News Release: Coast Guard Maritime Force Protection Unit Bangor to conduct escort tra

[The Patriot]

BANGOR, Wash. – The Coast Guard Maritime Force Protection Unit (MFPU), based in Bangor, will be on the water conducting escort training in the vicinity of Hood Canal Bridge, from Foul Weather Bluff to Brown Point, from approximately 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday and Friday.

This standard training will consist of boats moving at high rates of speed while discharging smoke and pyrotechnic flares. No ammunition will be fired, however there will be simulated machine gun fire periodically broadcast from several vessels audible to the public within short vicinity. MFPU Bangor routinely conducts training in the vicinity of the Hood Canal.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has been providing security escorts to a variety of Navy assets transiting the region’s waterways.

MFPU Bangor is trained and equipped to provide security escorts for strategic naval assets transiting the Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca. MFPU Bangor units employ their Coast Guard law enforcement authority (14 USC 89) to enforce a security zone surrounding Naval submarines in the Sector Puget Sound Captain of the Port Zone and as a Regulated Navigation Area for Navy submarines in Hood Canal. The security zone was established to ensure the safety of naval vessels and mitigate the risk of attack.

The Security Zone is a 1000-yard zone around Navy submarines; mariners are not permitted to enter this established area without permission from the Coast Guard patrol commander via VHF channel 13 or 16. Vessels transiting in or near a security zone must proceed as directed by the patrol commander and are prohibited from approaching naval vessels. (Federal Register Vol. 75, No. 8, pp1706-1712, 33 CFR 165.1327 and 33 CFR 165.1328).

For more information, contact Lt. j.g. Denny Ernster, MFPU Bangor Public Affairs Officer, at (360) 204-3294.






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