Three-year commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaking tug Biscayne Bay Lieutenant Cary Godwin is heading to his next assignment in New London, Connecticut. A Change of Command ceremony will take place Friday, July 10, when Lt. Matthew Walter will become the vessel's 14th commander. Also leaving the ship will be Lt. Godwin's dog, Boomer, who has traveled with the 19-man crew since he was six weeks old. In about two weeks, the Coast Guard cutter Biscayne Bay and its 19-man crew will have a new commanding officer. Lieutenant Cary Godwin will turn over the ship to Lt. Matthew Walter in a ceremony Friday, July 10,

"It's been a lot of fun," said Lt. Godwin of his three-year stint on the icebreaking tug. "I've loved every second of it, that's for sure. We've got a great crew and we've had some great times."

Lt. Godwin is the 13th commander of the 140-foot vessel that was commissioned December 8, 1979. He became commander in July 2006.

"Personal character is important to me," he said. "I remember my mom and dad telling me, 'Just tell the truth the first time. You might get in trouble, but it's not going to be as bad.'"

Doing the right thing, being honest, working as a team, and giving 100% effort in all tasks is required, he tells each new member. The ship, which is at the end of her service life, requires a lot of work, he said.

"We don't have the luxury of somebody not pulling their weight," said Lt. Godwin, "so it is vitally important that the guys give me 100% effort."

As commander, he said, he has faced two challenges as a leader. Early on, he sought knowledge of when not to interfere, even when a crew member was about to make a mistake. When he first took command, he had to learn to know when to step in and take over a situation that was going well. People are always learning, and for people to learn, they have to make mistakes, he said. As commander, he has to be able to let them make some mistakes, he said.

Becoming complacent in the task is the second challenge he has faced as commander. During the end of icebreaking season, he said, it is easy to become used to the daily dangers of icebreaking and become less guarded.

"We operate on the limits. We are at the edge of the channels, close to rocks and shoals as we can get safely, close to other vessels as we can possible get safely, all the time operating at full power because it's the only way we're going to get through some of that ice."

To avoid complacency and to remain focused, one of the things Lt. Godwin does is to leave himself reminder notes each day.

"What we're doing is very dangerous and at any time we could make a wrong turn and end up on the rocks or make a wrong turn and collide with a ship," he said.

Lt. Godwin, 37, is married to Nicole, and the couple have a sixyear old son, Caleb. The Shreveport, Louisiana, native enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1991. He steadily advanced and was appointed to Officer Candidate School in 2000. He has five achievement medals, two good conduct medals, permanent cutterman insignia, and other service awards.

He has spent the last five years in the Great Lakes and someday, the couple plans to retire here. If his assignments go as he plans, Lt. Godwin will be back on a Great Lakes ship within three years.

For now, his next assignment will take him to New London, Connecticut, where he will serve as assistant school chief for the Coast Guard Command and Operations School, which is part of the Leadership and Development Center. He will be instructing prospective commanding officers and executive officers who are going back to sea after serving on shore. He will teach them about bridge management and ship leadership.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "It was high on my list."

In his new job, he is sure there will be some adjustment to big city life, having just returned from training for his new Connecticut assignment.

"I don't know what I'm going to do in the city," he said. "I'm certain that I saw more cars and more traffic lights than I have seen in the last five years, and that was just in a week and a half."

His black lab, Boomer, Biscayne Bay's mascot for two years, will have to adjust, too.

As a puppy, Boomer was carried up and down the steel ladders, but today, he almost flies along the metal rungs as he maneuvers about the ship. When the vessel is on an icebreaking mission, Boomer waits for the opportunity eat the ice chunks on the deck. If inside, he stands guard at the ice machine, waiting for a crew member to hand him a cold treat. In Connecticut, Boomer probably will spend most days at home, said Lt. Godwin.

Lt. Godwin's first winter aboard Biscayne Bay was considered mild in this area, so the ship was sent to Lake Superior to break open ports in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Duluth, Minnesota.

His second winter, however, was different.

The 2007/2008 winter was a tough season, he recalled. Even into March, the weather remained cold. The fleet already was down one icebreaker, leaving only three ships to handle the region, including Biscayne Bay, Katmai Bay from Sault Ste. Marie, and Mackinaw from Cheboygan.

"We did some pretty extreme icebreaking in the St. Marys River," he recalled.

Crews worked 12- to 15-hour days and were out breaking ice three days straight, returning to port briefly for fuel and supplies. From February 15 to April 23, the vessel was in port a total of three days.

"That was pretty intense for us," he remembered.

This year was marked by the heaviest onset of early ice in the last 15 to 20 years on the Great Lakes. Normally, escort icebreaking begins in February, however, this year Biscayne Bay was breaking ice shortly after Christmas.

One freighter got stuck at the rock-cut section of the St. Marys River, he said. It is a very narrow area of the river. Two days of icebreaking by the Biscayne Bay finally freed the freighter.

"When we break them free, we get as close as we can beside them," he said, "sometimes a mere five to 10 feet away. We try to loosen the ice along the side of their hull and hopefully produce a little friction so they can keep going. It took two straight days of going back and forth, around them, as close as we could get, to get that vessel moving."

This year, by the time the Soo Locks closed for the season January 15, said Lt. Godwin, there was more than 20 feet of brash ice at the rock cut portion of the river.

When spring arrived, temperatures warmed quickly and Biscayne Bay was sent to Thunder Bay, he said, which had extreme ice conditions. Backing and ramming for four days, the cutter worked to establish a track line leading to the port.

Thunder Bay is one of three main ports in Lake Superior, along with Duluth, Minnesota, and Marquette. For ice breaking, the American and Canadian coast guards have set three connecting waterways as priorities, which include the Straits of Mackinac, the St. Marys River along with Whitefish Bay, and the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, said Lt. Godwin. Once the waterways are open, the cutters focus on the main ports.

"It's a true team effort between the Canadians and us," said Lt. Godwin.

He recalls some accomplishments of the crew as highlights of his service here.

In the last year, the Biscayne Bay was in charge of monitoring sailors in the Port Huron-to- Mackinac yacht race. The first night of the race, the crew rescued a sailor who fell from the mast of his vessel. The seas were rough, with four- to six-foot waves and 15-knot winds, he said, yet each crew member performed flawlessly.

Three of the crew members received awards for their work during the rescue.

Being on a ship, said Lt. Godwin, is the best job in the Coast Guard.

"I've been in the Coast Guard now for nearly 18 years," he said. "On board ship more than anywhere else, you are constantly teaching, instructing, and training the crew on so many facets of what it takes to be on a cutter. We do so many missions and we have to train for so many different scenarios and emergencies."

Training includes fighting fires, performing search and rescues, icebreaking, law enforcement, and homeland security. Coast Guard ships experience about a 30% change in personnel each year, so training is ongoing.

Hearing of the achievements of the crew members after they leave the ship has been the most rewarding experience, said Lt. Godwin. Many past sailors contact him and say how much they appreciated being on the Biscayne Bay.

"They want to say what a great time they had, how good the unit was, how much they learned, and how they can't wait to get back to another cutter. That, to me, is wonderful. To me that's the best. We all have fun doing it, that's for sure."