CG Cutter Vigorous Joins Forces To Assist Stricken Carnival Triumph

MOBILE, ALA. — As the world awaited news last week from 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew aboard the crippled cruise shop Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico, few knew that one of the Coast Guard cutters involved in aiding the behemoth was none other than the Cape May-based, 210-foot Cutter Vigorous.
The Vigorous was not alone aiding the stricken 893-foot vessel. A number of Coast Guard units escorted or assisted the Carnival Triumph to the Alabama Cruise Ship Terminal in Mobile Feb. 14.
According to a Coast Guard release from the Eighth District in New Orleans, La., the Vigorous arrived on scene Feb. 11 in the evening and safely evacuated by helicopter one passenger to the Carnival Legend.
Cutter Vigorous began escorting the Carnival Triumph once the contracted tugs arrived and began towing it toward Mobile. The tug vessel Roland Falgout and four assist tugs towed the Carnival Triumph to the Alabama Cruise Terminal following more than a 100-hour voyage from Cozumel, Mexico to Mobile.
As a quick review of the drama that unfolded on the high seas, that ultimately involved CG Cutter Vigorous, halfway through the Carnival Triumph’s four-day cruise to Mexico, there was an engine room fire. As a result, the vessel lost power and was soon adrift in the Gulf of Mexico.
The odyssey that was to have taken just four days wound up taking twice that long. Passengers began to alert their loved ones ashore that conditions were deteriorating, without sanitation or amenities that usually accompany a luxury cruise.
As days passed, anxiety of those aboard was shared with news media from around the globe.
Photos accompanied stories published by British Broadcasting Company and USA Today of the massive 102,000-ton Carnival Triumph with a small orange Coast Guard craft heading toward the ship. That was driven by Vigorous’ crewmembers.
Another photo showed the bow of the Vigorous heading toward the drifting Carnival Triumph.
Vigorous and crew was just one of several Coast Guard assets that joined to bring the crippled cruise ship safely to port. Those others included: Aviation Training Center Mobile MH-60T crew; the 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Stingray crew; three Coast Guard Station Dauphin Island 45-feet response boats — medium crews; one Coast Guard Station Pascagoula boat crew; Coast Guard Gulf Strike Team.
The Coast Guard worked closely with federal, state and local partners to help bring about the safe return of the Carnival Triumph and its crew and passengers. Through a collaborative effort, the Coast Guard and its port partners transferred critical engineering equipment, assisted CBP with the disembarkation process, enforced a security zone and assisted with the medevac of one additional passenger.
The Flag Administration of the Bahamas will lead the investigation into the incident with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board, according to a release.
The Vigorous is commanded by Cmdr. Gregory H. Magee. The vessel, whose motto is “Paratus Gerere – Ready to Act,” is a multi-mission medium endurance.
Its missions include search and rescue, enforcement of laws and treaties, maritime defense and protection of the marine environment.
“We are always ready to act in the most challenging situations that we encounter,” according to the vessel’s website.
Commissioned in May 1969, and for nearly 23 years was home ported in New London, Conn. Vigorous was decommissioned in 1992 and was then the first “B” class 210-foot cutter to complete the Major Maintenance Availability at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Md.
Commissioned again in January 1993, Vigorous is home ported in Cape May. Throughout her 40 years in service to the nation,
Vigorous has sailed north to enforce U. S. fishery laws, sailed south to the Caribbean Sea to enforce immigration laws and interdict illegal substances transported by sea, sailed along the entire eastern seaboard in support of the Coast Guard’s Homeland Security mission, and sailed in prosecution of countless search and rescue cases.
Vigorous hosted several high-level visitors, highlighted by visits from Vice President George Bush in 1983 and President Ronald Reagan in 1988.