U.S. Coast Guard cutter
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant docked in
Port Canaveral
, Florida in 2008.
USCGC
Vigilant
(WMEC-617)
is a
United States Coast Guard
medium endurance cutter
. She is the twelfth cutter to bear the name
Vigilant
, dating back to 1790 when the original
Vigilant
was built for the
United States Revenue-Marine
. She was commissioned on October 3, 1964, at
Todd Shipyards
in
Houston, Texas
, at a cost of 2.3 million dollars. From 1964 through 1989
Vigilant
was homeported in
New Bedford, Massachusetts
at
Coast Guard Station New Bedford
. In 1989, she underwent an 18-month Major Maintenance Availability in order to modernize her capabilities. In 1990,
Vigilant
moved her homeport to
Port Canaveral, Florida
. In 2006
Vigilant
completed another yard period, updating her with the most modern electronic and engineering equipment available.
Kudirka incident
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On November 23, 1970,
Simonas "Simas" Kudirka
, a Soviet seaman of Lithuanian origin, leapt from the 400-foot (120 m) mother ship
Sovetskaya Litva
, anchored in U.S. waters near
Aquinnah
, Massachusetts, on
Martha's Vineyard
, aboard
Vigilant
, sailing from New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Soviets accused Kudirka of theft of 3,000 rubles from the ship's safe. Ten hours passed. After attempts to get the
U.S. State Department
to provide guidance failed, Rear Admiral
William B. Ellis
, commander of the First Coast Guard District, ordered Commander Ralph E. Eustis to return Kudirka to the Soviets. Commander Eustis refused to subject his own crew to the task and instead permitted a detachment of Soviet seamen to board the
Vigilant
to return Kudirka to the Soviet ship. (The engineering crew had offered to hide Kudirka in the engine air intake shaft which could not be opened while the engines were running but the offer was declined.) This led to a change in asylum policy by the U.S. Coast Guard. Admiral Ellis and his chief of staff were given administrative punishment under Article 15 of the
UCMJ
. Commander Eustis was given a non-punitive
letter of reprimand
and assigned to shore duty.
Subsequent investigations revealed that Kudirka could claim American citizenship through his mother and was allowed to come to the United States in 1974.
A book detailing the incident,
Day of Shame
, by Algis Ruksenas, was published in 1973. The book helped spur further investigations into the incident that eventually led to Kudirka's release by the Soviets. It remains part of the reading curriculum in the
U.S. Coast Guard Academy
.
The incident was portrayed in a 1978 television movie,
The Defection of Simas Kudirka
, with
Alan Arkin
playing Kudirka and
Donald Pleasence
playing the captain of the Soviet ship. In the movie, the USCGC
Decisive
(WMEC 629) played the part of the
Vigilant.
The incident is also portrayed in a 2020 documentary film
The Jump
[1]
directed by
Giedr? ?ickyt?
, with Simonas Kudirka as himself and Ralph E. Eustis as himself.
Notable crew
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References
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External links
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