USCGC Spencer (WMEC-905)

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Career (USCG)
USCGC Spencer (WMEC-905)
Builder:	Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated, Middletown, Rhode Island
Laid down:	26 June 1982
Launched:	17 April 1984
Commissioned:	28 June 1986
Status:	Active
Homeport:	Boston, Massachusetts
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1,800 tons
Length:	270 ft (82 m)
Beam:	38 ft (11.6 m)
Draught:	14.5 ft (4.4 m)
Propulsion:	Twin turbo-charged ALCO V-18 diesel engines
Speed:	19.5 knots
Range:	9,900 miles
Complement:	100 personnel (14 officers, 86 enlisted)
Electronic warfare and decoys:	AN/SLQ-32 (receive only)
Armament:	1 OTO Melara Mk 75 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun 2 x .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine gun
Aircraft carried:	HH-65 Dolphin HH-60 Jayhawk MH-68 Stingray
Motto:	Valor-Honor-Tradition

USCGC Spencer (WMEC-905) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. Her keel was laid on 26 June 1982 at Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated, Middletown, Rhode Island. She was named for John Canfield Spencer, United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1843 to 1844 under President John Tyler and launched on 17 April 1984 and was commissioned into service on 28 June 1986. In March 1991, Spencer towed a disabled U.S. Navy frigate, a ship twice Spencer's size, to safety.[1] Spencer participated in the search for a missing Air National Guard paratrooper during the 1991 Halloween Nor'easter, sometimes called the "Perfect Storm". In 1999, Spencer was the on-scene commander for the EgyptAir Flight 990 crash off Nantucket, controlling both U.S. Navy and Coast Guard assets in the search and recovery efforts.[2]

[edit] Operational History

During a law enforcement patrol in 1987, Spencer arrested 23 people and confiscated more than 46,000 pounds of marijuana from four smuggling vessels. While on a south patrol in 1989, Spencer rescued and repatriated 538 Haitian migrants bound for the United States, and later seized a Panamanian freighter laden with 438 kilograms of cocaine. In 1994, Spencer repatriated over 1700 Haitian and Cuban migrants. During New York City's Annual Fleet Week of 1995, Spencer opened her brow to more than 5000 visitors. In early 1996, Spencer responded to the downed Alas Nacionales plane crash off the coastal waters of the Dominican Republic in which 188 people lost their lives on April 22, 1997 Spencer seized 3905 pounds of cocaine off the coast of Honduras. When the fishing vessel Lady of Grace became disabled during a severe storm in November 1997, Spencer was there to save the crew and tow the vessel to safety. Recently, Spencer worked with the French warship, Ventôse (F733), to seize 1800 kilograms of pure cocaine off the coast of Venezuela.[3]