New Ice Breaker Ship Ready for Commissioning

It has been an interesting winter on the Upper Great Lakes for the U.S. Coast Guard. For most of the winter, there was very little ice, meaning the Coast Guard's newest ice breaker didn't get much of a work-out during its winter trials. The new Cutter Mackinaw was in the news over the winter though, when the ship rammed the seawall in Coast Guard City, USA - aka Grand Haven, Mich. - during its first visit there. The incident in Grand Haven, which left a clearly visible dent, er, ding, er - whatever the word is for a roughly 10 foot by 10 foot indentation - near the bow of the $90 million metal-hulled ship. 

The Grand Haven incident, which lead to the firing of the ship's captain, Capt. Donald Triner, happened Dec. 12, 2005, just five days before the new Mackinaw, hull number WLBB-30, arrived for the first time in its homeport of Cheboygan, Mich. There, the Coast Guard said, after the Dec. 17 celebration to welcome in the ship, Triner and some of the crew made "inappropriate use of alcohol" - a factor that led to Rear Adm. Robert Papp's decision to relieve Triner of command and replace him with Capt. Michael Hudson. 

The early days of leadership are a marked difference from the history of the first ship named Mackinaw, a 290-foot long brute that has kept the Upper Great Lakes open to year-round navigation since World War II. The original Mackinaw, hull number WAGB-83, was launched in 1944 at a cost of $10 million. The cutter's first skipper, Edwin J. Roland, would conclude his Coast Guard career by serving as the Commandant of the Coast Guard from 1962-66. Cmdr. Joseph C. McGuiness is the current captain of the original Mackinaw. That ship is to be decommissioned in June 2006. The ship, which has been based in Cheboygan since the 1940s, is expected to become a floating museum in Chevoygan after it is decommissioned.