April 3, 2009 — The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark showed off their brand-spanking new, state-of-the-art ship to school children, curious residents and tourists and a few reporters Friday in Christiansted's custom's dock.
"This cutter will patrol all waters east of San Juan," Petty Officer First Class Brian Antel told a class of students in matching yellow T-shirts from Charles H. Emanuel Elementary. "Its missions are drug interdiction, looking for migrants trying to enter the U.S., search and rescue and inspection boardings of commercial and recreational vessels."
The 87-food ship is powerful.
"Below the deck are two eight-cylinder engines, with 1,500 horsepower each," Seaman Josh Rouille said. "But it's a big boat, so that translates to 25 knots in the water."
Tamika James, the class' teacher, asked the crew to explain what a "knot" is in nautical terminology.
"Back in the old days, they would use a line with knots and weight on the end, toss it behind them and count how many knots passed their fingers in thirty seconds," Antel said. "It's about 1.15 miles per hour."
Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Rachel S. Cruzcosa, a native of San Angelo, Texas, is commanding officer of the Reef Shark. This trip marks both the first tour of duty for the new ship and the first command for Cruzcosa, a 2006 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut.
Cruzcosa said Delegate Donna Christensen had for a number of years pushed for an additional ship dedicated to the waters around the Virgin Islands, and succeeded a few years ago in getting the ship built.
"This ship was built specifically to patrol these waters," she said. Having a ship dedicated specifically to this region will substantially increase the frequency of patrols around the territory, she said. "Brand new, it is one of the most technologically advanced in the Coast Guard fleet."
While not a warship, the Reef Shark is heavily armed, with two 50-caliber deck mounted machine guns, as well as shotguns and side arms for the crew.
"What would make you suspicious and stop a boat?" a Charles Emanuel student asked.
"A ship moving fast at night without lights would make us very suspicious there is smuggling," Rouille said. "And if we find a 30-foot vessel with 100 people on board, we're pretty sure we've found migrants."
A student asked what they would do with a large group of migrants they found at sea. Antel said the Reef Shark can take as many as 74 on board, spreading them out on the deck, giving them blankets, food and water, but not a lot of shelter from the elements, as they ferry them to port for processing.
The cutter will also stop and board both commercial and recreational vessels for safety inspections, checking there are enough flares, life preservers, proper running lights and so forth, Antel said.
The Reef Shark's crew knew months before construction it was to be their ship, and while it was under construction in Louisiana its crew went to the plant and trained, he said. Although it has a range of 900 miles, in practice it will mostly be patrolling near the coasts and traveling much shorter distances. The cutter was taken to St. Petersburg, Fla., for final outfitting and crew training, steaming over to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for commissioning.
There was a bit of heavy seas on the way.
"We had waves as tall as this window, 15 to 20 foot," Antel said.
Asked what brought her into the Coast Guard, Cruscoza said her family has a strong tradition of military service, especially in the Coast Guard and Air Force, but also the work is very satisfying.
"There is the adventure of it, and it really has been an adventure," she said. "And look out these windows. This is my office. It doesn’t get any better."
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