Coast Guard Pool Party:


Video/Pics: Coast Guardsman shoots at shark from ship as it approaches swimming Guardsmen

I don't even know how to comment on this one...

Just another day underway. The real 'stuff' happens when on liberty ashore!

Good thing those sharks didn't have frikken lasers.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I'm just gonna say, whoever brought that unicorn floatie is my hero.

Our son is Coast Guard. I understand it's common to hold swims mid ocean for recreation. They always post an armed watch to protect against sharks. He was a USCG diver for several years and I asked what they did about sharks. He told me they pretty much ignore them unless they get aggressive. Then, if they got to close they hit them with a tool.

My dad was US Coast Guard. He enlisted in 1949, became a corpsman, was promoted thru the Warrant Officer ranks to W-3, was commissioned as a Lieutenant and retired a Lt. Commander. He served around the world and all across the US. He's got stories you wouldn't believe - weather patrols in the middle of the ocean, witnessing the atomic bomb tests in the Pacific, broadcasting the Voice Of America from Greece across the Iron Curtain, and fishing "in each of the Seven Seas".

In October he will be 92, and I'm still proud of him!

The Coast Guard is a very special service.

Why they swim in shark infested waters is a puzzlement but young men in uniform do lots of odd things. Been there, done that, got some minor fruit salad...

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Come and take it!!

It wasn't uncommon for me to do that sort of thing when I was in the USN.
They would generally have at least one person on shark watch with a M1 back in those days, however I don't recall any shots having to be fired.

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SWHF #595

I wonder how fast a 5.56 bullet slows down after hitting water?

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No baby we aint

After Googling for a few minutes...

According to Mythbusters, supersonic rounds disintegrated in less than 3ft of water. I also found an old DoD paper from 1969/70 that said the effective range of a 55gr 5.56mm round fired into water was about 12in.

I would think someone would be concerned about ricochets off the water and hitting a swimmer.

The shooter looked like he had some height and was shooting downward. I've had lots of ricochets off the pond and the river at lower angles.

I was on the Coral Sea aircraft carrier, but we never saw a Swim Break. Maybe because it was 10 stories up to the deck.


Prescut

I was on the Ranger and neither did we. According to folklore the flight deck was 90 feet above the water. Which raises the question once you're in the water, how do you get out?

Submariner son does it frequently. Then again, the deck on a fast attack is pretty close to the water.

Of course, if something like the OP happened, you'd never hear about it- OPSEC, you know.

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

awesome! thanks for sharing. kenny

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Too good

When we did this my gunners mates used the M14.

Looks like it was a coed swim party.....how times have changed.

Unless there is a naked mermaid handing out gold bars..no way am I jumping into water with sharks and bullets flying.

There are probably no mermaids close to my age and if I grab a Gold Bar it’ll just pull me under.
I stay on deck and shoot at the Sharks!
Hemingway is reported to have shot at Sharks with a Thompson.
He hated it when they came up and ate the Marlins he had hooked.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Once when I was at Guantanamo a couple of guys and myself rented a boat from the exchange and went scuba diving we had a pretty non eventful nice day. Next morning we were pulling out of the bay for gunnery practice and I looked over the side and there was at least a 12 ft hammerhead swimming next to the ship, needless to say I decided scuba diving wasn't going to be in my plans anytime soon...

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SWHF #595

I never saw a Mermaid wearing a swimsuit.