News Release

Key spokespersons for this event with Associated Press Style military titles:

Cmdr. Lee Petty, commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Dependable

Cmdr. Corey Bonheim, division officer for Training Center Cape May Facilities Engineering Division

Lt. Cmdr. Kathy Felger, executive officer of Cutter Dependable

Lt. Kathryn Cyr, operations officer for Cutter Dependable

Lt. Adam Buckley, engineering officer for Cutter Dependable 

Chief Petty Officer Kenneth Seebeck, command chief for Cutter Dependable

Facts:

• Pier 3 is undergoing a $2.28 million rehabilitation project that will improve the stability and infrastructure where the two ships are currently moored and serviced.
  
  
• Two major Coast Guard cutters are moored at Pier 3 aboard Training Center Cape May – Cutter Dependable and Cutter Vigorous.
  
  
• Both Dependable and Vigorous are more than 40 years old, and they require increased maintenance and repairs because of their age. Pier 3 is critical in supporting both the heavy equipment used in these repairs and ensuring the cutters are securely moored during the repair processes.
  
  
• Rehabilitation to Pier 3 is aimed at providing a more stable mooring platform for these cutters conduct maintenance and repairs. The current piles that sustain the mooring load of the 210-foot cutters are too eroded to repair, so they are being replaced with steel piles.  
  
  
• The pier is currently eroding and failing at several of the critical mooring points, which puts the cutters at risk of breaking free of its mooring.
  
  
• The current fleet of Coast Guard cutters is from 30 to 45 years old, constituting one of the oldest fleets in the world while being one of the busiest, suffering equipment failures that impact, on a regular basis, our ability to do the job America requires.
  
  
• The work to the pier is already underway with the initial steel piles driven for the eastside. The next set of piles will be driven after Cutter Vigorous heads out on patrol.
  
  
• The scheduled completion date for these repairs is June 2012. Throughout that time, the cutter crews and the crew of Training Center Cape May will continue to do what it takes to keep these aging ships going.
  
  
• Training Center Cape May last rehabilitated Pier 3 in 2005, which repaired more than two-thirds of the vertical piles. These piles support load weight such as service trucks and equipment. The repairs being conducted now are on the battering piles, which ensure the cutters have a secure mooring station at the pier.