Coast Guardsmen Gregory Crane and Nathan Cramer escort a survivor of the Alaska Ranger from the flight desk of the cutter Munro.
On March 23, 2008, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued crewmembers of the fishing vessel Alaska Ranger, which foundered in the Bering Sea in harsh weather. Forty-two of 47 survived - one of the largest cold water rescue operations in the service's history.
A Coast Guard HH-6o Jayhawk stationed at remote Saint Paul Island, Alaska, and an HH-65 Dolphin from the cutter Douglas Munro hauled in the mariners who abandoned ship about 120 miles off Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands.
The lights went out and the ship lurched astern as the crew launched life raft in the early morning dark, complicating the evacuation.
The magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology, which awarded Coast Guard personnel with a heroism award, said: "The two helicopter crews displayed exceptional risk mitigation and airmanship in fighting time, distance and weather – including snow squalls, a −24°F wind chill, 15 ft seas and 30 kt winds – to rescue survivors."
Investigators suspected structural failure that led to rudder room flooding. The master of the Alaska Ranger was among the dead.
The incident recalls the Feb. 3, 1943, sinking of troop ship SS Dorchester during World War Two. Crewmembers of the cutter Escanaba WPG-77 donned wet suits - a new invention at the time - and rescued 133 men struggling in the frigid Atlantic Ocean.
Fishing vessel Alaska Ranger
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