Coast Guard and machine guns

Cruising up the Long island Sound dodging lobster pots and next thing you know the Coast Guard is heading right at my starboard side. I tell my wife to gather the dogs and cat because we're being boarded. I throttle back and open the pilot house door to be greeted by a women turning a machine gun on me and telling me to speed up. All the while I'm thinking well ****, this is as fast as I go! Looking.over her shoulder I see one of our Navy's finest subs cruising into the Sound and she just wanted me out of the way. I'd been listening to their securitie calls tall day but they never mentioned entering the Sound. This stuff just makes boating fun!.

Dave

They might have asked without pointing the gun at you... geez.

They come in and out of Kings Bay (GA FL line) all the time. The ICW goes right by there, and they leave you alone as long as you don't stop and gawk.

Its SOP. We have subs in and out all the time and more so now during RIMPAC. Major down side for me driving a dive boat is they jam alot of freuencys. Im trying to drop one of my divers on a mooring ball and the gps is all over the place!

I got the crap scared out of me crossing Charleston Harbor about 35 years ago. It was dark and intermittent fog, and we did not have radar. There was an extremely loud horn that sounded very close by. Under the conditions it was hard to tell from which direction it came. I then heard rushing water close by. I looked around and saw coming out of the fog a flashing yellow light. That was all. Can anyone guess what it was?

Carrier?

hovercraft for $200 moonstruck

hamrhed42 said:

hovercraft for $200 moonstruck

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No to both, but Hamrhed owes me $200.00.

Kings Bay, GA is pretty touchy sometimes. Cruising out the St Marys river we had been up to Hwy 95 just checking the sights, Next thing i know is a call to" move or be struck by a navy vessel" looking around i pushed her up to 14 MPH over to the shallows and never seen the Sub only the chase gun boats !

could of been the stern of a barge cant think of any other flashing yellow lights. IIRC flashing lights are used on vessels operating in non displacement mode ie hovercraft and seaplanes (flashing 120 hrz) and blinking are on the stern of the last barge in tow on the ICW and assist vessels (blinking 60 hrz). im just trying to recall the cfr's. but i could be wrong or it could be something different altogether.

The thread we are on should have been a tip off.

A U.S. Navy regulation (Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 707.7) permits the use of a flashing yellow light on submarines, but the flash characteristic is not the same. Also, submarines tend to be much quieter, do not generally travel sideways, and on occasion vanish.

Believe me on a dark foggy night with a black hull and no engine sound, it is an eerie feeling to have that bow passes by close to you. All he was showing was the single yellow light as mentioned above. Man that was scary.

Ron can probably verify this, but crossing Charleston Harbor on the ICW is not a point to point process. Coming from the North you are not in the main ship channel to long, but there are intersecting channels and a middle ground. Myriad channel and range markers. In limited visibility running by compass course makes it more difficult. When you are totally concentrated on that a loud ships horn close by is a very scary thing.

hamrhed42 said:

could of been the stern of a barge cant think of any other flashing yellow lights. IIRC flashing lights are used on vessels operating in non displacement mode ie hovercraft and seaplanes (flashing 120 hrz) and blinking are on the stern of the last barge in tow on the ICW and assist vessels (blinking 60 hrz). im just trying to recall the cfr's. but i could be wrong or it could be something different altogether.

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Flashing yellow light on a barge pushed ahead or towed along side. We see those all the time here on the mighty Tennessee River.

Checks in the mail

Keith said:

They might have asked without pointing the gun at you... geez.

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Agreed. And it seems that in later posts, Navy vessels don't seem to have to follow normal rules of the road and can just run you down if you don't get out of their way. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but isn't it the responsibility for the overtaking vessel to make a safe pass and not just point a gun at you and demand you give way.

Coming out of Norfolk on the Chesapeake.

GonzoF1 said:

Agreed. And it seems that in later posts, Navy vessels don't seem to have to follow normal rules of the road and can just run you down if you don't get out of their way. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but isn't it the responsibility for the overtaking vessel to make a safe pass and not just point a gun at you and demand you give way.

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It a security issue more than a rule of the road...plus Rule 2 Responsibility

a) Nothing in these Rules shall exonerate any vessel, or the owner, master, or crew thereof, from the consequences of any neglect to comply with these Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case.

I think the "special circumstances of the case" when dealing with a nuclear sub supecededs the needs or wants of a fully functioning, recreation craft of small enough size that it should be able to do almost anything in open water.

My old boss at the Boating Safety Training Schoold when on a delivery up the ICW was asked to pull over and bow towards the bank until the sub passed at Kings Bay...and the patrol boat stayed behind him and yes the guns were manned...he, like me and thousands of other boaters though it was cool and an honor to see one of our finest up close....

I got chased by thre NJ State Police for cutting too close to the USS Saipan when she was entering Ambrose channel near NYC. They have no sense of humor with rec boaters and wasrships...

Moonstruck said:

................. Ron can probably verify this, but crossing Charleston Harbor on the ICW is not a point to point process. Coming from the North you are not in the main ship channel to long, but there are intersecting channels and a middle ground. Myriad channel and range markers. In limited visibility running by compass course makes it more difficult. When you are totally concentrated on that a loud ships horn close by is a very scary thing.

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The Charleston Harbor is much like the sounds in GA. Two rivers joining to meet the ocean. (Locals claim that the Ashley and Cooper Rivers join to create the Atlantic ocean).

So, much like in the GA sounds, you head out towards the ocean, then cut back towards the other river. Straight across is too shallow for our boats.

So, we have recreational boats, charter boats, tug with tows, commercial shipping, ships coming and going from repair facilities on the closed Navy base, and a submarine base up the Cooper River. I've never seen a submarine here but I saw one leaving Kings Bay in GA this past spring.

Last week we were boarded about 10 miles offshore near port everglades Noticed the mount was there but no machine gun

motion30 said:

Last week we were boarded about 10 miles offshore near port everglades Noticed the mount was there but no machine gun

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You need long ponytail and dark wraparound sunglasses if ya wanna see the heavy iron....

I have been "approached" and given instructions (read that chased out of the way) by both the CG and the Navy in the vacinity of Groton/New London. Always a machine gun mounted and a gunner at the ready, never had it pointed at the boat, it was always pointed down.

psneeld said:

You need long ponytail and dark wraparound sunglasses if ya wanna see the heavy iron....

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I live on the ICW in hollywood fl I regulary see the CG flashing by usually deck mounted gun in full view sometimes with a canvas cover Last month, once again fishing offshore a customs boat ran up on us, did not board but question us deck gun in full view dont ever want to be on the wrong end of that

We had visits from Netherland Antilles CG and the Venezuelan GC with in last 2 weeks. No gunners on deck but heck, how long would it take them to...

Moon-I had a similar experience probably 20 years ago off Charleston-we were about 30 miles offshore late at night and heard whooshing and water running and a Trident surfaced about 150 yards away! Flat black hull and only the yellow light. Guy came out and over the radio they apologized for surfacing so close to us. Oddly enough, I took my 100 ton license test a few months later and one of the questions was "What was a single yellow light?"

On the CG, they are all over Elliott Bay, they refuel their RIBs at Shilshole so I see them quite a bit. All dressed in Kevlar, sidearms strapped on and the .50 Cal mount on the front. All Terrorism, All the Time, being a Coastie is cool now!

I have never had to fire on a Navy ship, and hope I don't have to do so.

jleonard said:

I have been "approached" and given instructions (read that chased out of the way) by both the CG and the Navy in the vacinity of Groton/New London. Always a machine gun mounted and a gunner at the ready, never had it pointed at the boat, it was always pointed down.

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Similar to what has happened to us while in the channel passing Port Chicago Naval Weapons Station (Concord, CA). Approached by USCG RIB with machine gun, gunner at ready but gun pointed down. Told to leave the marked channel and go to a second channel farther from the depot, marked by temp bouys. Reason being there was a ship in port at the depot unloading munitions so USCG was enforcing the exclusionary zone and the normal shipping channel is within that zone.

Machine gun

We were in Norfolk a few years ago and watched as the Enterprise returned home from deployment. I was motoring along at idle speed and must have drifted inside the 500 yard limit. We were suddenly the center of attention with 2 patrol boats and a helicopter gunship overhead. One of them insisted on talking over a hailed, which was next to useless with the chopper 50 feet up. But I got the message.
Bill

I think the gun ships Patrol the waters around Portsmouth Naval Shipyard 24/7. Once they thought I was a bit close although the GPS put me well out of the protected area. The man did point his big gun at my boat and told me to move off. Afterwards I thought what a #$%$^%$ storm they would cause if they ever pulled that trigger in such a circumstance. I think they should pay a little more attention to who they hire at the shipyard before they worry about recreational boats around it. Recently I believe it was a painter who torched a sub there and caused over 400 million worth in damage because of issues he was having with his girl friend. I understand that it took them over 7 hours to contain that fire. You would think that they would have ways to control such events in an enclosed "tin can".

Duvie said:

I think the gun ships Patrol the waters around Portsmouth Naval Shipyard 24/7. Once they thought I was a bit close although the GPS put me well out of the protected area. The man did point his big gun at my boat and told me to move off. Afterwards I thought what a #$%$^%$ storm they would cause if they ever pulled that trigger in such a circumstance. I think they should pay a little more attention to who they hire at the shipyard before they worry about recreational boats around it. Recently I believe it was a painter who torched a sub there and caused over 400 million worth in damage because of issues he was having with his girl friend. I understand that it took them over 7 hours to contain that fire. You would think that they would have ways to control such events in an enclosed "tin can".

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Huge difference in security bewtween an unstable worker and a terrorist...while the results might be the same...totally different in internal safeguards.

If you stick to the main channel in Norfolk...you are nowhere's near the security zone.

yep, we have had some friendly encounters. They were very cordial and friendly. Chuck

Moonstruck said:

I have never had to fire on a Navy ship, and hope I don't have to do so.

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Looking at the arsenals you guys carry onboard (see Weapons Preservation on Board thread), you`d be well able to return fire, though maybe not for long. BruceK