3 James Judge, D7 Public Affairs
MIAMI - The wind gently glided past the colorful flags that hung from the focsle to the mast and from the mast to the fantail of the Caribbean Support Tender as the sun prepared to set for the last time on the Coast Guard Cutter Gentian June 23, at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach, Fla.
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MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- A young Jamaican Defense Force coast guard seaman holds a folded Union Jack during the Coast Guard Cutter Gentian's decommissioning ceremony held June 23, at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach. Coast Guard photograph by PA3 James Judge. |
The ceremony kicked off slightly behind schedule as Coast Guard Vice Adm. D. Brian Peterman, Commander, Atlantic Area, hurried to get to the decommissioning ceremony after repairs to his plane delayed him.
Among the distinguished guests were Rear Adm. David W. Kunkel, Commander of the Seventh District, Rear Admiral Wayne Justice, foreign delegates and other important figures. All gathered together amongst shipmates, friends and family to honor the historic cutter on its last day in the Coast Guard.
The Cutter Gentian was commissioned Nov. 3, 1942, and was the fourth of the Cactus class 180-foot buoy tenders to be built.
During her first assignment in Cape May, N.J., the cutter and its crew deployed in support of World War II and broke ice on the Hudson River, assisted 72 vessels in distress and towed 12 vessels to the Coast Guard Ship Yard in Baltimore, Md.
On Oct. 1, 1956, the Cutter Gentian was given a new place to call home in tropical Miami, conducting most of the Coast Guard's many missions including search and rescue, law enforcement and aids to navigation. Gentian was transferred to Galveston, Texas on July 15, 1960.
In 1976, the ship was decommissioned for the first time and made another journey, this time it was where the ship would undergo the Service Life Extension Program in the Coast Guard's Baltimore ship yard.
Following the major renovations it received during a seven year dry-dock period, the ship was re-commissioned and sent to Atlantic Beach, N.C., in 1983, where the vessel was back to breaking ice, servicing aids to navigation, conducting search and rescue operations and law enforcement missions.
Then in May of 1998, history repeated itself and the Gentian was decommissioned for a second time until Congress authorized funding for an international maritime training platform and once again Gentian fulfilled the needs of the U.S.
Re-commissioned in Sept. 27, 1999, and home-ported in Miami, Gentian was the first -- and only -- Caribbean Support Tender. With a multi-national crew representing Panama, Bahama, Jamaica, Belize, Honduras, Suriname, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago and the U.S., the Gentian and its crew began training personnel from Caribbean, Central American and South American countries, in seamanship, search and rescue and law enforcement, and strengthened ties between the U.S. and those countries.
The Caribbean Support Tender made a total of 155 visits to 23 countries, bringing donated supplies and parts totaling $3.9 million. The Gentian also trained more than 5,500 people and refurbished and donated to our allies 26, confiscated go-fast boats.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- The Coast Guard Cutter Gentian is moored at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach during its decommissioning ceremony June 23, 2006. Coast Guard photo illustration by PA3 James Judge.
During the ship's 64 years of service to the U.S. and the Coast Guard she received four National Defense Medals, the World War II Campaign Ribbon, the World War II Victory Ribbon, three Coast Guard Unit Commendations, a Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation, the Coast Guard Bicentennial Commendation and the Coast Guard Humanitarian Service Medal.
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