USCGC ''Northland'' (WMEC-904) is a

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

medium endurance cutter The Medium Endurance Cutter or WMEC is a type of United States Coast Guard Cutter mainly consisting of the Famous- and ''Reliance''-class cutters. These larger cutters are under control of Area Commands (Atlantic Area or Pacific Area). These cutt ...

. Her keel was laid down in 1981 and she was launched in 1982 by the Tacoma Boatbuilding Company of

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

. She was commissioned on December 17, 1984.

History

The USCGC ''Northland'' is the second cutter to carry that name and the fourth of the thirteen Famous Class cutters currently serving in the WMEC- 270' fleet. ''Northland'' is home ported in

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

. ''Northland'' has many missions including

Search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

, Law Enforcement and Interdiction, Homeland Security, and Defense Operations. ''Northland's'' crew is composed of officers and enlisted personnel with a large variety of different Coast Guard rates. ''Northland's'' primary area of operation includes but is not limited to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

, and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

br>

Images

File:USCGC Northland (WMEC-904) and USS Pinckney (DDG-91) underway in the Pacific Ocean on 26 April 2020 (200426-N-ZM949-1271).JPG, ''Pinckney'' and train in the Pacific, April 2020 File:Coast Guard Cutters - Northland (WMEC 904) - 26-HK-76-68 - DPLA - ba73b06fe9de27de3179ac75dc81001d.jpg, crew returning from a bording File:CGC Northland Cocaine Offload 120315-G-ZE884-118.jpg, 3,500 pounds of cocaine seized by 2012

External links

''Northland'' home page
Ships of the United States Coast Guard Famous-class cutters 1982 ships Ships built by Tacoma Boatbuilding Company {{USCG-stub