The Coast Guard (including its heritage services) have employed boats since the beginning. Boats are just as important, if not more so, than ever.America’s first “boat force” came about in 1878, with the creation of the United States Life Saving Service (USLSS), whose boat crews rescued mariners in distress along the nation’s coast line.
For the U.S. Navy, boats perform missions from mundane maintenance chores such as hull scraping and cleaning overboard discharges to clandestine special forces insertion and extraction. Some boats are about as basic as you can imagine, and some are equipped with sophisticated combat systems and weapons.
HII hosted commencement exercises on March 29, celebrating 77 graduates of the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School. Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas delivered the keynote commencement address.“The technical skills you acquired here will serve as a foundation upon which you build your career,” Lucas told the graduates.