Jack Painter wrote:
Also, the USCG HC-130's do not monitor
marine band SSB either, although both the ANG and all USCG a/c are capable
of any HF comms that a distressed vessel needed to communicate with.

The USAF HC 130s do monitor VHF ch 16 more than you might think. If they are
doing exercises off the coast and dropping PJs or flares they often listen to
be sure nobody mistakes it for a distress situation. That led to a miraculous
rescue in the late 70s off Pt Reyes CA. A 129th ARS HC 130 on a training flight
(call sign King 81) picked up a desperate very short VHF mayday call from the
fishing vessel Last One that had literally broken apart in heavy seas rounding
Pt Reyes. It was getting dark and chances of finding the crew (no life raft, no
life jackets, no EPIRB everything happened too quick) was appraoching zero as
the sun set. The Herc found the crew in the water and dropped a pair of rafts
way upwind connected by a long line. The crew managed to grab the line as the
rafts drifted downwind on either side of them. In 54 degree water they would
have soon been dead not for the vigilance and skill of the ANG plane crew. The
HC 130 then dropped flares from fairly high up many miles upwind (it was
screaming NW wind) and the flares drifted right over the rafts at low altitude
allowing a USCG helo to locate and lift the survivors long after nightfall. The
aircraft commander was Ted Shindler, a real pro in my book.