USCGC Steadfast

Last updated
USCGC Steadfast WMEC-623.jpg
USCGC Steadfast (WMEC-623)
History
Flag of the United States Coast Guard.svgUnited States
BuilderAmerican Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio
Laid down2 May 1966
Launched24 June 1967
Commissioned7 October 1968
Decommissioned1 February 2024
Refit31 January 1994
Homeport Astoria, Oregon
Identification
Nickname(s)"El Tiburón Blanco"
StatusInactive
General characteristics
Displacement759 tons
Length210 ft 6 in (64.16 m)
Beam34 ft (10 m)
Draft10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) max
Propulsion2 x V16 2550 horsepower ALCO 251B diesel engines
Speedmax 18 knots; 2,700 mile range
Rangecruise 14 knots; 6,100 mile range
Complement12 officers, 63 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems
2 x AN/SPS-64 navigation and surface search radar.
Armament
Aircraft carried HH-65 Dolphin

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.

Steadfast completed over 330 Search and Rescue cases, interdicted over 1.6 million pounds of marijuana and 27,700 pounds of cocaine, seized over 65 vessels, and stopped over 3500 undocumented migrants on the high seas from entering the United States. Steadfast was the first, and is one of only two cutters (the other is USCGC Dauntless), to have a gold marijuana leaf painted on her superstructure, symbolizing one million pounds of marijuana seized. [1] Legend holds Steadfast was named "El Tiburón Blanco" (Spanish for "The White Shark") by Colombian drug smugglers in the 1970s for being such a nemesis to their illegal drug operations. Steadfast's crew used the symbol of "El Tiburón Blanco" as one of their logos to epitomize Steadfast's aggressive law enforcement posture. [2]

On 21 September 1978, Douglas DC-3 N407D of Argosy Airlines crashed into the Caribbean Sea whilst on a ferry flight from Fort Lauderdale International Airport to José Martí International Airport, Havana. All four people on board were killed. [3] The aircraft disappeared off radar screens at 12:43 local time (17:43 UTC). A search was initiated, which Steadfast coordinated, but was called off on 24 September without any trace of N407D being found. [4]

USCGC Steadfast completed her final Coast Guard patrol on December 18, 2023 [5] and was decommissioned in Astoria on February 1, 2024 after 56 years of service. The ship, now in Excess Defense Article status, will proceed to Baltimore, Maryland where she will be made available to sale to other countries via the Coast Guard's Foreign Military Sales Program. [6]

Related Research Articles

USCGC <i>Tamaroa</i> (WMEC-166) Coast guard cutter

USCGC Tamaroa (WAT/WMEC-166), originally the United States Navy Cherokee-class fleet tugUSS Zuni (ATF-95), was a United States Coast Guard cutter. Following the U.S. Coast Guard custom of naming cutters in this class of ship after Native American tribes, she was named after the Tamaroa tribe of the Illiniwek tribal group.

USCGC <i>Alex Haley</i> U.S. Coast Guard cutter

USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39) is a United States Coast Guard Cutter and former United States Navy vessel that was recommissioned for Coast Guard duty on 10 July 1999. It first entered service as USS Edenton (ATS-1), an Edenton-class salvage and rescue ship on 23 January 1971. In 1995, Edenton won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.

USCGC <i>Acushnet</i> (WMEC-167) United States Coast Guard cutter

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.

USCGC <i>Dauntless</i>

USCGC Dauntless (WMEC-624) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter, commissioned in 1968.

USCGC <i>Thetis</i> (WMEC-910)

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 <i>Forward</i>

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 <i>Harriet Lane</i> (WMEC-903) US Coast Guard cutter

USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC-903) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. Named after Harriet Lane, niece and official hostess of President James Buchanan. Harriet Lane was constructed by Tacoma Boatbuilding, Tacoma, Washington and delivered 20 April 1984.

USCGC <i>Spencer</i> (WMEC-905)

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 <i>Mohawk</i> (WMEC-913) US ship

USCGC Mohawk (WMEC-913) is a 270' United States Coast Guard Famous-class medium endurance cutter. She was launched on September 9, 1989 at Robert Derecktor Shipyard Incorporated of Middletown, Rhode Island and commissioned in March 1991. She is the third cutter named for the Mohawk nation, a tribe of Iroquoian Indians from the Mohawk Valley of New York.

USCGC <i>Bear</i> (WMEC-901) American Coast Guard vessel

USCGC Bear (WMEC-901) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. She was laid down August 23, 1979 and launched September 25, 1980 by the Tacoma Boatbuilding Company of Tacoma, Washington. She was commissioned February 4, 1983. She was named for USRC Bear (AG-29), a steam barquentine that was built in Scotland and served the United States Treasury Department in the United States Revenue Cutter Service's Alaskan Patrol.

USCGC <i>Resolute</i> US Coast Guard vessel

USCGC Resolute (WMEC-620) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter.

USCGC <i>Venturous</i>

USCGC Venturous (WMEC-625) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. The vessel was constructed by the American Shipbuilding Company in Lorain, Ohio in 1967 and commissioned in 1968. The ship has served on both the west and eastern coasts of the United States. The vessel is used for search and rescue, fishery law enforcement, border enforcement and smuggling interdiction along the coasts and in the Caribbean Sea.

USCGC <i>Alert</i> (WMEC-630) US Coast Guard vessel

USCGC Alert (WMEC-630) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter and is the last 210-foot (64 m) medium endurance cutter constructed. The keel was laid on 5 January 1968 at the United States Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland, and she was commissioned on Coast Guard Day, 4 August 1969. Alert derives her name from the early 19th century revenue cutter USRC Alert, which served in the early days of the Revenue Cutter Service.

USCGC <i>Decisive</i> US Coast Guard vessel

USCGC Decisive (WMEC-629) was a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. Decisive's keel was laid on 12 May 1967, at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Maryland. Decisive was launched 14 December 1967, and commissioned 23 August 1968. Following its commissioning in 1968, the ship was homeported in New Castle, New Hampshire. The cutter moved homeports several times during its tenure, including St. Petersburg, Florida and Pascagoula, Mississippi before its final assignment to Pensacola, Florida. It was decommissioned on 2 March 2023.

USCGC <i>Dependable</i> United States Coast Guard ship

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.

USNS <i>Vindicator</i> Stalwart-class surveillance ship

USNS Vindicator (T-AGOS-3) was a United States Navy Stalwart-class modified tactical auxiliary general ocean surveillance ship that was in service from 1984 to 1993. Vindicator then served in the United States Coast Guard from 1994 to 2001 as the medium endurance cutter USCGC Vindicator (WMEC-3). From 2004 to 2020, she was in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fleet as the oceanographic research ship NOAAS Hiʻialakai.

USS <i>Seize</i>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast Guard District 13</span> US Coast Guard district for the Pacific Northwest

District 13 is a United States Coast Guard district, based at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building, in Seattle, Washington. It covers the Pacific Northwest and its Area of Responsibility encompasses four states; Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. District 13 is divided into three Sectors – Puget Sound, Columbia River and North Bend. The District has more than 3,000 active duty and reserve members, civilian employees, and auxiliaries and operates twenty-one cutters, 132 boats and eleven aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Coast Guard order of battle</span>

The following January 2019 order of battle is for the United States Coast Guard.

References

  1. "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.
  2. "United States Coast Guard > Our Organization > Area Cutters > CGC Steadfast > History". United States Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Defense Media Activity. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  3. "N407D Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  4. "Into the Blue". Bermuda Triangle. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  5. "U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast returns home after final patrol of Coast Guard service" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: Defense Media Activity. U.S. Department of Defense. 2023-12-18. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  6. "U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast decommissioned after 56 years of service" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: Defense Media Activity. U.S. Department of Defense. 2024-02-01. Retrieved 2024-02-06.