Coast Guard Cutter returns to Oregon from Gulf oil spill disaster
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — The Coast Guard Cutter Fir has returned to its home port of Astoria Friday afternoon after spending four months in the Gulf of Mexico.
Family and friends were on hand to greet the boat when it tied up Friday afternoon.
The 225-foot seagoing buoy tender was one of the many Coast Guard ships used in the effort to control the Deepwater Horizon oil well.
The Fir and its 52 crew members normally service 152 aids to navigation on the river bars of the Washington and Oregon coasts and conduct law enforcement operations throughout the North Pacific.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
From the U.S. Coast Guard
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Fir, a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender, returned to homeport at Coast Guard Base Tongue Point in Astoria, Ore., Friday after a four-month deployment in support of Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico.
Fir was one of eight 225-foot buoy tenders to participate in Deepwater Horizon operations along with dozens of other Coast Guard cutters from the Gulf, Pacific and Atlantic coasts.
Highlights of the Fir's voyage include:
- traveling more than 12,000 miles, including two transits through the Panama Canal.
- conducting maritime law enforcement operations while in the Gulf of Mexico.
- conducting operations until after the final “bottom kill” was completed.
Fir is a multi-mission buoy tender with 52 crewmembers. It services 152 aids to navigation on the river bars of the Washington and Oregon coasts and conducts law enforcement operations throughout the North Pacific.
