She is the first cutter in Coast Guard history to hold this name. Like all ships in the Reliance class of 210-foot medium-endurance cutters, Dauntless is named for an aspirational trait, in this case meaning to "persevere fearlessly." This trait is further reflected in the ship's motto Sin Miedo which, in Spanish, means "Without Fear."[1]
Dauntless was designed for search-and-rescue work. At launch, she had a small, high superstructure with 360-degree visibility and a correspondingly large helicopter pad aft without a hanger. To improve the view from the bridge and to ease helicopter operations, her engine exhaust was not routed through a stack but out through the transom. In practice, waves washing into the exhaust openings in heavy weather proved troublesome. The exhaust through the transom was replaced by a conventional stack during Dauntless's Mid-life Maintenance Availability in 1993. Afterwards the ship had a larger superstructure and a smaller helicopter pad. Her hull is welded steel and her superstructure aluminum, as is usual with contemporary warships.
After her commissioning, Dauntless was homeported in Miami, Florida for 25 years, where she earned a reputation as one of the nation's premier "drug busters." Dauntless became the second cutter in history (after USCGC Steadfast) to seize one million pounds of marijuana, an accomplishment signified by a large gold marijuana leaf painted on her superstructure. She became the first cutter to seize one ton of marijuana in a single bust when her crew boarded the fishing boat Big L on March 8, 9173. During her Coast Guard career, Dauntless has over 85 illegal narcotics "busts" to her credit, more than any other cutter. [6]
She has also played a leading role in search and rescue (SAR) operations. During the mass Cuban exodus (see Mariel boatlift) between April 23 and May 13, 1980, over 25 vessels were towed to safety, eight persons adrift at sea were rescued, and 55 SAR cases were conducted.
President Ronald Reagan visited the cutter on November 17, 1982 and awarded her the Coast Guard Unit Commendation. It was the first time in 19 years that a President visited a Coast Guard cutter.
In June 1993, she was decommissioned and entered Major Maintenance Availability (MMA) at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland. After 18 months and at a total cost of $21 million, the ship was completely overhauled from stem to stern. The major renovations included the addition of an engine exhaust stack aft of the pilot house, a complete powerplant overhaul, installation of new navigation and communications systems, and extensive habitability improvements. After MMA, Dauntless sailed to her new homeport of Galveston, Texas in March 1995. She was also drydocked for overhaul for ten months in 2009 at the Coast Guard Yard and for six months in 2022 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.[7]
On November 24, 1995, Dauntless rescued 578 migrants from a grossly overloaded 75-foot coastal freighter, the largest number of migrants rescued from a single vessel in Coast Guard history.
After relocating to Galveston, Dauntless continued performing her primary missions of law enforcement, alien migrant interdiction operations, protection of marine resources, SAR, and later homeland defense in the Gulf of Mexico. Operational highlights included the four "drug busts" resulting in over 3,000 pounds of illegal drugs seized; and the September 2001 rescue of a young commercial mariner from Louisiana who had fallen overboard from the vessel on which he was working; he was successfully located and returned to his ship. After the events of September 11, 2001, Dauntless conducted several patrols dedicated to enhancing port security in the Gulf of Mexico.
In July 2018, Dauntless arrived at her newly assigned homeport of Pensacola, Florida.
At a June 21, 2024 Naval Air Station Pensacola ceremony celebrating her 56 years of service, Dauntless was removed from active duty and placed in commission, special status—an inactive shipyard condition. Her crew departed to other duty stations to help address the Coast Guard's shortage of enlisted personnel.[8]
Dauntless has appeared in two motion pictures: The Island, in which (portraying the fictional USCGC New Hope) she was boarded and seized by Caribbean pirates, and in the James Bond film Licence to Kill[9]
In the 2016 novel Goliath by Shawn Corridan and Gary Waid, Dauntless along with Alex Haley are the two Coast Guard cutters that respond to the fire aboard and subsequent stranding of a Russian ULCC.[10]
Gallery
USCGC Dauntless returning to port in December 2009.
USCGC Dauntless returning to port in December 2009.
USCGC Dauntless in the Gulf of Mexico on 14 November 2013.
USCGC Acushnet (WMEC-167) was a cutter of the United States Coast Guard, homeported in Ketchikan, Alaska. She was originally USS Shackle (ARS-9), a Diver-class rescue and salvage ship commissioned by the United States Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for coming to the aid of stricken vessels and received three battle stars during World War II, before a long career with the Coast Guard. Acushnet patrolled the waters of the North Pacific and was one of the last World War II era ships on active duty in the US fleet upon her retirement in 2011.
The Medium Endurance Cutter or WMEC is a type of United States Coast Guard Cutter mainly consisting of the 270-foot (82 m) Famous- and 210-foot (64 m) Reliance-class cutters. These larger cutters are under control of Area Commands. These cutters have adequate accommodations for crew to live on board and can do 6 to 8 week patrols.
The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as the Fast Response Cutter or FRC due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. At 154 feet (46.8 m), it is similar to, but larger than, the 123-foot (37 m) lengthened 1980s-era Island-class patrol boats that it replaces. Up to 71 vessels are to be built by the Louisiana-based firm Bollinger Shipyards, using a design from the Netherlands-based Damen Group, with the Sentinel design based on the company's Damen Stan 4708 patrol vessel. The Department of Homeland Security's budget proposal to Congress, for the Coast Guard, for 2021, stated that, in addition to 58 vessels to serve the Continental US, they requested an additional six vessels for its portion of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia.
