Kojima, PL 21, a 377′ loa Japan Coast Guard vessel is training where?

New York?  Actually, she’s cruising around the world for this training.  Click here.  Charles D. McAllister assists with departure.

She heads for sea after a week or so in the sixth boro.

Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, is home to the Japan Coast Guard Academy.

A loud horn blast and down the Buttermilk Channel they went.

Click here for general info about the Japan Coast Guard, founded in 1948.  It makes me wonder about things like . . . who ran the lighthouses there before 1948?  Were there surfmen?  How long have women served in the JCG and what percentage of personnel do they make up?  What would happen if PL 21 and Steve Irwin cross paths in the Mediterranean?    Click here for JCG v. Chinese survey vessels face-off.

All fotos yesterday by Will Van Dorp.