USCGC Seneca (WMEC-906) is a United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 medium endurance cutter. Her keel was laid on September 16, 1982 at Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated, Middletown, Rhode Island

Middletown, Rhode Island

Middletown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,150 at the 2010 census. It lies to the south of Portsmouth and to the north of Newport on Aquidneck Island, hence the name "Middletown."-Geography:...

. She was launched June 16, 1984 and commissioned active August 4, 1986 and formally commissioned May 9, 1987. Her namesake is the first revenue cutter USCGC Seneca

USCGC Seneca (1908)

USCGC Seneca had an interesting and varied history. Fighting submarines in World War I, making the International Ice Patrol, capturing rum runners in the Prohibition era, saving lives from Greenland to Puerto Rico, from Gibraltar to the Gulf of Mexico, participating in colorful ceremonies and...

 active from 1908-1936.http://www.uscg.mil/d1/units/cgcseneca/about%20seneca.htm

Seneca is the sixth of thirteen 270' Famous Class Cutters designed to take the Coast Guard past the year 2000. The advanced technology used in her construction gives her the potential of being an effective Search and rescue

Search and rescue

Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...

(SAR) and Maritime Law Enforcement (MLE) platform. Advanced technology is only one way to describe Seneca's primary operating computer system, SCCS (Shipboard Command and Control System). SCCS allows operators to view or act upon information from any of the ship's sensors, radar sources, or radio transceivers. Also included in SCCS is a Low Level Light TV (LLLTV) camera and an optical sight. Images from both the LLLTV and optical sight, can be displayed to any of SCCS position or the ship's entertainment system.

The Seneca serves as a platform for Operation New Frontier; the Coast Guard's operation to employ armed helicopters and non-lethal use of force technology to stop drug laden go- fast vessels. Seneca's actions contributed to the one hundred percent interdiction rate during Operation New Frontier, making it the most successful counter-drug operation in Coast Guard history. Six drug smuggling go-fasts were stopped, 4,475 pounds of cocaine and 11,710 pounds of marijuana with a street value of over 125 million dollars seized, and 18 drug trafficking suspects arrested. The success of Operation New Frontier, marked a new era in Coast Guard law enforcement and maritime security efforts, and achieved a principal milestone in the Coast Guard's successful execution of the President's National Drug Control Strategy.http://www.uscg.mil/d1/units/cgcseneca/about%20seneca.htm

External links

• Seneca home page