USN teams with USCG for the rescue

Captains,

Sister services, Navy and Coast Guard, did a great job saving this sailor yesterday. Fortunately he had adequate survival equipment when his boat sank.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – The Coast Guard and Navy worked together Sunday morning to return a rescued man to shore after his sailboat sank about 250 nautical miles east of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

Coast Guard Fifth District watchstanders received a satellite distress signal at 5:07 p.m. Saturday from the sailboat Gloria A Dios. They launched an Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., HC-130J Hercules aircraft crew to search for the sailboat, began broadcasting an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast to notify other mariners, used satellite Enhanced Group Calls to target other vessels in the area for help and diverted an AMVER vessel (a ship participating in the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System.)

Coast Guard Fifth District watchstanders and Navy's U.S. Second Fleet Maritime Operations Center coordinated to identify the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its air assets as the quickest and safest way to rescue the unfortunate sailor.

The crew of the Coast Guard Hercules dropped a life raft near the Gloria A Dios after a large wave demasted it causing two holes in the port side cabin at about 9:30 p.m. The sailboat sank and Eisenhower's rescue helicopter crew picked up the man from the water around 10:30 p.m. and flew more than 100 miles back to the carrier.

RDML W