USCGC ''Escanaba'' (WMEC-907) is a

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

medium endurance cutter The Medium Endurance Cutter or WMEC is a type of United States Coast Guard Cutter mainly consisting of the Famous- and ''Reliance''-class cutters. These larger cutters are under control of Area Commands (Atlantic Area or Pacific Area). These cutt ...

based in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

. Her keel was laid on April 1, 1983, at Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated,

Middletown, Rhode Island Middletown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,075 at the 2020 census. It lies to the south of Portsmouth and to the north of Newport on Aquidneck Island, hence the name "Middletown". History Vario ...

. She was launched February 6, 1985 and is named for her predecessor, which sank during

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and was named for the

Escanaba River The Escanaba River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed December 19, 2011 river on the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. In his poem ''The Song of Hiawatha' ...

and

Escanaba, Michigan Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city in Delta County, Michigan, Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,616 at ...

. ''Escanaba'' (WMEC-907) was formally commissioned August 29, 1987 in

Grand Haven Grand Haven is a city within the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Ottawa County. Grand Haven is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River, for which it is named. As of the 2010 census, Grand Ha ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, the home port of her predecessor.

Service

A boarding party from ''Escanaba'' was fired upon by the crew of a suspected drug smuggling

go-fast boat A go-fast boat is a small, fast power boat designed with a long narrow platform and a planing hull. During the United States alcohol prohibition era, these boats were used in "rum-running", transferring illegal liquor from larger vessels wai ...

on 14 September 2010. The go-fast escaped when it entered Nicaraguan waters, but no Coast Guard personnel were injured. The ''Escanaba'' participated in the 2017 Joint Interagency Task Force South with various other naval forces. During the exercise the ''Escanaba'' interdicted 2 smuggling vessels, the cutter also participated in numerous exercises at sea focusing on various warfare areas including maritime interdiction operations, naval gun-fire support, tactical maneuvering and formation steaming, and search and rescue. Between the 20th and 21 May 2019, ''Escanaba'' interdicted three small vessels in the

Mona Pass Mona may refer to: People *Mona (name), a female given name, nickname and surname *Mona (Angolan footballer) (born 1997) *Mona, ring name of American wrestler Nora Greenwald Museums *Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, Nebraska, US * Museum of Neo ...

carrying 68 migrants attempting to reach

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

from the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. The first two vessels were detected by the crew of a

U.S. Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...

DHC-8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then ...

maritime patrol aircraft A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over water in maritime patrol rol ...

on the night of 20 May 2019. The first boat was located 43 nautical miles north of

Aguadilla, Puerto Rico Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla i ...

, while the second was detected approximately 15 nautical miles northwest of

Desecheo Island Desecheo ( es, Isla Desecheo) () is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the northeast of the Mona Passage; from Rincón on the west coast ( Punta Higüero) of the main island of Puerto Rico and northea ...

, Puerto Rico. Both vessels were transiting the Mona Pass without navigational lights. Coast Guard Watchstanders in Sector

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

diverted the ''Escanaba'' to interdict the suspect vessels. Shortly thereafter, the ''Escanaba'' interdicted a 20-foot makeshift boat with 19 adult migrants on board. The ''Escanaba'' crew embarked 14 men and five women, who claimed Dominican nationality. Following the first interdiction, the ''Escanaba'' proceeded to intercept the second migrant vessel. Once on scene, an ''Escanaba'' small boat crew and a CBP Caribbean Air and Marine interceptor surface unit stopped a 25-foot makeshift boat with 21 adult migrants on board. The ''Escanaba'' crew embarked 18 men and three women of Dominican nationality. The third vessel to be interdicted was detected by the crew of a CBP DHC-8 maritime patrol aircraft on the night of 21 May 2019, approximately 20 nautical miles northwest of Aguadilla. The ''Escanaba'' crew interdicted the 30-foot makeshift boat and safely embarked 28 adult migrants, 21 men and seven women of Dominican nationality, as well as a Haitian man. 66 of the migrants were transferred to a Dominican Republic Navy vessel for repatriation. Two migrants facing felony criminal charges for attempted illegal reentry into a U.S. territory, one Dominican Republic man and one Haitian man, were transferred to USCGC ''Richard Dixon'' (WPB-1113) for further transfer to Ramey Sector Border Patrol agents in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Images

File:2018-USCG-Ship-1.jpg, Coast Guard Cutter ''Escanaba'' (WMEC-907) docked in the Milwaukee Harbor in 2018 File:30-foot makeshift migrant boat.jpg, Coast Guard Cutter ''Escanaba'' (WMEC-907) interdicted this 30-foot makeshift boat with 28 migrants on board in the

Mona Passage The Mona Passage ( es, Canal de la Mona) is a strait that separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The Mona Passage connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and is an important shipping route between the Atlantic and the Panam ...

on May 21, 2019 File:25-foot makeshift migrant boat "Yosibell".jpg, Coast Guard Cutter ''Escanaba'' (WMEC-907) interdicted the ''Yosibell'', a 25-foot makeshift boat with 21 migrants on board, in the

on May 20, 2019 File:20-foot makeshift migrant vessel.jpg, Coast Guard Cutter ''Escanaba'' (WMEC-907) interdicted this 20-foot makeshift vessel with 19 migrants on board in the

on May 20, 2019 File:USCGC Escanaba.jpg, USCGC ''Escanaba'' at port in Boston Harbor, June 2021. Ship is in drydock in Portsmouth, Virginia as of January 2023

References

External links

''Escanaba'' home page, with links to history and photo pages

{{DEFAULTSORT:Escanaba (WMEC-907) Ships of the United States Coast Guard Famous-class cutters 1985 ships Ships built in Middletown, Rhode Island