Tag Archives: coast guard SPSS

Mini sub off Ft. Lauderdale?

Beachcombers in the Highland Beach area came across a 20-foot long submersible like object stuck just offshore.  A Texas man saw it on Oct. 26 and, thinking it was a buoy, swam out 150 yards and photographed it, seeing a 6cyl engine and battery inside and a prop at the tail. Two hatches were open but no one was inside. Then he alerted police and the USCG who investigated it but left it in place.

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Putting a light on the object to mark it, a few days later it washed ashore, where others photographed it before it was moved by a tractor off the beach where DHS is picking up the investigation.

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Narco boat? Part of a migrant vessel? North Korean supersub? Who knows.

From the Sun Sentinel

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Eric Pare said the vessel could have been used to smuggle drugs into the country, though Pare said that is very unlikely.

“We have had these cases in the past,” Pare said, referring to drug submarines. “But they’re usually in the deep Caribbean, off the coast of South America or the eastern Pacific on the Mexican side; [or] the Pacific coast. It’s extremely rare to see something like this this far north.”

Scratch Another Dope U-Boat

And down goes the fifth drug sub captured by the USCG in the past ten months....

A sinking self-propelled semi-submersible vessel was interdicted in the Western Caribbean Sea March 30, 2012, by the crews of Coast Guard Cutter Decisive, Coast Guard Cutter Pea Island, Joint Interagency Task Force South and the Honduran Navy. The SPSS sank during the interdiction in thousands of feet of water. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

Coast Guard assets spearheaded by  the forty year old 210-foot Decisive caught up with a unidentified narco sub in a story released today

“The cutters’ crews were called in when an Air Station Miami aircrew, working in the Caribbean in support of Joint Interagency Task Force South’s Operation Martillio, spotted a suspicious vessel and notified 7th Coast Guard District watchstanders of the location. Pea Island and Decisive diverted to the position and their pursuit boat crews were dispatched.

With both Pea Island and Decisive’s pursuit boat crews on the case, the SPSS was successfully interdicted and four suspected smugglers were detained. During the interdiction, the drug sub sank in thousands of feet of water, an act that is common as drug traffickers design their vessels to be difficult to spot and rapidly sink when they detect law enforcement.

“Medium endurance cutters like the Decisive are built for multi-week offshore patrols including operations requiring enhanced communications and helicopter and pursuit boat operations,” said Capt. Brendan McPherson, 7th Coast Guard District chief of enforcement. “When combined with patrol boats like the Pea Island, which has superior speed and flexibility, it helps us and our partners to provide the Coast Guard’s unique blend of military capability, law enforcement authority and lifesaving expertise wherever needed to protect American interests.”

I spent some time aboard the Decisive last fall, and the Swamp Rats should be proud, Bravo Zulu!

Swamp Rats icon on the stern of the Decisive, home-ported in the bayous of the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Pascagoula, MS