TWO US Navy patrol boats that were active for more than 30 years in the Gulf have been decommissioned.
Coast Guard Island-class patrol boats Aquidneck and Adak supported operations in the Iraq war in 2003 and conducted several maritime interdictions over the past three decades in regional waters.
They have been replaced by the Sentinel-class cutters, Charles Moulthrope and Robert Goldman, which started their duties last month under the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet.
“Sentinel-class fast response cutters are designed to patrol coastal regions and perform expeditionary operations,” Fifth Fleet deputy public affairs officer Lieutenant Commander Pete Pagano told the GDN.
“They feature advanced command, control and communications systems and improved surveillance and reconnaissance equipment.
“They are also capable of launching and recovering small boats from the stern.”
The Navy official also revealed plans to introduce more fast response cutters.
“Charles Moulthrope and Robert Goldman are two of six fast response cutters planned to be attached to Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) forward deployed to Bahrain with Combined Task Force (CTF) 55,” said Lieutenant Commander Pagano.
The current remaining Island-class cutters assigned to the Fifth Fleet – Monomoy, Maui, Baranof and Wrangell – will be replaced in the next two years.
The new fast response cutters are planned for arrival in 2022 and 2023.
The Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain held a special ceremony for the two decommissioned ships attended by US Coast Guard Atlantic Commander, Vice Admiral Steven Poulin, and the respective crews.
“Thank you, to every single crew member who has ever served aboard Aquidneck and Adak, from the plank owners to the final crew and all the crews in between,” said Vice Adm Poulin.
Aquidneck’s name comes from Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island and Adak’s name oirginates from Adak Island in Alaska.
Adak lays claim to the third largest cocaine bust in US Coast Guard history when the crew stopped a fishing vessel off the coast of New York in 1991, and found 4,886kg of cocaine worth more than $861 million at the time.
In 1994, she took part in Operation Able Vigil, an effort which rescued more than 29,000 Cuban migrants from unsafe rafts, making it the largest Coast Guard-led naval operation since the Second World War. Adak was also one of the first vessels to arrive in New York Harbour on September 11, 2001 and help co-ordinate the evacuation of more than 500,000 people.
The two patrol boats received orders in 2002 to join the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and for the next 18 years the two cutters remained forward deployed under PATFORSWA, assigned to CTF-55.
The decommissioned boats are slated to be sold to Indonesia.
However, a non-profit group, the US Coast Guard Cutter Adak Historical Society, has petitioned the US government to donate the vessel to be used as a museum. “We have a plan to turn the Adak into a museum to showcase Coast Guard history and to serve as a 9/11 memorial,” states a Change.org petition that has garnered more than 11,700 signatures.
“Additionally, the ship will serve as an education platform for youth in the Tampa Bay (Florida) area.
“It will also make trips each year to various port cities around the US to showcase Coast Guard history.”
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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