laststandonzombieisland

USCG Photo

Here we see the 110-foot Costa Rican Coast Guard (Guardacostas) patrol boat Libertador Juan Rafael Mora Porras (P1101), formerly the USCGC Long Island (WPB-1342), headed to the port of Caldera on Costa Rica’s west coast after picking up an overhaul, new radar, radios and paint at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, with costs paid for by the State Department’s Foreign Military Sales program.

Some 44 members of the Costa Rican Coast Guard have been in Baltimore since October training on their new vessels. The former cutters Long Island and USCGC Roanoke Island (WPB-1346) (the latter now Gen. Jose M. Canas Escamilla) were previously based in Alaska and were decommissioned in 2015 after more than 20 years’ service.

Just 22 of 49 completed Island-class cutters remain in service, with Edisto decommissioning in California last weekend, rapidly being replaced by the larger and more modern 158-foot Sentinel-class of Fast Response Cutters.

The Coast Guard Cutter Edisto sits moored at Naval Base Point Loma, San Diego, April 13, 2018. Edisto was decommissioned after 31 years of service. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Joel Guzman/released)

Even non-nation actors are using retired 110s in maritime patrol roles. I give you Sea Shepherd’s pair, currently off Baja supporting local operations to preserve Vaquitas, rare porpoises that live off the coast of Mexico:

The former USCGC Block Island (WPB-1344) and the USCGC Pea Island (WPB-1347), now renamed the MV John Paul DeJoria and the MV Farley Mowat, were purchased in Baltimore in 2015 as surplus by the group.