USCGC ''Tahoma'' (WMEC-908) 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 on June 28, 1983 at Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated,

Middletown, Rhode Island Middletown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,075 at the 2020 census. It lies to the south of Portsmouth and to the north of Newport on Aquidneck Island, hence the name "Middletown". History Vari ...

. She was delivered August 12, 1987 and commissioned April 6, 1988. She is the third cutter to bear the name Tahoma, which is the Northwest Pacific Indian word that refers to the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

mountain peak now known as

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...

. Her nickname, ''Mighty T'', was selected because it was the nickname of her predecessor, ''Tahoma'' (WPG-80), during World War II. On 13 January 2010, the ''Tahoma'' was ordered to assist in the humanitarian relief efforts following the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

. During the afternoon of 16 January 2010 a boy was born on board to a Haitian woman while it was transporting wounded survivors from Port-au-Prince to the still-functional medical facilities of

Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ht, Kap Ayisyen; "Haitian Cape"), typically spelled Cape Haitien in English and often locally referred to as or , is a commune of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the department of Nord. Previousl ...

, to the north. USCGC Tahoma rescued these Haitian refugees in March 2018

In March 2018 the ''Tahoma'' intercepted 201 Haitian undocumented immigrants, in Bahamanian waters.

References

External links

*
''Tahoma'' home page
Ships of the United States Coast Guard Famous-class cutters 2010 Haiti earthquake relief 1987 ships {{US-mil-ship-stub