WLB-201
The advances made from the 180 foot vintage seagoing buoytenders to the current Juniper class are all-encompassing. The current Juniper is much larger at 225 feet and 2000 tons, and was the first cutter to fully leverage and implement many technological advances such as electronic charting, position keeping, and remote engineering monitoring and control. Juniper is also designed to skim and recover oil in the event of an oil spill.
Juniper's Integrated Ship Control System has an Electronic Charting Display and Information System (ECDIS) which enables fixing her position to within five meters every second. Her Dynamic Positioning System (DPS) uses this positioning information, the ship's controllable pitch propeller, and the stern and bow thrusters to keep the ship on station without any human input.
These systems allow Juniper and her crew to work more buoys in less time, more efficiently and safely, and in tougher environmental conditions than her predecessors. Juniper's Machinery Plant Control and Monitoring System (MPCMS) has over 1000 sensors throughout the ship. This system makes it possible for one person in the engineroom control center to monitor the ship’s plant while underway. Juniper and her crew are adept at handling various missions such as aids to navigation, law enforcement, homeland security, ice breaking, environmental pollution response, and search and rescue.
Juniper assisted in the recovery operations following the crashes of TWA Flight 800 and Egypt Air 990. She also participated in anti-terrorist and force protection operations in New York immediately after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
On February 3, 2007, Juniper participated in reef building efforts off New Jersey, deploying 160,000 pounds of concrete sinkers recovered from old buoy markers to aid in the recovery of local fish populations.
Read more about this topic: USCGC Juniper (WLB-201)