Station Grand Isle, Louisiana
Coast Guard Station #79
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Location:
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On Grand Isle, midway between Caminada Pass and Barataria Pass and 3 3/4 miles southwest of Barataria Bay Light.
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Date of Conveyance
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1919
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Station Built:
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1919
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Fate:
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Still in operation
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Remarks:
Coast Guard Station Grand Isle was situated on the eastern end of a barrier island which protects the mainland marsh area from erosion by the Gulf of Mexico. The original tract, partly salt marsh, consisting of 24.8 acres, was acquired in 1965. Sand fill to bring the area to 3.5 feet above mean sea level was trucked in from the beach side of the property. This area is naturally replenished by the littoral drift in the Gulf. The beach area now is the site of Grand Isle State Park. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy created a crevasse across the corner of Coast Guard property, pointing out the need for shoreline protection. This was corrected in 1970. The eastern shoreline is now stabilized but on the northern side the Coast Guard had lost about 2 acres to erosion by January 1983.
1919: The first Coast Guard unit in the Grand Isle area was commissioned in 1919 as Barataria Bay Station 214.
1960: The first 82 foot cutter assigned to Grand Isle was United States Coast Guard Cutter POINT YOUNG (WPB 82303) from 1960 to 1965.
1965: USCGC POINT YOUNG was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One, Division 11 and deployed to Vietnam from 1965 to 1970. On March 16, 1979, POINT YOUNG was decommissioned as a Coast Guard cutter and transferred to South Vietnam as HQ 714.
1966: The second 82 foot cutter assigned to Grand Isle was POINT SAL (WPB 82352) commissioned on December 5, 1966 and faithfully served the Grand Isle area for the next 35 years.
1968: The current station of Grand Isle was commissioned on November 1, 1968 as Coast Guard Group Grand Isle which also included a LORAN "A" Station and Rescue Small Boat Station. Coast Guard Group Grand Isle had operational and administrative control of USCGC POINT SAL, home ported and collocated with Group and Station Grand Isle, USCGC POINT LOOKOUT (WPB 82341) home ported in Pascagoula, MS, USCG Station Grand Isle (collocated with Group Grand Isle and POINT SAL), Aids to Navigation Team (ANT) Dulac, LA and ANT Berwick, LA.
1980: The LORAN Station was closed on December 31, 1980.
1987: The Coast Guard made an administrative consolidation of the units in this area and reassigned all units to Coast Guard Group New Orleans. On July 2, 1987, Group Grand Isle was decommissioned leaving only Station Grand Isle and POINT SAL located in Grand Isle.
2001: On May 29, 2001, POINT SAL was decommissioned and transferred to Columbia as part of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 designed to transfer to foreign nations excess boats and cutters that have been decommissioned or otherwise removed from service. The POINT SAL was replaced with an 87-foot cutter STURGEON (WPB 87336) commissioned on September 28, 2001.
Current: Coast Guard Station Grand Isle is currently billeted for 41 active duty personnel (1 commissioned officer and 40 enlisted members) and 4 enlisted reservists. The station operates one 47-foot Motor Life Boat (MLB), one 41-foot Utility Boat (UTB), one 23-foot SAFE boat, and one 18-foot Majek flat boat. The station's primary missions are Search and Rescue, Homeland Security, and Law Enforcement operations. The base encompasses 29 acres and 35,000 square feet of operational and multi-purpose buildings.
Sources:
Station History File, CG Historian’s Office
Dennis L. Noble & Michael S. Raynes. “Register of the Stations and Keepers of the U.S. Life-Saving Service.” Unpublished manuscript, compiled circa 1977, CG Historian’s Office collection.
Ralph Shanks, Wick York & Lisa Woo Shanks. The U.S. Life-Saving Service: Heroes, Rescues and Architecture of the Early Coast Guard. Petaluma, CA: Costaño Books, 1996.
U.S. Treasury Department: Coast Guard. Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers and Cadets and Ships and Stations of the United States Coast Guard, July 1, 1941. Washington, DC: USGPO, 1941.