Scene on the Sound: Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast

Photo by Jan Hansen

As a Coast Guard resource, we are deployed anywhere along the western seaboard of North and Central America. Our focus is on enforcing living marine resource laws and regulations, detecting and interdicting drug and migrant smuggling, and counter-narcotic operations.

STEADFAST calls Astoria, Oregon her home when she is not underway. Moored in downtown Astoria, she is located alongside the Columbia River Maritime Museum, one of the finest maritime museums on the West Coast. The city of Astoria is the first permanent U.S. settlement on the Pacific Coast.

STEADFAST takes pride in its successful transits across the "Graveyard of the Pacific" prior to, and after, deployments. The Columbia River Bar, Columbia River, and Pacific Ocean combine to create a hazard to navigation that is known throughout the world. This area is known for its unpredictable and heavy weather year round that has caused thousands of marine vessel wreckages.