‘Shark and Awe’ for Coast Guard crew during a swim break

The crew of a U.S. Coast Guard cutter had an unwelcome visitor during a short break while on operations in the Pacific.

A shark.

The crew of the USCG Cutter Kimball had not been off the ship for weeks Aug. 21 when the skipper authorized a swim call.

“The weather was perfect and we were a ’zillion’ miles from land,” the crew reported on the ship’s Facebook page.

About 30-40 members of the crew jumped into the water when someone on the ship’s flight deck spotted a 6-to-8-foot long shark swimming towards the group. It was like something from a Hollywood movie, the crew noted on the Facebook page.

Petty Officer 1st Class Samuel Cintron was on “shark watch” and fired at it to protect the swimmers.

“The shark would wave off with each burst but kept coming back toward our shipmates,” the crew said.

The swimmers all made it back aboard. The only injury was a crewmember who had a small cut on his knee when he climbed onto the ship, officials said.

The shark, believed to be a Mako or Thresher, eventually swam away. It did not appear to have been injured, officials said.

According to their Facebook page, the crew had two requests for a movie that night: “Jaws” and “Sharknado.”