220 Days of Blue Nose…
The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) returned to her Alameda homeport on 4 November, after completing a 110-day patrol in the Arctic Ocean, Chukchi Sea, and Bering Sea.
The Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) transits Glacier Bay, Alaska, on Aug. 1, 2024, while patrolling the region. U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo.
This was notable for two reasons, the first being that Stratton’s crew tracked and observed two Russian Federation Navy surface action groups transiting through U.S. waters above the Arctic Circle and that it was her second 110-day Alaska patrol in the past 11 months, with her first being January-April.
She also logged 334 deck landing qualifications with CG Air Station Kodiak’s MH-60 helicopter aircrews, responded to the 738-foot cargo tanker SS Pan Viva which was beset by a storm north of Dutch Harbor, conducted 20 boardings, did a GUNEX off Dutch Harbor, steamed with the Flight IIA Arleigh Burke USS Kidd (DDG 100), called at CFB Esquimalt (where she picked up three RCN ship riders) and pulled off the “first at-sea refueling evolutions for a national security cutter in the high latitudes.”
It would seem that the crew of Stratton has earned the holidays off.
The Northern Lights illuminate the night sky above the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) while operating in the Arctic, Aug. 28, 2024. Stratton’s crew returned to its homeport in Alameda, Calif., on Nov. 4, after completing a 110-day patrol in the Arctic Ocean, Chukchi Sea, and Bering Sea. U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo.