USCGC Midgett (WHEC-726)

USCGC "Midgett" (WHEC-726) is the twelfth and last of the Coast Guard's fleet of 378 foot high endurance cutters. With her crew of twenty four officers and one hundred sixty enlisted men and women, she is homeported in Seattle, Washington under the operational and administrative control of Commander, Pacific Area (COMPACAREA).

Coast Guard Cutter Midgett's keel was laid April5, 1971 at the Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, Louisiana, and she was launched on September 4, 1971. She was commissioned on March 17, 1972. The Midgett was decommissioned and placed in Fleet Renovation and Maintenance (FRAM) on January 7, 1991 and was placed in "In Commission Special" status as of April 25, 1992. She was fully re-commissioned in February 1993. She is a multipurpose ship, designed to meet the many and varied missions of today's Coast Guard. Her responsibilities include Homeland Security, Search and Rescue, Maritime Law Enforcement, and Alien Migrant Interdiction Operations as well as maintaining military readiness in support of our NATO allies and the U.S. Navy. One of ten high endurance cutters on the west coast, her normal patrol areas include the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska and Central American waters, enforcing the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (200 mile limit) and drug interdiction laws.

USCSC MIDGETT CHARACTERISTICS

*Length 378 feet
*Beam 42 feet
*Draft 15 feet
*Max Speed 29 kts
*Econ Speed 12 kts
*Max Range 11,000 nm
*Displacement 3,050 tons
*Fuel Capacity 215,000 gal
*Water Capacity 17,000 gal
*Helo Fuel Capacity 5,000 gal
*Fresh Water Capacity 10,000 gal/day

Engines
*2 Fairbanks Morse diesel engines 12 cylinders 3500 HP each
*2 Pratt-Whitney gas turbines
*2 Controllable pitch propellers

Namesake

The Midgett is the third ship in her class (HERO) to be named for outstanding Coast Guardsmen. Her namesake, the late Chief Warrant Officer John Allen "Bos'n" Midgett, Jr. was born in 1876 in Rodanthe, North Carolina and served for nearly forty years with the United States Life-Saving Service and the Coast Guard. He was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal, the country's highest award for saving a life, for his heroic rescue of thirty six crewmen from the torpedoed British tanker Mirlo in 1918. Bos'n Midgett and his lifeboat crew rescued the entire crew, despite rough seas and flames from the tanker's cargo of refined oil and gasoline.

The Migett family (earlier spelled Midgette and Midyett) has lived along the coast of Virginia and the Outer Banks of North Carolina for nearly three centuries, and has a long tradition in maritime service. John Allen "Bos'n" Midgett, Jr. was one of seven Midgett family members to have been awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal. More than 150 living members of the Midgett family have made the Coast Guard a career, including more than thirty who are still on active duty.

External links

* [http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/midgett/ "Midgett" home page]