USCGC Rush (WHEC-723) | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USCGC Rush |
Namesake | Richard Rush |
Builder | Avondale Shipyards |
Cost | $20 million |
Launched | 16 November 1968 |
Commissioned | 3 July 1969 |
Homeport | Honolulu, Hawaii |
Identification |
|
Motto |
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Fate | Transferred to the Bangladesh Navy |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 3,250 tons |
Length | 378 ft (115.2 m) |
Beam | 43 ft (13.1 m) |
Draft | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
Propulsion | |
Speed | 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) |
Range | 14,000 miles |
Endurance | 45 days |
Boats & landing craft carried | 2 Over-the-Horizon type |
Complement | 167 personnel |
Sensors and processing systems | AN/SPS-40 air-search radar |
Armament |
USCGC Rush (WHEC-723) was a United States Coast Guard high endurance Hamilton-class cutter. The ship was named after Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush. Rush was launched on November 16, 1968, commissioned on July 3, 1969, and was decommissioned on February 3, 2015 after 45 years of Coast Guard service.
As of January 2017, the ship serves in the Bangladesh Navy as BNS Somudra Avijan.
As all Hamilton-class cutters, Rush was constructed at Avondale Shipyard near New Orleans, Louisiana and launched November 16, 1968, she was the fifth Coast Guard Cutter to be named after Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush, the nation's eighth Secretary of Treasury.
During the 1970's Rush was based out of Alameda Island in San Francisco Bay and performed regular patrols of Alaskan waters and the Bering Sea. Rush has the distinction of having ridden out "the most powerful storm, at least in terms of depth of pressure, to affect Alaska in modern history" of October 25, 1977. [1] As the storm built, the bridge crew recorded a atmospheric pressure drop of one inch in twenty minutes. Under command of Captain Norman E. Fernald, Rush sustained damage to her sonar dome and superstructure, but completed her patrol. During the storm the decision was made to turn the Rush to take a following sea. The crew was sent to general quarters and the con was given to the Operation officer, Lt. Paul Lundgren, who accomplished the turn on the side of a single wave.
The Rush assisted in the rescue of East Wood affair, an incident of piracy in early 1993 aboard the cargo ship East Wood (also Eastwood). Chinese illegal immigrants took control of East Wood before being taken back by her crew.
On February 3, 2015, the United States Coast Guard officially decommissioned Rush with a ceremony held in Honolulu, Hawaii. [2]
The Coast Guard has transferred Rush (now BNS Somudra Avijan) to the Bangladesh Navy as part of a Foreign Military Sale through the Foreign Assistance Act. [3]
Rush is the Bangladesh Navy's second Hamilton-class cutter acquisition. The Bangladesh Navy's first Hamilton-class cutter acquired was USCGC Jarvis, given to Bangladesh in 2013. Jarvis is now named BNS Somudra Joy. The Bangladesh Navy designates these former Hamilton-class cutters as a "patrol frigate."
USCGC Rush has earned numerous awards in her storied history. Many of the Ship's awards were earned for heroic participation in the Vietnam War, as part of Operation Market Time. Awards listed were current to May 2014. [4]
USCGC Douglas Munro (WHEC-724), previously USCGC Munro (WHEC-724), is a Hamilton-class High Endurance Cutter of the United States Coast Guard, named for Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro (1919–1942), the only Coast Guardsman to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
The United States Coast Guard cutter Morgenthau (WHEC-722), was the eighth of twelve 378-foot dual-powered turbine/diesel Hamilton-class high endurance cutters (WHECs) built by Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Coast Guard commissioned the Morgenthau on March 10, 1969. After 48 years of continuous distinguished service the U.S. Coast Guard decommissioned the Morgenthau on April 18, 2017, and the ship was sold to Vietnam. On 27 May 2017 the Vietnam Coast Guard commissioned the former cutter as patrol craft CSB-8020.
The Hamilton-class cutter was the largest class of vessel in the United States Coast Guard until replaced by the Legend-class cutter, aside from the Polar-class icebreaker. The hull classification symbol is prefixed WHEC. The cutters are called the Hamilton class after their lead ship, or the "Secretary class" because most of the vessels in the class were named for former Secretaries of the Treasury.
USCGC Duane (WPG-33/WAGC-6/WHEC-33) was a cutter in the United States Coast Guard. Her keel was laid on May 1, 1935 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was launched on June 3, 1936 as a search and rescue and law enforcement vessel.
United States Coast Guard Cutter is the term used by the U.S. Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. They are 65 feet (19.8 m) or greater in length and have a permanently assigned crew with accommodations aboard. They carry the ship prefix USCGC.
USCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715) was a United States Coast Guard high endurance cutter and the lead ship of its class. It was based at Boston, Massachusetts from commissioning until 1991, then out of San Pedro, California before it was moved to its last home port in San Diego, California. It was launched on December 18, 1965 at Avondale Shipyards near New Orleans, Louisiana and named for Alexander Hamilton, the first United States Secretary of the Treasury and founder of the United States Revenue Cutter Service. It was commissioned on March 18, 1967.
USCGC Mellon (WHEC-717) was the third United States Coast Guard Hamilton-class high endurance cutter constructed. The 2,748-ton cutter’s ocean crossing range was 10,000 miles at 20 knots.
USCGC Boutwell (WHEC-719) was a United States Coast Guard high endurance cutter based out of San Diego, California. Named for George S. Boutwell, United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Ulysses S. Grant. Boutwell engaged in many Coast Guard missions, including search and rescue, law enforcement, maritime security, and national defense.
SLNS Gajabahu (P626) is an Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel of the Sri Lanka Navy. The ship is the second ship named after King Gajabahu I, the warrior king of the medieval Sri Lankan Kingdom of Anuradhapura.
USCGC John Midgett (WHEC-726), previously USCGC Midgett (WHEC-726), was the twelfth and latest of the United States Coast Guard's fleet of 378 ft (115 m) high endurance cutters. With her crew of 24 officers and 160 enlisted men and women, she was homeported in Seattle, Washington under the operational and administrative control of Commander, Pacific Area (COMPACAREA). Prior to Fleet Renovation and Maintenance (FRAM), the Midgett's homeport was Alameda, California.
USCGC Jarvis (WHEC-725) was a Hamilton-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. She was launched on 24 April 1971 and commissioned on 4 August 1971. She served on Ocean Station November and fisheries patrols and search and rescue missions in the Bering Sea. Beginning in 1988 Jarvis was homeported at Honolulu, Hawaii and used for law enforcement and search and rescue. She received a FRAM upgrade in 1990–2. Jarvis was decommissioned on 2 October 2012 and in January 2013 the Coast Guard announced that she would be transferred to the Bangladesh Navy late that year. She was commissioned as BNS Somudra Joy (F-28) on 23 December 2013.
USS Bering Strait (AVP-34) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1946. She tended seaplanes during World War II in the Pacific in combat areas and earned three battle stars by war's end.
USS Coos Bay (AVP-25) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1943 to 1946 that saw service during the latter half of World War II. After the war, she was in commission in the United States Coast Guard from 1949 to 1966 as the cutter USCGC Coos Bay (WAVP-376), later WHEC-376.
USS Matagorda (AVP-22/AG-122) was a United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender in commission from 1941 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 Matagorda (WAVP-373), later WHEC-373, from 1949 to 1967.
USS Rush has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to:
The Casco class was a large class of United States Coast Guard cutters in commission from the late 1940s through the late 1980s. They saw service as weather reporting ships in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans until the early 1970s, and some saw combat service during the Vietnam War.
David Henry Jarvis was a captain in the United States Revenue Cutter Service. During the harsh winter of 1897–1898, Jarvis, then serving as a first lieutenant aboard the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear, led the Overland Relief Expedition, bringing a three-man rescue team with a herd of about 400 reindeer across 1,500 miles of tundra and pack-ice to Point Barrow, Alaska, to bring needed food to 265 whalers whose ships had become stranded in the ice off the northern Alaska coast.
BNS Somudra Joy is one of the two largest ships of the Bangladesh Navy along with her sister ship BNS Somudra Avijan. Although originally a high endurance cutter the Bangladesh Navy reclassified the ship as a frigate. They acquired the ship from the United States under Excess Defense Articles. Currently she is being used as a training ship for naval cadets.
BNS Somudra Avijan is one of the two largest ships of the Bangladesh Navy along with her sister ship BNS Somudra Joy. Although originally a high endurance cutter the Bangladesh Navy reclassified the ship as a frigate. The Bangladesh Navy acquired the ship from the United States under Excess Defense Articles.
BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PS-15) is the lead ship of her class of offshore patrol vessel of the Philippine Navy. She is the second ship to be named after Gregorio del Pilar, a Filipino revolutionary general known for his role at the Battle of Tirad Pass. She was originally designated as "PF-15" from 2012 to mid-2016. Then the Navy adopted a new code designation system and she was redesignated as "FF-15". In February 2019, the Navy downgraded the status of the entire class from frigate to patrol ship and redesignated her to "PS-15".
United States Coast Guard. (2008). Medals and Awards Manual: COMDTINST M1650.25D. Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.
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