USCGC Knight Island

USCGC Knight Island (WPB-1348) receives her namesake from Knight Island in the Prince William Sound of Alaska. She was commissioned on April 22, 1992, at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana. Knight Island and the other 48 Island class cutters' construction were based on the internationally known Vosper-Thornycroft design. Her hull is a semi-displacement type monohull made of high strength steel, while the main deck and superstructure are aluminum. Knight Island employs an active fin stabilization system to improve her sea keeping abilities. With a top speed in excess of 30 knots and a cruising speed of 26 knots, the ship is capable of enduring unsupported operations for six days, and she accommodates two officers and sixteen enlisted personnel.

The 110-foot Island-class Patrol Boats are a U.S. Coast Guard modification of a highly successful British-designed patrol boat. With excellent range and seakeeping capabilities, the Island class, all named after U.S. islands, replaced the older 95-foot Cape-class patrol boats. These cutters are equipped with advanced electronics and navigation equipment and are used on the front lines of the Coast Guard's maritime homeland security, migrant interdiction, fisheries enforcement, and search-and-rescue missions.

The 58 ordered 154-foot Sentinel-class cutters, selected under the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program, are slated to replace the 37 aging cutters remaining in the Island class.

Originally homeported in Freeport, Texas, Knight Island’s home port was changed to St. Petersburg, Florida in the summer of 2000. In 2008, Knight Island’s homeport was changed again to Key West, Florida. Knight Island’s current complement is of two separate crews, known as the Port and Starboard Crew in support of the Coast Guard's new effort to maximize the operational hours of the patrol boats in the Coast Guard's Seventh District by utilizing a dual-crew manning concept.

Typical patrols in Key West, Florida’s area of operations involve search and rescue, alien migrant interdiction operations, fisheries law enforcement, counter narcotics operations, and homeland security.

Knight Island's main patrol area is the Florida Straits. She often interdicts illegal migrants from go-fast vessels and homebuilt rustica rafts from Cuba. In the past two years, Knight Island has cared for over 1000 illegal migrants on her decks and conducted numerous politically sensitive repatriations to Cabanas, Cuba.

En enero de 2010, el Knight Island fue trasladado a Bayou La Batre, Alabama, para someterse a un extenso programa de mantenimiento en dique seco con un costo de $750,000. Durante este período, empleados locales de Master Marine Inc. y la tripulación del buque realizarán importantes trabajos. Algunos de estos trabajos incluyen: conservación y pintura del casco y la sentina, reemplazo del motor principal y el generador, inspecciones, limpiezas y conservación de numerosos tanques, y pintura de superficies interiores y exteriores. Este mantenimiento en dique seco contribuirá a que el Knight Island siga siendo un activo valioso para la Guardia Costera de los Estados Unidos.

En febrero de 2012, el Instituto Naval de los Estados Unidos informó que el Knight Island había recibido el Premio de la Fundación de la Guardia Costera del Séptimo Distrito por un caso particularmente volátil al este de Riviera, Florida , en el que los miembros de su tripulación se adaptaron de la persecución policial a la búsqueda y el rescate . ^{[ 1 ]}