Alaska-based cutter departs California for the Gulf

Photos and video available

SAN PEDRO, Calif. — The Coast Guard Cutter Sycamore, a 225-foot sea-going buoy tender homeported in Cordova,Alaska, stopped at Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach for fuel and supplies on their way to the Gulf of Mexico, June 29.

The Alaska-based cutter was deployed to support cleanup efforts in the gulf immediately following their completion of a training mission in Everett, Wash., June 18.

"We'll basically be skimming oil in the places where oil is skimmable and responding to whatever we're tasked with," said Lt. Charter Tschirgi, Executive Officer of the Sycamore. "Once we get down there they'll be adding some storage tanks onboard our buoy deck. They've had pretty good success with the systems that are in place, but as we go we are learning and making vast improvements to what we have."

The Sycamore is a versatile platform that can be used for pollution response, command and control, logistics, or other roles in addition to the primary missions of maintaining aids to navigation, search and rescue, and law enforcement. The cutter crew has the capability to deploy skimming and oil containment equipment known as the Spilled Oil Recovery System.

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