Contact: Ninth Coast Guard District Public Affairs Office

(216) 902-6020

    Ninth District External Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard

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News Release

Date: Aug. 5, 2009

Contact: Petty Officer Bill Colclough
(216) 902-6020 office
(216) 310-2608 cell

Coast Guard Cutter Alder conducts Spilled Oil Recovery System (SORS) training

DULUTH, Minn. -U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Alder will conduct Spilled Oil Recovery System (SORS) training outside the Duluth-Superior Harbor Thursday morning. 

The Alder crew will deploy the SORS equipment as part of a biennial training to familiarize the crew with its operation and capabilities.

The SORS equipment is a vital asset to the Coast Guard’s Marine Environmental Protection mission.  The crew will test the following equipment during the training:

  • Two 60-foot inflatable Fast Sweep Booms
  • Two 42-foot Outrigger Arms and two small bladders each with a 13,206-gallon capacity.
  • Two large bladders, each with a 26,400-gallon capacity.
  • Mechanical skimmer capable of pumping skimmed oil at a rate of 440 gallons per minute.

The Alder is the newest and final addition to the Coast Guard’s fleet of 225-foot buoy tenders, replacing the decommissioned 180-foot Coast Guard Cutter Sundew as Lake Superior’s primary buoy tender.  The Alder conducts the missions of Aids to Navigation, Domestic Icebreaking, Search and Rescue, Marine Environmental Protection, Homeland Security and Law Enforcement.

For further media inquiries, contact the Public Affairs Officer for the Alder, Ensign Benjamin Weber, at 218-529-3134.

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