USCGC Sailfish

USCGC Sailfish
A white Coast Guard patrol boat with a red stripe on a river, with city buildings behind
Sailfish on the East River off Roosevelt Island, New York City
History
United States
NameSailfish
OperatorUnited States Coast Guard
BuilderBollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana
Home port
IdentificationHull number: WPB-87356
StatusIn active service
General characteristics
Class & typeMarine Protector-class patrol boat
Displacement100 long tons (100 t)
Length87 ft (27 m)
Beam19.5 ft (5.9 m)
Speed25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range900 nautical miles (1,700 km; 1,000 mi)

USCGC Sailfish (WPB-87356) is an 87-foot (27 m) Marine Protector-class of the United States Coast Guard. For most of its career it patrolled New York Harbor from bases at Sandy Hook and Bayonne in New Jersey, carrying out homeland security patrols as well as search and rescue. By 2022 it had moved to Little Creek in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In June 2024 Sailfish escorted the container ship Dali out of Baltimore after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.

Design

Sailfish is one of the Marine Protector-class coastal patrol boats built for the Coast Guard by Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, Louisiana, under a contract first awarded on March 13, 1996. The class replaced the older 82-foot Point-class cutters. As with all boats in the class, the Blackfin is 87 feet (27 m) long and 19.5 feet (5.9 m) wide, with a displacement of 100 long tons, a top speed of 25 knots and a range of 900 nautical miles.

Service history

New York Harbor

Sailfish was originally based at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, the mission on the waterways around New York City of homeland security patrols and search and rescue.

Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 left the Coast Guard piers at Sandy Hook unusable. Sailfish and the cutter Bainbridge Island moved to Bayonne, where they were based for several years. From Bayonne the cutter ran armed patrols to protect structures in New York Harbor. In a notable event in 2015 it escorted U.S. Navy warships into the harbor during Fleet Week. The following year, in November 2016, its crew helped set up a tow for a disabled ferry carrying about 100 people in New York Harbor.

Virginia

By August 2022 Sailfish was based at Little Creek in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Its crew rescued the master of a sinking sailboat about 25 nautical miles east of False Cape, after the boat lost its steering and began taking on water through the rudder post.

Dali escort

On March 26, 2024, the container ship Dali lost power and struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, collapsing it and killing six construction workers. When the ship left Baltimore for the Port of Virginia on June 24, 2024, Sailfish escorted it and enforced a 500-yard (460 m) safety zone around it for the voyage. The ship went first to Virginia International Gateway to offload about 1,500 containers, then to Norfolk International Terminals for salvage and repairs.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Coast Guard Cutter Sailfish". Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. 2007. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Coast Guard Cutters Move to New Home in Sandy Hook, NJ" (Press release). United States Coast Guard. 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "CGC Sailfish moors after underway operations". Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. August 25, 2022. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Sayles, Megan (June 2024). "Dali leaves Baltimore nearly three months after Key Bridge collision". The Afro. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "CBS2 Exclusive: A Ride With Coast Guard Crews Protecting New York Harbor". CBS New York. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 "Coast Guard to provide safety during Dali transit from Baltimore to the Port of Virginia" (Press release). United States Coast Guard. June 2024. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  7. ↑ "87-foot Coastal Patrol Boat (WPB) – Marine Protector Class". U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Cutter Sailfish". Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Coast Guard assists disabled ferry in New York Harbor". Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. November 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  10. ↑ "U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sailfish rescues boater from sinking sailboat off of False Cape". WAVY. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Person rescued from sinking sailboat far off Virginia Beach coast". 13News Now. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  12. ↑ "2024 – USCG Response to Key Bridge Collapse". U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved November 7, 2026.