Coast Guard families welcomed the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Stratton [1] home last Saturday. The cutter participated in Operation Blue Pacific Patrol, working with Pacific partner nations that include Fiji, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The Stratton’s mission included boarding 11 vessels during the 20,348-mile patrol and found 21 violations of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing on the high seas.
[2]Stratton’s crew also participated in multiple joint exercises, among them:
- Formation sailing with the HMS Spey, a tactical maneuvering drill with the Spey and USS Sampson
- A joint patrol with an Australian Border Force patrol aircraft
- Fueling-at-sea with New Zealand’s newest replenishment vessel HMNZS Aotearoa
- Joint steaming with the French naval vessel FMS Arago and Fijian Patrol vessel Savenaca
- Bilateral enforcement efforts with Fiji for Stratton to patrol their exclusive economic zones
- Using small, unmanned aircraft systems to increase the ship’s capabilities and further extend the cutter’s patrol area.
“Stratton’s capacity for employing cutting-edge technology, gives the Coast Guard the upper hand in the fight against illegal high-seas fishing,” said Cmdr. Charter Tschirgi, Stratton’s executive officer. “The vast area covered during patrols like these displays the reach the Coast Guard has and the length we will go to assist our partners in the Pacific.”
The cutter’s home port is Alameda. According to Wikipedia, Stratton’s complement includes 113 people–14 officers and 99 enlisted–and can carry up to 148, depending on the mission. It was sponsored by former First Lady Michelle Obama, who christened the boat in 2010. It is named for Coast Guard Captain Dorothy C. Stratton, who was director of the Coast Guard Women’s reserve during the Second World War. The vessel is best known for intercepting a semi-submersible vessel carrying over eight tons of cocaine [3] in 2017.
Dennis Evanosky is the award-winning Historian of the Alameda Post [4]. Reach him at [email protected] [5]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Dennis-Evanosky [6].