ITH THREE Coast Guard
cutters heading into New
York City ports for Fleet Week 2018, including the Coast Guard’s newest vessel, Cutter Richard Snyder, 65 U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliarists from throughout the First Southern District mustered to support their arrival. After welcoming the Coast Guard vessels into their respective ports, the volunteer Auxiliarists provided relief to the active duty Coast Guard crews in more ways than one. While most Auxiliarists supported the Cutters by leading the public on tours of their vessels, others manned their respective “ship’s stores”, as well as Auxiliary public affairs, marine safety and recruiting booths, while Food Service Auxiliarists took to the galleys of the Cutters to provide the crews with three hot meals a day in port.
At the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Complex in Manhattan, USCGC Richard Snyder (WPC 1127), docked at Pier 86 on Wednesday, May 23rd. The Richard Snyder is the Coast Guard’s 27th Sentinel class Fast Response Cutter. Homeported in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, it was commissioned on April 20th, 2018, making it at the time of Fleet Week the newest vessel in the Coast Guard fleet.
As the public festivities of Fleet Week began on Thursday, May 24th, Auxiliarists provided crowd control and lead the public on tours of the Richard Snyder, relieving the active duty crew from having to perform such duties. The Auxiliary also operated a dockside Marine Safety and Public Affairs booth at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in cooperation with the active duty Coast Guard, offering information for visiting members of the public and special activities for children. The Auxiliarists assigned to the Richard Snyder also manned the dockside “ship’s store” where they sold Richard Snyder memorabilia to raise money for the crew’s liberty fund.
At Homeport Pier in Staten Island, Auxiliarists also provided the public with tours of the Coast Guard Keeper-class cutter, USCGC Sturgeon Bay (WTGB 109) from Bayonne, New Jersey, and the Reliance-class cutter USCGC Diligence (WMEC 616) from Wilmington, North Carolina. Like the team at Pier 86, the efforts Auxiliarists assigned here also allowed the crews of these two cutters to enjoy liberty ashore during Fleet Week while District 1SR Auxiliarists relieved them from the burden of public affairs duties and even culinary duties in their galleys.
Thanks to the well-coordinated efforts of District 1SR Auxiliarists, the public affairs mission of Fleet Week 2018 was a resounding success. Between Thursday, May 24th and Monday, May 28th, a whopping 3419 members of the public enjoyed Auxiliarist lead tours of the Cutter Richard Snyder in Manhattan, and over 2600 toured the Cutter Sturgeon Bay and Cutter Diligence in Staten Island.
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