It's common knowledge that the U.S. Coast Guard has a base of operation on Sandy Hook.

It's also relatively commonplace to see a Coast Guard boat of some sort motoring in local waters. But it's not often that you can catch a glimpse of one close up. And it's not often that people know which craft is which and what purpose each serves.

Recently, one of the smaller Coast Guard boats was motoring around the Shrewsbury River by the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge on the Sea Bright side of the channel.

Close enough to nearly touch, Patch caught a couple of photos of the craft and found out what it is and what it's for.

The boat in the photo above is what is referred to as 25-foot response boat, used for search and rescue, basic law enforcement and homeland security, according to the Coast Guard Web site

According to the description on the site, the boat usually has a crew of two and can travel at more than 45 knots and weighs about 9,200 pounds with fuel. The one aboveappeared to be patrolling the Shrewsbury at a very low speed on no particular mission.