U.S. Coast Guard Stripe on ships

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[jfail]

This has come up in a previous post but I thought I would expand on developments.

The U.S. Coast Guard stripe and shield on the 378 foot and 87 foot cutters in SSE is grossly inaccurate.  Since I am retired from the U.S. Coast Guard and have many years of sea duty under my belt as a Chief Quartermaster (Navigation, signalling, administration) I just could not handle how inaccurate the stripe and shield are in SSE.  In inquiring about it, I have been told by others on the SSE forums and by VSTEP directly that VSTEP had tried to contact the U.S. Coast Guard about using the stripe and shield on the 378 and 87 foot cutters and that the U.S. Coast Guard had ignored them.

I became curious about if the stripe and shield were in the public domain or not and could be used by anyone.  I contacted the U.S. Coast Guard legal affairs division in Washington D.C. this morning about that.  A lawyer for the Coast Guard told me that the stripe and shield is NOT in the public domain.  However, the Coast Guard is very active in allowing use of the stripe and shield under written permission and is very liberal about it.  I was provided with a phone number at Coast Guard headquarters of a person who directly handles these issues.  I contacted that person and she assured me that the Coast Guard is very interested in working with VSTEP to allow use of the stripe and shield.  She got on the SSE home page and was appalled at the appearance of the stripe and shield on the cutters.  She said she would take direct steps to communicate with VSTEP about allowing them to use the actual stripe and shield. 

Hopefully if this works out VSTEP will modify SSE to include the correct markings.  It would also be nice if VSTEP changed some other things such as the COAST GUARD on the side of the vessels should say U.S. COAST GUARD.  The hull number of one of the actual cutters should be used such as 715 for the HAMILTON, 725 for the JARVIS.  The ships name matching the hull number should be on the stern of the vessel instead of COAST GUARD.

The 87 foot cutter correctly has COD on the stern but to my knowledge there is no 87 footer named COD.  How about BONITO with 87341 on the hull number or WAHOO 87345?

I hope someone at VSTEP is reading this so that I can give them a contact name, address, phone, email address etc. to contact the person at Coast Guard headquarters that handles these licensing issues.  I am also sending this information directly to VSTEP in hopes of getting a response from them and getting this organized.

[Denis]

Hi jfail,

nice effort indeed

Just a personnal opinion : I'm not sure adding "US" in front of the "COAST GUARD" marking would be a great idea. It would then be too much real, and it would become a non-sense if those ships were sailing around non US ports - the majority of ports in SSE...

A generic "COAST GUARD" mention has my preference, as you can imagine it can be coast guards from any country, available in the game.

[Wipedout]

Actually I think you would be surprised at how many foreign ports the US Coast Guard ships visits annually

But maybe we can at least have accurate US Coast Guard ships in the Shipyard sometime soon.

Jfail - first thank you for your efforts to try and improve SSE and for your service to the Coast Guard and country.

My 13 yr old has set his sights on the COast Guard Academy when he graduates - a long shot but an admirable goal I support 100 %

Robert

[Denis]

Visiting ports, and operating under juridiction, are two different things ...

Anyway, as I said, that was just a personal opinion 

[metman]

Notice that there is no comment from USCG HQ about why they never responded to VSTEPs original request!!!  Hopefully the correct stripes/badge will be included on the forthcoming new patch.........!!!!

Metman

[danny]

this is just a thought,
but hasn't this got something to do with copyright, and the fact that Vstep tries to remain impartial, so not supporting a single entity (if you get were i'm coming from)

[jfail]

Notice that there is no comment from USCG HQ about why they never responded to VSTEPs original request!!!  Hopefully the correct stripes/badge will be included on the forthcoming new patch.........!!!!

Metman

Actually I did ask Ms. Santiago about that very issue.  She assured me that she had no knowledge whatsoever about VSTEP ever trying to contact them.  The Coast Guard seems to be very proactive about licensing the stripe/shield so I have no reason to doubt her.  I am not blaming VSTEP in this issue whatsoever, maybe they just did not get to the right person, division etc. and it was just "lost in space"

Wipedout:

Thanks for your very nice comments.  Yes, the Coast Guard Academy is very difficult to get into in that they use competitive examinations for entrance rather than political appointments.

On the issue of U.S. COAST GUARD in other ports,  U.S. Coast Guard vessels actively call in European, African and Asian ports as well as many other countries for training of other Countries Coast Guard etc. .  My point is exactly that this is a United States Coast Guard vessel (no other country has ships exactly like the 378 foot cutter) and we proudly fly our flag where ever we go.  Of course a French ship would proudly fly its Countries flag from one of it's vessels entering New York Harbor would it not?

[Denis]

I agree with Danny,

I think the point is to avoid any flag pride, and the excesses that could result !

At this time, no ship fly any country flag (although each modeled ship is a replica from an existing ship), and I suppose it's by purpose.

[jibemorel]

I think it would be great to have both skins, so basically the generic & real cutters coming along, then up to the mission designer to decide which one he wants to use.

[jfail]

An absolutely great idea!

[G8tr]

The one reason I am excited to get SSE is because of the Protector. As an ex-Navy Quartermaster (USS Lexington, long time ago), I have also worked for the Navy since 1974 (as a civilian) developing simulators and training for the fleet. It was my privilege to develop some of the first Protector Class training materials used to introduce the 87 Cutter into the USCG fleet. As such I spent a great deal of time on over a dozen of them throughout a four-year period. The 87 is a great craft (based on a dutch design) that can do many missions. She handles like a dream, a very powerful dream. Embarking and debarking in the RHI boat from the aft well is almost a like Disney ride. I have pictures and the like, but my comment here is that keeping the game "nation neutral" to the casual observer is not a bad idea. No distractions for an international audience, yet with the ability to enjoy what many nations have to offer. For the pros I've seen on this forum, everyone knows where the ships/boats are from. That's OK. In the meantime, I'm waiting for the patches, then I'll buy SSE, and finally have my own 87!   

[G8tr]

I forgot... change the stripes and shield though. 

[cpt.nordstrand]

the cutte is actually a real us. coast guard ship