Erie native oversaw 10,000-mile United States Coast Guard voyage from Guam to Baltimore

Encountering 15-foot seas and a Category 4 hurricane were just a couple of the challenges Erie native Linden Dahlkemper faced as commander of the United States Coast Guard Cutter Sequoia.

Dahlkemper, 37, took command of Sequoia — a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender based in Apra Harbor at Naval Base Guam — in July.

"I’ve had a previous assignment on another type of ship that Sequoia is in a more junior position, and so this was kind of the next step in the progression of my career as a boat officer in the coast guard," she said.

For two months out of the five Dahlkemper commanded the Sequoia, she oversaw a transit of more than 10,000 miles that took her and her crew nearly halfway around the world, from Guam to Baltimore, Maryland. Dahlkemper said Sequoia had to be transported to Baltimore for the ship's mid-life maintenance.

"It’s a significant challenge, not only for the transit over, but to take a cutter out of service and then reconstitute it afterward," Dahlkemper said. "It’s a significant amount of work for the crew and a little bit of a challenge ... but I knew I was ready to take on that challenge."

Dahlkemper, who attended Villa Maria Academy in Erie, is the daughter of Kathy Dahlkemper, former Erie County executive, and Dan Dahlkemper, former owner of Dahlkemper Landscape Architects and Contractors.

Overseeing routine maintenance and reassignment

After leaving Guam, Sequoia stopped by ports in Hawaii and on the west coast of Mexico and traveled through Central America and into the Caribbean.

"On the way, it was mostly transit, but we did significant crew training to make sure we were ready for a transit of that distance, as well as ready to come back out of the yards once that maintenance ability is completed," Dahlkemper said.

Dahlkemper had commanded a similar ship, CGC James Rankin.

"The James Rankin is similar but a little smaller, and that ship was based in Baltimore, Maryland, so our area of responsibility was mostly the Chesapeake Bay," she said. "Whereas I just performed a 10,000-mile trip crossing the ocean, dodging hurricanes and dealing with everything in between."

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Dahlkemper's ability to oversee Sequoia's journey was just another reason why her parents are impressed by their daughter's leadership in the Coast Guard, Dan Dahlkemper said.

"When hearing about the 10,000-mile journey from Guam to Baltimore, we questioned her about the responsibility," Dan Dahlkemper said. "Linden replied confidently that it's a matter of preparation.

"I admire her approach to her leadership. A confident way of looking at her mission as a USCG officer. And I'm proud of her commitment and service to our country."

This coming summer, when Sequoia's maintenance is expected to be complete, Dahlkemper and her crew won't sail the familiar vessel back to Guam. Instead, they'll take back the CGC Hickory, a similar ship that's homeport used to be Homer, Alaska.

"I’m still a commanding officer of Sequoia and its crew, and we’re still out here (Guam), but Sequoia will be taking over for the Great Lakes," Dahlkemper said. "So, someday in the future, people in Erie can see the Sequoia coming into port."

Sequoia will take the place of CGC Hollyhock in Port Huron, Michigan.

What will the Sequoia crew do without its cutter?

Dahlkemper and her crew will be without a cutter until summer but will continue to perform their everyday operations.

"Even without the ship, we don’t only maintain the buoys and the harbor, but we’re also responsible for all the lights, ranges, day boards and other aids to navigation that are permanent fixtures," Dahlkemper said.

Dahlkemper said the absence of a cutter also provides her crew time to work on projects that have been delayed while they have been out at sea.

A common duty is performing assessments of the different harbors they service, Dahlkemper said. She and her crew will make sure they’re lighted correctly, as well as check if there are dangerous areas that aren’t marked and need to be fixed or corrected.

"We’ll be doing some analysis of those harbors up in not only Guam, but Saipan, Tinian and Rota," Dahlkemper said. "Those analyses take a lot of time. We also do interviews and surveys with our local maritime commercial partners to understand their needs and how our work impacts them, so this is the time to do that."

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Beyond her routine responsibilities, Dahlkemper said she'll also conduct a lot of crew training to prepare personnel who will eventually support other cutters.

Dahlkemper makes Guam home for her and her family

Although Dahlkemper's time with Sequoia was short, her tour in Guam will last three years.

She isn't complaining.

"Guam is a beautiful tropical island and the water is so clear, probably the clearest of any place I’ve ever been," she said. "I grew up in Erie going to the beaches, so I’ve loved going to the beaches and swimming, and that’s what we do a lot of the time."

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Dahlkemper's husband, Mark Vingua, and her almost 2-year-old son, Clarke Vingua, will be soaking up Guam's 85-degree days with her. Before moving to Guam, Dahlkemper's family lived in Hanoi, Vietnam, where Dahlkemper managed maritime security cooperation programs in the Office of Defense Cooperation Vietnam.

"It was new for him (Clarke) to come to Guam and spend a lot of time in the car," Dahlkemper said. "In Vietnam, we would walk a lot more or take public transportation. The first time we went to a big grocery store I think he found it really fun because he’d never been in a store that big before.

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"I think he’s been enjoying it and he loves the water, so that’s been the best part of it. Just being able to take him to the beach. For a little kid, it’s just a fun place to be."

Baylee DeMuth can be reached at 814-450-3425 or bdemuth@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter@BayleeDeMuth.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie native in U.S. Coast Guard commanded Sequoia transit to Baltimore