On November 24, 2025, the CMTS Executive Secretariat staff were cheerfully welcomed to the USCG Yard (Yard) in Baltimore, Maryland for a tour and discussions. Captain Emily Tharp, Yard CO, and Mr. John Bragaw, Yard Production Manager, explained some history of the Yard, which began in 1899 for ship building, repair, and renovations. Today the Yard is mostly utilized for vessel renovations and component overhaul. The Yard is undergoing a shipyard infrastructure optimization plan (SIOP) which will include dredging the access channel from 24 to 28 feet deep, building a floating dry dock, fixing the shoreline, acquiring a new heavy lift crane, electrical upgrades, and more. While touring the Yard, some of the sights seen by the CMTS staff included the T. Roland Lewis Shiplift, barge cranes, a harbor tug, a patrol vessel, an ATON vessel, vessel repainting, an antique cast iron 5000 lbs. weight from the U.S. Lighthouse Service, the Francis Scott Key Memorial Buoy, a WWII-era plate roll machine, and multiple buildings including the history room and sheet metal shop. The buoy, which sits between the Francis Scott Key Bridge and Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor, memorializes the location where Key observed the 1814 British bombardment of Fort McHenry and felt inspired to compose the national anthem. The buoy gets removed each winter and stored at the Yard.
