Coast Guard working on unique project in Charleston Harbor

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - On Tuesday morning, the Coast Guard began a unique project in the Charleston Harbor that only happens every few decades.

The crew took out the Coast Guard Cutter Anvil to repair a range which is like a road sign in the water that helps container ships safely navigate.

“As the ships get larger and the channels get deeper, that margin of error is decreasing and we need to keep these things up to date,” said Capt. John Reed, the sector commander of the Coast Guard Sector Charleston.

The range crews replaced was about 30 years old and was completely taken down on Tuesday.

“This part of the mission is probably one of the least understood,” Reed said. “I consider it a floating construction site. What you see on the side of the road, putting road signs up, think of that on the water and that’s what we have here.”

There were about 15 men doing several different jobs on the Cutter Anvil on Tuesday.

One of those was E3 firefighter with the Coast Guard Mason Troiano.

“I’m in the engineering department. So right now I’m the EOW,” Troiano said on Tuesday. “Our overall mission is to make sure that container ships coming in and out of port are getting through safely.”

Troiano said the job is important but it can get difficult when it’s freezing cold or blazing hot.

“It’s physically demanding,” he added.

At the end of the day, it’s a job he loves as he follows in his father and grandfather’s military footsteps.

“It’s like a small family,” Troiano said about the crew. “We’re real close. We take care of each other. It means a lot to me.”

“I’m in the Coast Guard because I love the mission,” Reed added. “This is only one small part of the overall Coast Guard mission."

The Coast Guard will put in a new range starting on Wednesday, but the process to rebuild takes a few days.

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