Station Point Judith

The United States Coast Guard presence in Rhode Island makes this armed force of the United States of America one of the most common names in the area. The US Coast Guard hangs around since the late 19-th century. However, most of his current installations were established and commissioned in the 20-th century. Rhode Island is pretty popular among this force though. It hosts multiple installations coming from other armed forces too, especially the US Navy. One of the most significant installations in this area is the US Coast Guard Station Point Judith. The facility is operated by Eric Baruzzi, under the strict jurisdiction of the First District. The First District is the main operational command in the US Coast Guard. The headquarters is located in Boston, Massachusetts. It consists of four different divisions, more than 50 stations, over 30 afloat units and a multitude of cutters. All of these units, stations and cutters are spread around the United States of America and all of them support the same objectives and mission.

Station Point Judith is responsible for more than 110 kilometers of coast. As if it was not enough, it also deals with the nearby Block island. The island is sometimes used as a smaller station under its jurisdiction. The land it covers is pretty huge. At the same time, the base may be extremely important, but it is not that impressive in size. It is actually a small installation. With all these, its role has never been more significant.

Mission

Station Point Judith is operated by the United States Guard and is obviously answering to all of its actions. It works in a tight collaboration with the nearby facilities. It supports search and rescue operations, environmental protection, maritime safety and maintenance of all the lighthouses, buoys or other similar equipments in the area. Some of the most important objectives imply the search and rescue operations. They keep these experts pretty busy, especially since there are plenty of touristic resorts around Rhode Island.

All of these operations are conducted by not more than around 30 individuals and a few boats. Some of the boats are not even hosted on site, but about 5 kilometers away, in a special place. This distance doesn’t delay the operations though.

History

Station Point Judith is one of the oldest facilities operated by the United States Coast Guard. It was commissioned in 1876, in a strategical place. It was close to the town, lighthouse and harbor with the same name. It became fully operational during the same year. In 1888, it was taken through a massive reconstruction process. It took more than a year, but the new facilities and modern updates turned it into a very useful installation for those times. The first individual who was employed was a local fisherman – Joseph N. Griffin.

One of the most notable events in the history of this station took place in the summer of 1975. Three fishermen were saved, but one of them passed away while on the way to the nearest hospital. Two other US Coast Guard members were also hurt in action.