Two U.S. Coast Guard ships called Sturgeon Bay’s working waterfront home on Friday, coinciding with the end of the city’s Maritime Week celebrations. On Wednesday and Friday, the USCG Cutter Mobile Bay offered tours of its ice-cutting vessel. Coast Guardsman took people around the ship and its adjoined barge. Among those taking tours of the Cutter Mobile Bay were retired members of the U.S. Coast Guard who had also worked on the ship during their tour of duty.
Across the bay, USCG Spar was docked near Graham Park as it prepared for its next mission. According to the Door County Maritime Museum, the Duluth-based vessel maintains aid to navigation in the Twin Ports and Great Lakes. It is in town assisting the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with its efforts to mark sunken ships within the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
The two ships floated in the foreground of the Coast Guard Picnic, the last event of Sturgeon Bay’s Maritime Week festivities. Earlier in the week, BMC Luke Berghuis of the Cutter Mobile Bay was honored as the 2024 Sturgeon Bay Coast Guard Person of the Year. MK3 Taiten Cogswell, from Station Sturgeon Bay and MST1 Michael Thacker from Marine Safety Unit Sturgeon Bay was also nominated.
