U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Galveston Island (that little ship in the background), alongside the People’s Republic of China Maritime Safety Administration ship Haixun 31 (that big ship in the foreground) eight miles offshore of Honolulu, Sept. 6, 2012. Photo: USCG
I’ve honestly never been known to have an inferiority complex, but I’m feeling REALLY inferior right about now.
The photo was taken during two days of search and rescue exercises held off the coast of Hawaii this week between the the U.S. Coast Guard and People’s Republic of China Maritime Safety Administration.
The exercise began Wednesday with a table top discussion in Honolulu between the two agencies and culminated eight miles south of Oahu where the crews of the Haixun 31, the Coast Guard Cutter Galveston Island and helicopter aircrews from the Haixun 31 and Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point coordinated a simulated rescue.
“This historic engagement further improves the coordination of search and rescue operations at sea,” said Rear Adm. Charles Ray, commander 14th Coast Guard District. “This is the first visit to the United States by the Haixun 31 and is an opportunity to strengthen our relationship on a number of common maritime missions.”
Now I’m glad to hear that the exercises went well and I’m sure mariners in the Pacific will be better off because of them, BUT IS THIS THE BEST PHOTO THE USCG CAN COME UP WITH?
You never want to upstage your guests….
So that's what that was.I saw it go by Honolulu Harbor from two miles inshore (Punchbowl) and it would have been a couple more miles out.She's big. We wondered WTF?
First question for the article author, Mike Schuler, is “Why all the nationalistic penis envy?”
The second, less snarky, question is why there are no numbers, such as actual lengths, mission objectives, the actual jobs of the two ships, where the biggest CG ships rate.
We don’t need this kind of weakly written article. Get serious, Mike.
come'on gCaptain….every maritime nation worth it's salt has varying classes (that means different sizes and purposes) of ships….this article is a perfect example of making an issue out of nothing. Now you want to write about icebreakers and the difference in actual icebreaker fleet numbers and future orders between the US and PRC/other nations; that would be a story worth continuing to focus on.
The CGC Galveston Island is an 110 foot cutter. According to her web site her duties include SAR, enforcement of laws and treaties, and ports, waterways, & coastal security. I would assume that for what she has to do her size is satisfactory. Wikipedia states that China MSA has two vessels over 100 meters in length. Odds are this is one of those vessels. According to the article it was a SAR exercise. The USCG appeared to use the right tool for the mission. Size is really irrelevant here. The job was accomplished.