US Coast Guard – Buoy servicing off Oahu, Hawaii
Towards the end of June the US Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Juniper visited Kaneohe Bay on the east side of the island of Oahu, as part of a multi-day operation to service and maintain aids to navigation in Hawaii waters.
Juniper’s passage to Kaneohe Bay focused on repairing day boards, fixed aids to navigation marking channels and safe water, using the cutter’s two small boats to service seven aids to navigation in two days.
Juniper also serviced two floating aids to navigation inside Kaneohe Bay and joined forces with the Regional Dive Locker Pacific to service three floating aids at the entrance to the bay. The dive locker operated from the cutter’s small boat to inspect and replace parts of the buoys.
To quote Lieutenant Commander Timothy Bonner, CO of Juniper: ‘The crew works hard to maintain the constellation of aids to navigation within the main Hawaiian Islands and in the greater Pacific region.
‘Operations are critical to ensuring the integrity of commercial supply chains, recreational boater safety, and the safe passage of government and military vessels.’
USCGC Juniper is a 225-foot loa seagoing buoy tender home-ported in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is responsible for maintaining aids to navigation, performing maritime law enforcement, port and coast security, search and rescue and environmental protection.
44-day mission
Earlier in the year Juniper returned to her homeport after a 44-day mission in the Pacific to deter illegal fishing and support partner nation’s sovereignty as part of Operation Blue Pacific.
This mission covered approximately 8,200 nautical miles in the effort to assist Pacific Island partners in protecting maritime governance and a rules-based international order to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Lieutenant Commander Bonner commented further: ‘Combining efforts to deter illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing throughout Oceania is more important than ever. It was an honour for the Juniper crew to have the opportunity to work with our Fijian partners in assisting them in patrolling their exclusive economic zone.’
After departing Fiji, Juniper steamed to American Samoa where ship’s staff serviced aids to navigation in Pago Pago Harbor and on Ta’u Island.
Lieutenant (JG) Pryor Miller, Juniper’s operations officer added: ‘Servicing ATON in the Pacific is essential to providing the needed infrastructure to maintain a maritime transportation system that promotes economic prosperity and an uninterrupted flow of maritime commerce.’
Juniper is responsible for maintaining aids to navigation, performing maritime law enforcement, port and coastal security, search and rescue and environmental protection.
USCG 14th District
Today, more than 1,150 active duty, 150 reserve, 80 civilian, and 400 Auxiliary men and women make up the US Coast Guard’s Fourteenth District, which boasts the Coast Guard’s largest area of responsibility. This covers more than 14 million square miles of land and sea, with units on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, the Big Island, and in American Samoa, Saipan, Guam, Singapore and Japan: boundaries of responsibility stretch from the Hawaiian Islands and across most of the Central and Western Pacific.
Buoy servicing by ship’s staff in USCGC Juniper in waters off Oahu, Hawaii.
Illustrations per USCG Fourteenth District Public Affairs.
Rapporteur: Paul Ridgway
