Coast Guard Sector Baltimore

Background

As stated on the official Coast Guard (CG) web site the mission of CG Sector Baltimore is to effectively and efficiently:

• Maximize unit readiness,
• Prevent or respond to incidents,
• Understand and address our customers’ needs,
• Achieve unity of effort with our partners,
• In order to provide maritime safety, security, accessibility, and environmental protection for the National Capital Region, and the upper Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

CG Sector Baltimore & its subordinatre units include Aids-to-Navigation Teams in Baltimore; Crisfield; Potomac. There are Small Boat Stations in Annapolis; Crisfield; Curtis Bay; Oxford; St. Inigoes; Stillpond; & Washington (Bolling AFB). CG Station Curtis Bay, in addition to being an active Small Boat Station, also houses the Coast Guard's main shipyard which performs maintenance, upgrades and new boat building for the entire Coast Guard fleet. Due to the shipyard, there's usually a interesting "flow" of out-of-area vessels showing up on the marine channels.

The CG Sector Baltimore also is assisted by several area CG Auxiliary aircraft which provide airborne patrols of the Chesapeake Bay area during peak activity times, normally April-October. The CG Sector Baltimore area of responsibility covers the entire Chesapeake Bay, which runs roughly from the Delaware/Pennsylvania border down to the mouth of the Bay near Norfolk Virginia. In order to be able to maintain VHF communications over this area they use a VHF repeater which is located atop the main structure of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, near Annapolis Maryland. The Sector radio operators refer to this location as the " high site"

Soon after 9/11, the Coast Guard was delegated the responsibility for low-level air defence of the National Capitol Region (NCR). The Coast Guard has since kept at least two HH-65Cs Dolphin helicopters based at Reagan National Airport (KDCA). These aircraft rotate to KDCA from CGAS Atlantic City.

Callsigns:

• BLACKJACK ##- used by CGAS Atlantic City HH-65Cs when deployed to CGAS Washington.
• GUARDIAN ##-used by Atlantic City HH-65Cs during 2009 Inauguration.
• DOLPHIN ##- noted used by HH-65C from CGAS Atlantic City working w/CG Sector Baltimore.
• PIT BOSS- CG entity, probably maintenance, at CGAS Washington
• ZEAL ##- used by HH-65Cs during 2009 Inauguration.

Frequencies

CG Marine (FM)

• 156.800 CG Chnl 16
• 157.050 CG Chnl 21A-CG Station Annapolis, Blackjack helos at Reagan Nat'l
• 157.075 CG Chnl 81A
• 157.100 CG Chnl 22A -CG Sector Baltimore-Marine Information Broadcasts
• 157.125 CG Chnl 82A- CG Sector Baltimore-special activity
• 157.150 CG Chnl 23A- CG Sector Baltimore, CG Station Curtis Bay, CG Station Annapolis
• 157.175 CG chnl 83A
• 165.3125 US Coast Guard Sector Baltimore CG-121 (poss P25 encryption)-analog is CG-12 (FM Mode).
• 162.325 US Coast Guard Sector Baltimore CG-111 (poss P25 encryption)- analog is CG-11 (FM Mode)

CG Air (AM)

• 119.1- Reagan National Tower
• 134.35 -Washington Area Helo Unicom
• 118.4- Andrews AFB Tower
• 119.3- Potomac TRACON Approach
• 139.7 (AM)-Huntress
• 345.0- CG Air Primary
• 237.9- CG Air Secondary
• 326.15- CG Air
• 379.05- CG Air
• 412.875- "409" poss encrypted P25

Stations

• CG Sector Baltimore
• CG Station Curtis Bay
• CG Station Annapolis
• CG Station Wash DC
• CGAS Washington- Reagan National Airport (KDCA). C-37A (CG 1); C-143 Challenger (CG2). 2 HH-65Cs on rotating TDY from CGAS Atlantic City.
• NCB-5- National Cargo Bureau unit, Baltimore.

Homeport (Baltimore) Vessels

• 1620486- 16-ft utility craft. CG Stn Curtis Bay.
• 182009- 18-ft utility craft. CG Stn Curtis Bay.
• 25449 -Defender Class Response Boat-Small-maybe CG Stn Annapolis
• 25627- Defender Class Response Boat-Small- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 25567 -Defender Class Response Boat-Small- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 25581 -Defender Class Response Boat-Small- CG StnCurtis Bay
• 25585 -Defender Class Response Boat-Small- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 25588 -Defender Class Response Boat-Small- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 25678- Defender Class Response Boat-Small-maybe CG Stn Annapolis
• 26101 - CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 26118- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 41330- 41-foot Utility Boat- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 41359 -41-foot Utility Boat- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 41453 -41-foot Utility Boat- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 41454 -41-foot Utility Boat- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 45641- 45-foot Utility Boat- CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 49428- 49-foot Stern Loading Buoy Boat-CG Stn Curtis Bay
• USCGC James Rankin WLM-555, Keeper Class Coastal Buoy Tender-CG Stn Curtis Bay
• USCGC Sledge WLIC 75303, 75-foot Inland Construction Tender-CG Stn Curtis Bay
• 25454-Defender Class Response Boat-Small-CG Stn Wash DC (Bolling AFB)

CG Auxiuliary

• Weekly radio checks w/CG Sector Baltimore on 157.15

Divison 22

• Mobile stns: 1P, 1T, 1X, 13I, 22F, 22B, 22O, 22R, 22W, 22Z
• Base stns: Bay Hills, Beards Creek, Columbia, Ferndale, Glen Burnie, Locust Cove, Moores Run, Severna Park, Taylors Creek

Division 23

• Mobiles: 1S, 1U, 1Y, 15C, 15D, 15E, 23R
• Base stns: Bears Creek, Biltmore, Cove Pt, Deale, Flag Harbor, Huntingtown, Kingfisher, Riva Bridge Smith Creek

Division 24

• Mobiles: 7A, 7B, 7G, 7R, 24AA, 24A, 24Z
• Base stns: Calvert Beach, Clarksville, Gaithersburg 2, Magothy

Division 25

• Mobiles: 14F, 14J, 14A 25G, 25K, 25M, 25O, 25S, 25T
• Base stns: Hyattsville, Cameron Run, Ft Hunt, Marlborough, Mt Vernon, Potomac Creek, Tappahanock, Williams Creek

With thanks to mdmonitor for this fine article