SPOTD: U.S. Coast Guard’s Best Photos of 2016 – The Sweet 16

Today’s ship photos come to us from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Sweet 16 of the 2016 #ShutterShootout photo competition! Head over to the U.S. Coast Guard’s facebook page to vote for your favorite Coast Guard photo of 2016.

Cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy conduct morning colors as snow falls on campus Feb. 5, 2016. Cadets conduct morning colors every morning at 8 a.m., no matter the weather in front of Hamilton Hall. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Cory J. Mendenhall)

The crew of USCGC Kiska (WPB 1336) fly a battle ensign upon completion of a patrol as part of Operation Kohala Guardian Feb. 11, 2016. Crew members from Station Maui, Kiska and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources conducted a joint patrol and safety and compliance boardings on recreational and commercial vessels operating in the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary to inform the public of the requirements to avoid coming too close to whales or impeding the whales’ path. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Sara Mooers/Released)

Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, Coast Guard Cutter James and helicopter crews from Air Station Atlantic City rendezvous offshore on the Atlantic Ocean as the James is heading north to her commissioning ceremony in Boston, July 30, 2015. The James is the newest cutter in the fleet, while the Eagle is the oldest. (Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Matthew S. Masaschi)

An MH-65 “Dolphin” helicopter flies in front of the U.S. Coast Guard barque Eagle in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, July 30, 2015. The photo is a recreation of the U.S. Postal Service Forever Stamp created by William S. Phillips, an aviation artist. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Auxiliarist David Lau)

Petty Officer 2nd Class Bradley Walker, a member of Coast Guard Port Security Unit 308, picks up his two-year-old son, Anderson, after returning home to Kiln, Miss., from a nine-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Sept. 30, 2015. Walker was a tactical coxswain for the unit while they helped maintain a continuous maritime anti-terrorism force protection presence in the Naval Defensive Sea Area of Guantanamo Bay directly supporting the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay Naval reservation and adjoining waters. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally)

Boat crews from Coast Guard Port Security Unit 313in Everett, Wash., conduct high-speed boat maneuvers and safety zone drills during an exercise at Naval Station Everett July 22, 2015. The exercise was held in an effort to fine tune their capabilities in constructing and running entry control points, establishing perimeter security, and maintaining waterside security and safety zones. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Zac Crawford)

Petty Officer 2nd Class Kris Grimm, an aviation survival technician at Coast Guard Sector San Diego, is hoisted from the water into an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter off the coast of San Diego, Jan. 12, 2016. ASTs regularly train to stay better prepared to perform rescues along the shore and open ocean. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Rob Simpson)

A member of Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, recognizes different parts of a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter using his touch during a tour of Coast Guard Air Station Miami March 26, 2015. MLBVI has been around for 84 years and assists those of all ages with visual impairments. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jon-Paul Rios)

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jason Barrett (left) and Lt. Jacob Scritchfield, (right), pilot a Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft as they make a stop on their return to home base in Mobile, Ala., Jan. 1, 2016. The crew, based out of Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile, Ala., spent their day supporting the Coast Guard in a variety of flood related missions throughout the Midwest. (Coast Guard Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Seth Johnson)

Two MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point conduct a practice formation flight around the Island of Oahu, March 4, 2016. The Dolphin aircrews along with an HC-130 Hercules aircrew practice proficiency with multiple aircraft flying at once. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Tara Molle/Released)

Petty Officer 3rd Class John Crow, an aviation survival technician at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., deployed to Alaska for Arctic Shield 2015, sits on a piece of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean after approaching a simulated person in the water during a joint civil and federal search and rescue exercise near Oliktok Point, Alaska, July 14, 2015. Crow deployed to simulate the rescue of a thermal dummy designed by the Coast Guard Research and Development Center that gives off the heat signature of a person in the water. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Grant DeVuyst)

Petty Officer 2nd Class Andrew Loeffler, a Company Commander at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, N.J., provides motivational instruction to Seaman Recruit Tyler Clendenen Friday, Aug. 28, 2015. Part of the process of basic military training is to induce high levels of stress in order to ensure that a recruit can later perform his or her job in the fleet where handling stress appropriately could mean the difference between life and death. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards)

A 29-foot Response Boat-Small crew from Coast Guard Station Seattle conducts random escorts of the Washington State Ferries and their passengers July 15, 2015. In addition to the boatcrews’ presence being preventative in nature, the escorts are also an enforcement of the 500-yard radial security and safety zone around the ferries. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Logan Kellogg)

Crewmembers from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point conduct an overflight of Oahu, April 17, 2015. The men and women of Air Station Barbers Point serve as the “Guardians of the Pacific” in their support of the 14th Coast Guard District, the largest and most culturally diverse of all Coast Guard operating areas. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Tara Molle)

Cutter Valiant crew member Petty Officer 2nd Class Frank Marovich, left, a damage controlman, greets his wife during the cutter’s return to home port Friday, July 3, 2015, in Mayport, Fla. The crew returned from a 10-week deployment in support of Operation Southeast Watch, an interagency and international mission to prevent and respond to illegal maritime migration in the Caribbean Sea and the Florida Straits. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony L. Soto)

Piper, the wildlife control canine at the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Mich., checks the area for pests as aircrews from Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City in an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and the Royal Canadian Air Force in a CH-146 Griffon take off during a joint search-and-rescue training exercise at the airport Oct. 17, 2015. The Coast Guard routinely partners with local and international agencies to ensure solidarity when conducting rescue operations together. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Air Station Traverse City)

 

Now go to the U.S. Coast Guard’s facebook page to vote for your favorite Coast Guard photo of 2016!

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