. Coast Guard history. United States. Coast Guard. Hatteras Light in North Carohna, three feet taller, had to be abandoned in 1935 because of encroachment by the sea. But the highest light, though it has only a 43- foot tower, is perched 422 feet above the "Pacific on Cape Mendicino, Calif. It can be seen 28 miles away. The toughest job of the aids to naviga- tion branch of the Coast Guard is main- taining upwards of 23,000 buoys dis- tributed along the inland and coastal waterways of the United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. They are inspected at regular and frequent int
. Coast Guard history. United States. Coast Guard. Hatteras Light in North Carohna, three feet taller, had to be abandoned in 1935 because of encroachment by the sea. But the highest light, though it has only a 43- foot tower, is perched 422 feet above the "Pacific on Cape Mendicino, Calif. It can be seen 28 miles away. The toughest job of the aids to naviga- tion branch of the Coast Guard is main- taining upwards of 23,000 buoys dis- tributed along the inland and coastal waterways of the United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. They are inspected at regular and frequent inter- vals, and the compressed gas or electric batteries which supply power to operate their lights must be renewed to keep them in proper operation. They must be re- moved from the water periodically for cleaning and painting, repairs or replace- ment of worn and broken parts, and oc- casionally taken out of the water for relo- cation or to permit renewal of the chain and anchors by which they are moored to the bottom of the sea. The electronic age The operation of lighted aids is a lot easier now, however, than in the bygone days when smoky oil lamps had to be cleaned and hlled and their wicks kept trmimed. Some present-day lights and fog signals are turned on and off by a remote radio control system called ANRAC (aids to navigation radio controlled). And there are other electronic wonders: RACON (radar beacons) which gives distance (up to 120 miles) and bearing of ships and planes from the beacons; and LORAN (long-range aids to navigation) which pro- vides navigational information to air and surface craft. Present Loran stations, lo- cated in Greenland, Newfoundland, Alaska, the Philippines, the Caribbean, and remote Pacific islands as well as continental United States, form a safety network over the North Atlantic and North Pacific. In 1948, Congress author- ized the Coast Guard to expand its Loran networks to meet the needs of the armed forces and the maritime and air commer
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollecti, booksubjectunitedstatescoastguard
