USCGC ''Alex Haley'' (WMEC-39) is a

United States Coast Guard Cutter United States Coast Guard Cutter is the term used by the U.S. Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. They are or greater in length and have a permanently assigned crew with accommodations aboard. They carry the ship prefix USCGC. Histor ...

and former

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

vessel that was recommissioned for Coast Guard duty on 10 July 1999. It was first entered service as USS ''Edenton'' (ATS-1), an on 23 January 1971. In 1995, ''Edenton'' won the

Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award The Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award is presented annually by the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Operations to one ship in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and one in the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Generally the recipient is the ship with the highest score in ...

for the Atlantic Fleet. The conversion from a salvage ship to a Coast Guard cutter involved the removal of the stern towing machine, forward crane, and A-frame, and the installation of a

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopte ...

, retractable

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

, and air-search radar. Additionally, her four aging Paxman

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s were replaced with four 16-cylinder Caterpillar diesels. The cutter was named after

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

Alex Haley, the first chief journalist of the Coast Guard, the first African-American to reach the rank of

chief petty officer A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards. Canada "Chief petty officer" refers to two ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. A chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2) (''premier maître de deuxi ...

, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family''. Haley served in the Coast Guard for 20 years. The vessel's current home port is

Kodiak, Alaska Kodiak ( Alutiiq: , russian: Кадьяк), formerly Paul's Harbor, is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside ...

at the Coast Guard Base Kodiak from where she carries out her Fishery Law Enforcement and Search and Rescue primary missions.

In fiction

In the 2007 novel ''Robert Ludlum's The Arctic Event'' by James H. Cobb, ''Alex Haley'' is the ship that takes the heroes out to the island where a

Tu-4 The Tupolev Tu-4 (russian: Туполев Ту-4; NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 ...

laden with anthrax crashed during the Cold War. In the 2016 novel ''Goliath'' by Shawn Corridan & Gary Waid, ''Alex Haley'' and are the two Coast Guard cutters that respond to the fire aboard and subsequent stranding of a Russian ULCC.

Photos

File:Uss edenton 09310103.jpg, USS ''Edenton'' before becoming ''Alex Haley'' File:USCGC Alex Haley transfers detained fishing vessel to China Coast Guard 2301 in Sea of Japan (5-6).jpg, USCGC Alex Haley in Sea of Japan File:ALEX HALEY ON PATROL (FOR RELEASE) (2898959553).jpg, USCGC Alex Haley on Patrol in Cook Inlet, Alaska

References

Notes

Sources

USCGC ''Alex Haley''
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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alex Haley (WMEC-39) Edenton-class salvage and rescue ships Ships built in Lowestoft 1968 ships Medium endurance cutters