BALTIMORE, Md. — Nearly 300 Coast Guard personnel mobilized from USCG Base Portsmouth, Va. early Thursday and vowed to "valiantly defend" Baltimore's Inner Harbor Hard Rock Cafe from rioters, the service said in a news release.

A fleet of Port Security and Coastal Patrol Boats received orders to surround the restaurant, each equipped with ARMA-100 Rapid-Fire Beanbag Guns and holding tanks full of pepper spray.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who has already issued a curfew for city residents and called in the National Guard, felt the move was completely unnecessary.