LEET WEEK 2016 started with a
beautiful parade of ships this year. Since
the sequestering four years ago the parade has grown a little more each Fleet Week and this year was the most elaborate yet. There were some great events and displays on the Intrepid Museum deck and throughout the City.
As expected, huge crowds came to see Navy, Air Force, Marines, Army, and of course the United States Coast Guard. Both the USCGC Forward and the USCGC Katherine Walker were on display to the public for the six-day event. Thousands of people walked through the ships and asks questions of the crews. These questions ranged from “why did you join the Coast Guard” to “how long do you stay out on the Ocean”?
One group of The Boy Scouts of America, Troup 485, chartered a new program for their members called the “Sea Scouts” during this 6 day event. The chartering ceremony was held on the Buoy Deck of the USCGC Katherine Walker on Saturday morning May 29. With members of Katherine Walker’s active duty crew as well as Auxiliary members in attendance the chartering was beautiful and held an air of formality it might not otherwise have had. The Katherine Walker is the second 175’ Keeper Class buoy tender built and commissioned for the United States Coast Guard. She was built by Marinette Marine in Wisconsin and accepted by the Coast Guard in 1996.
The ceremony was also filled with sentiment as Robert Heinemann VCDR Division 7 presented the new Sea Scout group with a challenge coin. Heinemann set up the location of the chartering ceremony with only a few days’ notice. Mr. Heinemann contacted first Dave Porter DCAP in charge of the event and was referred to Bridget Benjamin the Point of Contact POC for the Auxiliary members helping out at Fleet Week. Benjamin requested an early morning tour of the Cutter and spoke to Troy Krotz MBC on the USCGC Katherine Walker about the Sea Scout Chartering Ceremony.
During the Chartering Ceremony the Boy Scouts of America, Troup 485, presented Chief Petty Officer Troy Krotz with an appreciation Certificate. Krotz BMC had not only gone out of his way to get consent to conduct the Chartering Ceremony from Commanding Officer LT Ian Mulcahy for the Scout Troup he had isolated the upper area of the Buoy deck for the ceremony. BMC Krotz also participated in the Chartering event. The Auxiliarists that were helping out on the Buoy tender as well as some active duty members also participated to make this very official ceremony even more memorable for the Scouts.
F
USCG Katherine Walker at Fleet Week 2016
Photo by Agaton Strom, The Wall Street Journal