Michigan

in the Great Lakes

Coast Guard Cutters

Did you know that Coast Guard cutters often sail into the Port of Grand Haven during the annual Coast Guard festival? The United States Coast Guard has a station in the city of Grand Haven, Michigan which was the first city to be designated by the Coast Guard as an honorary ‘Coast Guard City.’ The festival usually starts the last weekend in July and lasts for ten days.

The Coast Guard uses the term ‘cutter’ to refer to ships commissioned by the Coast Guard that are 65 feet long or longer and have accommodations aboard for a permanent crew.

One of the cutters commissioned by the Coast Guard, the current USCGC Mackinaw, is a heavy icebreaker that carries on the name of a decommissioned cutter, known as “The Queen of the Great Lakes,” now on display as a museum ship at a maritime museum in Mackinaw City, Michigan.

USCGC – United States Coast Guard Cutter

Click here for the 2022 Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival Event Schedule and more.

Click here to see the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum website

Interesting facts – The Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba