laststandonzombieisland

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Liberty prepares to moor at their homeport of Juneau, Alaska, March 13, 2018. The crew of the Cutter Liberty, a 110-foot patrol boat homeported in Juneau, Alaska, was completing tailored ship’s training availability, a biennial readiness assessment of the cutter and crew. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Brian Dykens.

The 110-foot U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Liberty (WPB 1334) was decommissioned during a ceremony in Valdez, Tuesday.

Commissioned on 19 December 1989, Liberty was the 34th Island-Class cutter to join the fleet and the final member of her 49-strong class in USCG service.

Assigned to Auke Bay (Juneau) as her homeport, she has served in Alaska her entire career and, besides hundreds of unsung LE patrols– she made several surprisingly large drug busts in Alaskan waters– she also repeatedly came to the rescue of those at peril on the sea.

She was notably involved in at least three different missions involving stranded passenger liners (Spirit of Columbia, Empress of the North, and Spirit of Glacier Bay).

05.11.2008. Juneau, Alaska – USCGC Liberty (WPB-1334), responded to a call from a disabled 143-foot cruise ship, Spirit of Columbia, with 89 passengers onboard that reportedly lost power to both generators and was operating on one of two propellor engine’s two miles from Warm Springs Bay at 8 p.m. Saturday (USCG photo by Petty Officer Karl Schickle)

Built at Bollinger to a modified Thorneycraft design, class leader USCG Farallon (WPB-1301) commissioned on 21 February 1986 and, with the last of the series, USCGC Galveston Island (WPB-1349), delivered 17 January 1992, Liberty’s exit brings to a close the 39 year run of the class in U.S. service.

In typical Coast Guard acquisition lore, the vessels in the class were intended to have a 15-year life span.

Circa 1980s 110-foot island class cutter spec sheet via Bollinger

Commissioned with a 20mm Mk 16 gun (as seen above) as the main gun (augmented by two .50 cals), they later ditched the 20mm for a Mk 38 25mm Bushmaster, one of the first classes to use the chain gun. There was also a Bolt On Weapons System (BOWS) program that, in place of stern towing equipment, would add a second Mk 38 cannon with ammo storage, and a launcher for FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS anti-aircraft missiles.

The class was everywhere since then, with six of the cutters even spending two decades in the Persian Gulf, having almost daily interactions with the Iranian Republican Guard. These boats were typically up-armed with several additional .50 cals.

180201-N-TB177-0211 U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF OPERATIONS (Feb. 1, 2018) Island-class patrol boats USCGC Wrangell left, USCGC Aquidneck (WPB 1309), middle, and coastal patrol ship USS Firebolt (PC 10) patrol the open seas. Wrangell, Aquidneck, and Firebolt are forward deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of maritime security operations to reassure allies and partners and preserve the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kevin J. Steinberg/Released)

As with many of her class, Liberty will likely see continued service under a new flag. Her sisters are already serving in Georgia, Costa Rica, Greece, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Tunisia– with the latter just picking up two of the surplus 110s earlier this month to mark “220 years of maritime cooperation.”

17 April 2025, two retired 110-foot USCG cutters transfer to Tunisia. 250417-N-N0901-1003