RICK FOWLER
USCG Cutter Mackinaw plying it way through ice near the Soo Locks. Facing page: Commander Vasilios Tasikas beside his ship.
“You are young and your future is before you … this training is for the sole purpose of making you useful, trained leaders of men.”
– The Bluejackets Manual, 1940
COURTESY USCG DISTRICT 9
This excerpt from an old Navy manual came to mind as I sought “permission to come aboard” across the gangplank of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, docked just above the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, on a brisk mid-March day.
It didn’t take long to see that most of the 55 crew members on this Mac were indeed young and with their futures before them, just like the vessel on which they were serving.
The only heavy U.S. icebreaker in the Great Lakes, the Mackinaw (WLBB-30) carries a proud tradition, following in the wake of the famed Mackinaw (WAGB-83), which faithfully served for 60 plus years.
I had visited on that other Mighty Mac before it was decommissioned in 2006 and looked forward to exploring this modern incarnation. Thanks to a friend with the right connections, I joined a group of reporters invited to ride along as the Coast Guard broke ice by the Soo Locks the day before its spring opening in mid-March 2016.
From the first step on deck, I felt the size and power of this vessel, about 50 feet shorter than its predecessor but still muscular.
Fabrication for this state-of-the-art Mac began in April 2004. The ship launched in 2005 and was commissioned in 2006.
Within minutes of boarding, we were led to the muster room and met then Commanding Officer Vasilios Tasikas, on board since 2014. (John Stone took command in June.) The day’s mission was to “make our way 8 miles up toward Light No. 26 on the St. Marys River and into Whitefish Bay to bust up a section of ice prior to the March 25 opening of the Soo Locks. We will be the only cutter out there today. Tomorrow we will be joined by a ship from Duluth to help expedite the ice breakup.” (USCG Cutter Alder arrived the next day.)
After safety recaps and a brief history of the ship, we mounted five flights to the bridge.
In that massive room, no fewer than 15 sailors handled lookouts, charts, plotting, navigation and steering. The bridge buzzed with activity in preparation to head out.
One Guardsman took time to answer my question about why this vessel was so important to the fleet.
“Great Lakes shipping operates on a 42-week shipping season to deliver 150 million tons of materials,” he explained. “Of those 42 weeks, 12 weeks require icebreaking services. … Maintaining a reliable Great Lakes’ heavy ice-breaking capability is essential.”
Ice breaking is, of course, not the Coast Guard’s principal function. The Guard is responsible for maritime safety, security and environmental stewardship in U.S. ports and waterways. In that capacity, it protects and defends more than 100,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways including the Great Lakes.
“We are departing from the southwest pier and headed out in manual mode,” the watch officer alerted bridge personnel. “The air temperature is 34 degrees, and the water temperature is 32 degrees. There is a little fog.”
The state-of-the-art Mackinaw lacks a traditional helm wheel, steered instead with a joy stick and finger controls from any of the three control panels in the pilothouse, by one in the engine room or one in the stern.
The Mac’s missions are many. Besides ice breaking, it acts as a buoy tender and carries a Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System that can skim oil from the water in case of an accidental spill. The Mackinaw also performs needed search and rescues, plus maritime and homeland security and law enforcement.
After the departure, we headed to the main deck and the bow. We were approaching Whitefish Bay, plowing through thick ice that had reformed despite ice breaking the day before.
“Like a hot knife through butter,” a guest beside me observed as the bow carved a jagged, puzzle-piece path through 8-12 inches of ice clogging the channel. Indeed, it was.
I kept waiting for a shudder or a tremor under my feet as the ship sluiced its way through the ice sheets. Only the crunching of hard water and slurping of displaced floes belied our task; the sounds accompanied our smooth ride. I also expected a constant thrum from the Herculean engines, but the ship’s decking and top-shelf insulation deadened the noise.
Impressive? You bet.
Though the wind, temperature and waves did not challenge our cruise, many Coast Guardsmen mentioned the adverse conditions encountered tending buoys or on rescue operations in storms. They conjured minus-40° wind chills, pounding rains, slippery lines to manage and huge waves pummeling the bow.
