Coast Guard boarding & hull number question?

[Fr. Frank]

The only thing that pissed me off was the two officers who got on board had on black boots in full gear and as you can expect they left marks all over the floor of the boat..... Just a strange incident.

You were boarded by officers, and not enlisted personnel? That is REALLY strange.

USCG has the lowest officer to enlisted ratio of any US armed service. Most CG vessels under 87' are COMMANDED by senior enlisted personnel. The Marine Protector class patrol vessels (87') like the one in the photo above only have one officer permanently assigned.

Only vessels 87' and up have permanent commanders, all under have assigned mission commanders, usually PO2 or higher in rank.

My cousin, as a newly-made Ensign, served as the Exec on the Cape Shoalwater for a year back in the mid-80's, and was one of only two commissioned officers on board with an enlisted crew of 18. She usually only had one officer, a lieutenant assigned as captain. The only time she got a second officer was when some new ensign got asigned, and had to take an Deck Officer training tour at sea.