
Red Crew
Fighting the War on Drugs with Reagan's Coast Guard
Jim Howe(Author)
Naval Institute Press
Will be published approx. on 2. August 2018
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-1-68247-301-6 (ISBN)
Description
Red Crew is a first-hand account of Coast Guard anti-smuggling operations during the early years of the nation's war on drugs. The narrator describes his experience as the Executive Officer - second in command - of a specialized drug-hunting crew that sailed in state-of-the-art ""surface effect ships,"" a small flotilla of high-speed, exotic vessels pressed into the drug war on short notice.
In the early 1980s, South Florida and the Caribbean were awash in drugs, with hundreds of smuggling organizations bringing huge loads of marijuana, and later cocaine, into the United States. To fight this epidemic, the Reagan administration led a massive effort to disrupt shore-side gangs while bolstering interdiction activity at sea. Several large cutters were moved from northern homeports to Florida, older Navy ships were transferred to the Coast Guard, and three surface effect ships, which had been designed as oil rig supply boats, were purchased, converted, and commissioned into the Coast Guard fleet. To increase the number of days at sea for each SES, a ""multi-crewing"" concept was employed, with four teams of sixteen sailors - the Red, Blue, Green and Gold Crews - rotating among the three hulls.
Red Crew opens to a harrowing scene, with the SES crew fighting storm winds and massive waves in a desperate attempt to save a distressed vessel and its crew. The narrator then flashes back to the early days of Red Crew, as sixteen strangers came together to form a closely-knit team, and follows their exploits on patrols throughout the Caribbean. There are surprises around every corner, as the Red Crew seeks drug-packed hidden compartments aboard vessels large and small; chases ultra-fast speed boats through dangerous shallows; has a run-in with a heavily armed foreign gunboat; encounters grossly overloaded migrant vessels; and tries to keep their high-tech cutters - built to civilian standards and not suited for the rough-and-tumble of non-stop Coast Guard operations - fully in the game.
Through its first-person narrative, Red Crew offers a rare glimpse into the day-to-day pressures, challenges, failures, and successes of Coast Guard cuttermen as they carried out complex and dangerous missions. Red Crew provides a unique historical view of the early days in the Coast Guard's war on drugs, and is the only book-lengthhistory of the diminutive, one-of-a-kind surface effect ship fleet. Packed with action and adventure, Red Crew shines a light on a unique and exciting chapter in the CoastGuard's vaunted service to America.
In the early 1980s, South Florida and the Caribbean were awash in drugs, with hundreds of smuggling organizations bringing huge loads of marijuana, and later cocaine, into the United States. To fight this epidemic, the Reagan administration led a massive effort to disrupt shore-side gangs while bolstering interdiction activity at sea. Several large cutters were moved from northern homeports to Florida, older Navy ships were transferred to the Coast Guard, and three surface effect ships, which had been designed as oil rig supply boats, were purchased, converted, and commissioned into the Coast Guard fleet. To increase the number of days at sea for each SES, a ""multi-crewing"" concept was employed, with four teams of sixteen sailors - the Red, Blue, Green and Gold Crews - rotating among the three hulls.
Red Crew opens to a harrowing scene, with the SES crew fighting storm winds and massive waves in a desperate attempt to save a distressed vessel and its crew. The narrator then flashes back to the early days of Red Crew, as sixteen strangers came together to form a closely-knit team, and follows their exploits on patrols throughout the Caribbean. There are surprises around every corner, as the Red Crew seeks drug-packed hidden compartments aboard vessels large and small; chases ultra-fast speed boats through dangerous shallows; has a run-in with a heavily armed foreign gunboat; encounters grossly overloaded migrant vessels; and tries to keep their high-tech cutters - built to civilian standards and not suited for the rough-and-tumble of non-stop Coast Guard operations - fully in the game.
Through its first-person narrative, Red Crew offers a rare glimpse into the day-to-day pressures, challenges, failures, and successes of Coast Guard cuttermen as they carried out complex and dangerous missions. Red Crew provides a unique historical view of the early days in the Coast Guard's war on drugs, and is the only book-lengthhistory of the diminutive, one-of-a-kind surface effect ship fleet. Packed with action and adventure, Red Crew shines a light on a unique and exciting chapter in the CoastGuard's vaunted service to America.
Reviews / Votes
"Howe's book is a fast-paced account of true Coast Guard heroes that would, no doubt, make Reagan proud. Red Crew puts the reader in the middle of missions as nerve-racking and diverse as rescuing migrants who are literally at death's door [and] outwitting sophisticated and extremely well-funded smugglers - all told by a sailor who combines the technical expertise of Tom Clancy with Pat Conroy's mastery of the English Language." - Military Officer, September 2018"Red Crew's text is supported by some great photos and nice charts.... The book is a pleasure to read and an enlightening look at Coast Guard drug interdiction operations during the early 1980s." - The Journal of America's Military Past
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Annopolis
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
20 b-w photos, 2 maps
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
658 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-68247-301-6 (9781682473016)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
06/2018
Naval Institute Press
€23.49
Available for download
Person
Capt. Jim Howe served 27 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, eleven at sea and five in command. A graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, he has earned master's degrees in government, strategic studies, and space studies. He is married with five children and lives in Virginia. Captain Howe works in the nuclear power industry.