On deck, the two assigned to us respectfully and patiently answered the myriad of questions. Asked about their own relationship to the Mac, Guardsman Chantel Early called it “a one-of-a-kind” vessel. “She’s a fabulous ship. With the Mackinaw, it’s a chance to show civilians what this branch of the service does, especially in the late winter and early spring.” The Spokane, Washington, native was on her second assignment after a transfer from Cordova, Alaska.
The Mackinaw was the first ship assignment for Guardsman Jon Gardner, resident of a small town just south of Boston. “It is a privilege serving aboard a high-tech vessel. It has provided, for me, greater opportunities to be exposed to the forefront of the maritime force. Wherever I end up, this experience will stay with me.”
From the bow and for a chance to warm up, we were led to the very ample galley (mess hall), a couple of stories below deck. I had imagined being met by the smells reminiscent of school cafeterias – the olfactory vagaries of reheated Spanish rice or fish sticks warming buffet-style.
Instead, on descending the steps and entering through the hatch, the aromas of freshly baked bread, dinner rolls and simmering homemade soups greeted me. Smelled more like Grandma’s kitchen then a military ship’s diner. The galley, literally “shipshape,” gleamed with all utensils, pots and pans conveniently stowed.
I was reluctant to leave without snagging lunch, but this trip, sadly, did not include meals.
As we headed back toward the pier, we toured the crew quarters, storage areas and a simulation room where those seamen with visions of becoming captain got a chance to steer and navigate a virtual version of the ship. Much like a sophisticated computer game, alarms alert you to a bad decision putting the ship in peril. I mused that with a few donuts at hand, I could easily waste happy hours here.
We also visited the Power Room, which Jon called, “the brains of the ship.” Within this space, monitors displayed graphics that detail speed, GPS, ice thickness, temperature and operating systems all around the vessel. Crew members continually scanned the monitors and made any necessary adjustments via touch screens. A high-tech marvel compared to what I remember of that first Mackinaw.
As we continued our tour through the vessel, we traversed long, tunnel-like passageways from time to time with miles of cables above us and along the sides, emphasizing yet again the technology investments.
Back at the mouth of the St. Marys River, I debarked from the Modern Mighty Mac with a new admiration of the technology aboard a modern vessel, but, more than that, I left with a new respect after my conversations with the ship’s knowledgeable, hardworking and dedicated young crew. The 70-year-old Bluejackets Manual about shipboard service seemed fitting still, making these young Guardsmen into “useful, trained leaders.”
They embodied for me the Coast Guard’s promise of Semper Paratus – Always Ready.
Now as we head into the final days of the 2017 maritime season and toward the mid-January closing of the Soo Locks for winter, my sleep will be serene knowing young sailors like those aboard the Mackinaw are watching out for us, for our ships and for our Great Lakes.
Boat Nerd Numbers
USCG Cutter Mackinaw (WLBB-30)
Length: 240 ft (73 m) • Beam: 58.5 ft (17.8 m) • Draft: 16 ft (4.9 m)
Propulsion: 2 x 3.4 MW ABB Azipod Icebreaking capability with about 9,000 horsepower. Can maintain 3 knots through 2.5 ft (0.8 m) of ice. Uses a patented Double Acting Ship (DAS) concept, developed jointly by Aker Arctic and the USCG, that allows ice
breaking traveling forward or backward.
Built: Marinette Marine Corporation, launched 2005.
USCG Cutter Mackinaw (WAGB-83)
Length: 290 ft (88 m) • Beam: 74.3 ft
(22.6 m) • Draft: 19.5 ft (5.9 m)
Propulsion: 6 x Fairbanks-Morse
10-cylinder Diesel engines with about 10,000 horsepower.
Built: Toledo Shipbuilding Company, launched 1944.
This issue’s Journal writer: Rick Fowler won Gold from the Minnesota Magazine Publishing Association for “Riding the Storm of a Tragedy” in our October/ November 2015 issue. An outdoor writer for 26 years and a high school English teacher for 34 years, he and his wife, Sue, live in Harbor Springs, Michigan.