USCGC Vigorous

USCGC Vigorous (WMEC-627)
History
United States
Builder	American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio
Laid down	10 November 1967
Launched	4 May 1968
Acquired	2 May 1969
Commissioned	2 May 1969
Homeport	JEB Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia Beach, VA
Motto	Semper Paratus Always Ready
Fate	Active
General characteristics
Displacement	1050 lt
Length	210 ft 6 in (64.16 m)
Beam	34 ft (10 m)
Draught	10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) max
Propulsion	2 x V16 2550 horsepower ALCO diesel engines
Speed	max 18 knots; 2,700 mile range
Range	cruise 14 knots; 6,100 mile range
Complement	12 officers, 63 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems	2 x AN/SPS-73/SINS
Armament	1 × Mk 38 25mm machine gun 2 × M2HB .50 caliber machine gun
Aircraft carried	HH-65 Dolphin

USCGC Vigorous (WMEC-627) is a United States Coast Guard Reliance Class medium endurance cutter. Her keel was laid down by American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio 10 November 1967 and she was launched 4 May 1968. Vigorous was commissioned 2 May 1969 and her current homeport is Virginia Beach, VA. She was decommissioned for modernization at the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, and was recommissioned 11 January 1993.

While in service, Vigorous has been awarded the Coast Guard Presidential Unit Citation, United States Secretary of Transportation’s Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement, 4 Coast Guard Unit Commendations, 6 Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendations, a Meritorious Team Commendation, the Coast Guard Bicentennial Unit Commendation, 14 Coast Guard "E" Ribbons, 3 National Defense Service Medals, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, 2 Humanitarian Service Medals, the Department of Transportation 9-11 Ribbon, 2 Coast Guard Special Operations Service Ribbons, and 13 Coast Guard Sea Service Ribbons.

During the 2010 Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, the Vigorous maintained a security zone in Mayaguez harbor.

On 11 February 2013, the Vigorous stood by the disabled 102,000-ton cruise ship Carnival Triumph adrift in the Gulf of Mexico waiting to be towed. On Sunday, 10 February 2013 at 5:30 a.m. CST, the Carnival Triumph suffered a fire in her aft engine room. Although the fire was automatically extinguished and there were no injuries to passengers or crew, it resulted in a loss of propulsion and power to all support systems. With 4,229 persons on board, raw sewage began to back up into the lower passenger deck areas. This caused the media to dub the event "The Poop Cruise." A Coast Guard supplied emergency generator was providing minimal electrical power, while the ship was adrift about 150 miles off the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship was originally expected to be towed to the Mexican port of Progreso. However, after being carried north by currents while awaiting arrival of large, seagoing tugboats, she was towed to Mobile, Alabama instead. Vigorous escorted Carnival Triumph during her tow.

During May 2014, the Vigorous was spearheading the search for the Yacht Cheeki Rafiki one thousand miles east of Cape Cod, which went missing on a delivery voyage from Antigua to Southampton, England. The overturned hull of the capsized Cheeki Rafiki was found on the evening of 23 May 2014 with the keel broken off and an inflated life raft inside the hull. All four sailors on board were presumed lost at sea.

External links

Media related to USCGC Vigorous (WMEC-627) at Wikimedia Commons

• USCGC Vigorous home page

USCGC Vigorous stands by to assist the cruise ship Carnival Triumph adrift in the Gulf of Mexico on Feb. 11, 2013 after an engine room fire the day before.