In Remembrance Of The Crew Of The CGC CUYAHOGA

[BuoyJumper]

In Remembrance Of The Crew
Of The CGC CUYAHOGA



Chesapeake Bay, October 20, 1978 - The Coast Guard Cutter Cuyahoga was the oldest commissioned vessel in Coast Guard service and was conducting a nighttime training cruise during clear weather. She was heading north at 12 knots in the Chesapeake Bay off Smith Point Light near the mouth of the Potomac River.

At 8:45pm, Officer Candidate Officer of the Deck Earl Fairchild reported sighting a light on the northern horizon. The Commanding Officer, Chief Warrant Officer Donald K. Robinson confirmed this observation and after evaluating the radar contact misidentified the contact as a small vessel, likely a fishing boat turning into the Potomac River at 15,700 yards. In fact, it was the 521 foot Argentinian bulk freighter, M/V Santa Cruz II , loaded with 19,000 tons of coal, bound for San Nicolas, Argentina traveling south at over 14 knots.

The pilot of the Santa Cruz, John P. Hamill identified the Cuyahoga, and neither he nor the ship's Captain Abdelardo Albornoz were concerned as the two ships appeared to be passing port-to-port. When the two vessels were 1,200 yards apart the Cuyahoga turned west, into the path of the Santa Cruz, to enter the Potomac River. Hamill immediately sounded the Santa Cruz's whistle signaling that he would maintain course and speed and that the cutter should return to its original course. After waiting 30 seconds without any response from the Cuyahoga, Hamill sounded a danger warning of five short blasts.

Robinson still believed the vessel was a small fishing boat and that it was also turning into the Potomac River, sounded his whistle in acknowledgement and turned further west. Robinson realized that he was about to collide with a freighter and ordered "all engines stop," then "full reverse". At 9:07pm, the bulbous underwater bow of the Santa Cruz tore through Cuyahoga's midship, 40 feet from the stern, rolling her over at a 50 degree angle. Robinson had reversed back into the path of the Santa Cruz.

The Cuyahoga sank within two minutes of the collision in 58 feet of water. The cutter's 14-foot utility boat had popped free of the sinking vessel and Boatswains Mate Roger Wild put the injured survivors in the boat. The uninjured clung to the sides of the boat until the freighter had returned to pick up survivors. Eleven crew onboard the Cuyahoga were lost and eighteen survived.


The Cuyahoga is lifted from the bottom by Navy cranes to recover the bodies of the lost crew for burial.
 
USCGC Cuyahoga being raised On October 29, two U.S. Navy floating cranes were brought to the scene and the ship was raised and towed to Portsmouth, Virginia where the hole was patched. On November 26, it was decided to scuttle the ship of the Virginia Capes. The vessel was towed 15 miles offshore and sunk as an artificial fishing reef where she sits upright in 100 feet of water.

The Marine Casualty Report, number USCG 16732 / 92368 and dated July 31, 1979, concluded: "The Commandant has determined that the proximate cause of the casualty was that the commanding officer of the USCGC CUYAHOGA failed to properly identify the navigation lights displayed by the M/V SANTA CRUZ II. As a result he did not comprehend that the vessels were in a meeting situation, and altered the CUYAHOGA's course to port taking his vessel into the path of the SANTA CRUZ II."


Sitting on a cradle at Base Portsmouth, through the hole in the hull, you can see the Officers's Wardroom, aft, and just forward of that bulkhead is the Engine Room. With the impact directly on the bulkhead separating the two main spaces, there was no chance of staying afloat after the collision.

OUR LOST SHIPMATES:

• MKCS David B. Makin
• YN1 William M. Carter
• SS1 Ernestino A. Balina
• SA Michael A. Atkinson
• FA James L. Hellyer
• SA David S. McDowell
• OC James W. Clark (SA)
• OC John P. Heistand (SA)
• OC Edward J. Thomason (MK1)
• OC Bruce E. Wood (RM1)
• LI Wiyono Sumalyo, Indonesian Navy

Navy Times article on the sinking
Article on the raising of the Cuyahoga
USCG Training Center Yorktown Memorial Page

[BuoyJumper]

Photo Release
Date: October 20, 2008
Contact: D8 Public Affairs

The Coast Guard Holds 30th Anniversary Memorial Service
For The Crew Of The Cuyahoga At Training Center Yorktown

 

Yorktown, VA - Rear Adm. Daniel Neptun addresses survivors of the Coast Guard Cutter Cuyahoga's sinking at the 30th anniversary memorial at Training Center Yorktown, Va., Oct. 20, 2008.

The Cuyahoga sank quickly after being struck amidships and 11 men died in the tragedy. Neptun was in the same Coast Guard Academy class as some of the cadets who died. Family members of the men who died were also in attendance.

Photo Release

[vftb]

 

[CGRDCS]

REST IN PEACE SHIPMATES.

Hawk

[EX-CG-GM]

 

[georgepat]

I am absolutely shocked and saddened on finding this thread on the Cuyahoga!

The photo at the top right was taken at her berth  on the pier at Yorktown, Va, and she looked exactly like that when I left her in the summer of 1969.

I remember hanging over the side on a bosun's chair cutting in the stripe when it was first put on her...I...

Words fail me...

God rest those poor souls.

Georgepat

[BuoyJumper]

I have an idea how you must feel George.  I know how I felt when I learned that my ship, the 180-foot buoy tender MESQUITE sits on the bottom of Lake Superior in a 110-feet of water.  Fortunately with the MESQUITE unlike the CUYAHOGA and BLACKTHORN tragedies there was no collision or loss of life.  The MESQUITE was run hard aground and holed by a boot Ensign who should not have been given the conn to begin with.  I was the first to paint the CG racing stripes on the MESQUITE and even to this day, in my head I can walk through every compartment on that ship.