Coast G u a r d Sets Up N e w N a v i g a t i o n Office

The U.S. Coast Guard has established a new Office of Navigation to provide greater management support for its expanding aids-to-navigation program. Adm.

John B. Hayes, Coast Guard Commandant, ordered the reorganization at Headquarters to improve navigation services to the public and to make more efficient use of personnel, m a t e r i a l s and new technology.

The Navigation Office, under the direction of Rear Adm. Richard A. Bauman, will have overall responsibility for nearly 48,000 lights, buoys, and daybeacons, and 39,000 private aids on U.S. navigable waters. It will oversee an extensive radio navigation network that includes 36 Loran-C transmitters and seven monitoring stations, four Omega stations, and 197 radiobeacons. The new office also will issue bridge permits and enforce laws and regulations regarding their construction and maintenance over U.S.

waterways.

The newly created office assumes the navigation responsibilities previously held by the Coast Guard's Office of Marine Environment and Systems.

The aids-to-navigation program has grown rapidly during the past decade. It now involves about 10,000 military and civilian personnel, and accounts for nearly 25 percent of the Coast Guard's budget. Eighty-five cutters and 66 smaller navigation teams maintain the aids, with additional support from 22 Coast Guard bases, four depots and 11 other facilities.

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