USCGC Thetis (WMEC-910) is a United States Coast Guard Famous-class medium endurance cutter. She is the 10th ship of the Famous Class cutters designed and built for the U.S. Coast Guard and the third Coast Guard cutter to bear the name. Laid down August 24, 1984 by Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated of Middletown, Rhode Island. She was launched April 29, 1986 and named for the cutters USRC Thetis, which served from 1899 to 1916, and USCGC Thetis (WPC-115), which served from 1931 to 1947. The Greek goddess Thetis, incidentally, was the mother of Achilles. The Famous Class cutter Thetis was commissioned on June 30, 1989. She conducts patrols throughout the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.
USCGC Forward (WMEC-911) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. She is the fourth cutter of that name; two were United States Revenue Cutter Service vessels and two, including the contemporary cutter, Coast Guard vessels. All were named for Walter Forward, fifteenth United States Secretary of the Treasury. The present Forward was constructed by Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated, Middletown, Rhode Island, was delivered in May 1989, and commissioned 4 August 1990. USCGC Forward (WMEC-911) and USCGC Legare (WMEC-912) were commissioned in a joint ceremony in Portsmouth, Virginia.
USCGC Spencer (WMEC-905) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. Her keel was laid on 26 June 1982 at Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated, Middletown, Rhode Island. She was named for John Canfield Spencer, United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1843 to 1844 under President John Tyler and launched on 17 April 1984 and was commissioned into service on 28 June 1986.
USCGC Confidence (WMEC-619) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter.
USCGC Resolute (WMEC-620) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter.
SLNS Samudura (P621) is a Sri Lanka Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel. Originally commissioned by the United States Coast Guard in 1968 as the medium endurance cutter USCGC Courageous, she was donated to Sri Lanka in 2004 and commissioned on 19 February 2005.
USCGC Steadfast (WMEC-623) was a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter in commission for 56 years. Commissioned in 1968, Steadfast was home ported in St. Petersburg, Florida for her first 24 years of service. In 1992, she was decommissioned for Major Maintenance Availability (MMA) to extend her service another 25 years. Following MMA in February 1994, Steadfast was re-commissioned and home ported in Astoria, Oregon until her decommissioning on February 1, 2024.
USCGC Durable (WMEC-628) was a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. The Durable was the first cutter in Coast Guard history to hold this name. Like all ships in the Reliance-Class of 210-foot (64 m) medium endurance cutters, Durable was named for an aspirational trait meaning to be capable of withstanding wear or decay.
USCGC Dependable (WMEC–626) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. Dependable was commissioned November 22, 1968. On April 9, 2024 Dependable was removed from active duty and placed in commission, special status. Her most recent homeport was Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The Ukrainian patrol vessel Starobilsk (P191) is an Island-class patrol boat of the Naval Forces of Armed Forces of Ukraine.
USS Unimak (AVP-31) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1946 that saw service in World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard as the cutter USCGC Unimak (WAVP-379), later WHEC-379, WTR-379, and again WHEC-379, from 1949 to 1975 and from 1977 to 1988.
USS Seize (ARS-26) was a Diver-class rescue and salvage ship commissioned in the United States Navy during World War II. Her task was to come to the aid of stricken vessels.
USCGC Gentian (WLB-290), a Cactus- or A-class buoy tender was built by Zenith Dredge of Duluth, Minnesota. Her keel was laid 3 October 1941, launched 23 May 1942, and commissioned 3 November 1942.
USCGC Anacapa (WPB-1335) is a decommissioned Island-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. She was based at Petersburg, Alaska and Port Angeles, Washington and was responsible for law enforcement, search and rescue, and maritime defense.
USCGC Point Highland (WPB-82333) was an 82-foot (25 m) Point class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1962 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1962 was not to name cutters under 100 feet (30 m) in length, it was designated as WPB-82333 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Highland in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet (20 m).
USCGC Point Steele (WPB-82359) was an 82-foot (25 m) Point class cutter constructed at the J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. yards at Tacoma, Washington, in 1967 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. The construction was the same as the earlier cutters in the class that were constructed at the Coast Guard Yard. Point Steele was originally named Point Buchon but it is unknown why the name was changed.
USCGC Aspen (WLB-208) is the eighth cutter in the Juniper-class 225 ft (69 m) of seagoing buoy tenders. She is under the operational control of the Commander of the Seventeenth U.S. Coast Guard District and is home-ported in Homer, Alaska. Her primary responsibility areas are Kachemak Bay of Cook Inlet to the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska and the high seas off south-central and southwest Alaska. Aspen conducts heavy lift aids-to-navigation operations, and law enforcement, homeland security, environmental pollution response, and search and rescue as directed.
References
↑ "US Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless celebrated for 56 years' service during heritage recognition ceremony" (Press release). Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida: United States Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security. June 21, 2024. Retrieved June 22, 2024. Dauntless was named after the inspirational trait, which means to persevere fearlessly. It's motto, "Sin Miedo," translated as "Without Fear," also underscores the same spirit valued by the cutter's crews. It is the first Coast Guard cutter to bear its name.
1 2 Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard cutters and craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. p.40. ISBN0-87021-719-4.
↑ Polmar, Norman (2013). The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp.590–591. ISBN978-1-59114-687-2.
↑ "US Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless celebrated for 56 years' service during heritage recognition ceremony" (Press release). Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida: United States Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security. June 21, 2024. Retrieved June 22, 2024. Dauntless spent its first 25 years assigned in the Coast Guard Seventh District area of responsibility and was homeported in Miami Beach...Of note, Dauntless has over 85 illegal narcotics interdictions to its credit, executing more busts than any other cutter...Dauntless became the first cutter in history to seize one ton of marijuana after its crew boarded the fishing vessel Big L...Dauntless was also the second cutter in Coast Guard history to seize one million pounds of marijuana, following in the footsteps of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast (WMEC 623). This milestone accomplishment earned Dauntless the large gold marijuana leaf painted on its superstructure.
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