laststandonzombieisland

The Sri Lanka Navy, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, just took possession of a ship almost as old as the service.

A familiar old friend, ex-USCGC Decisive (WMEC-629), a B-Type Reliance-class 210-foot gunboat/cutter, is now pennant number SLS P 628 in the Sri Lanka Navy, transferred at her birthplace, the USCG Yard, earlier this month.

Decisive’s keel was laid on 12 May 1967 at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore. Launched on 14 December of that year, she was commissioned on 23 August 1968.

Following her commissioning, she was homeported in New Castle, New Hampshire, where she soon clocked in protecting the fishing fleet, enforcing the 200-mile marine resource zone (including chasing and citing Soviet trawlers), and participating in the International Ice Patrol.

Key moments in her career included rescuing three ships back to back in a terrible winter storm in 1978 and rescuing the crew of the foundered Canadian S/V Toberua after that majestic craft sank in 40-foot seas and 60 knot winds.

In warmer climes in the 1980s, she had to fire 300 rounds into the engine compartment of a rogue Colombian fishing vessel, the Cone, to get the drug smuggler to finally stop. She also saved thousands of migrants at peril on the sea, including a 1995 interception of a 75-foot coaster overloaded with an amazing 516 thirsty and overheating Haitians– still listed as the second largest migrant interdiction in history.

The cutter moved homeports several times during her service, including St. Petersburg, Florida, and at CGS Pascagoula, formerly NAVSTA Pascagoula, directly across from Ingalls on Singing River Island– where I was very familiar with the “Swamp Rats” and toured her for an article in Sea Classics— before her final assignment to Pensacola.

She was decommissioned earlier than planned in March 2023 due to budget issues with the service, capping a 55-year run, only interrupted by a two-year Major Maintenance Availability in 1996-98, which saw her undergo a major overhaul in terms of electronics, habitability, weapons, and engineering. The CGY just gave her a refresh as well.

A simple ship with twin diesel engines and almost zero automation, she joins class member SLNS Samudura (P261)/ex-USCGC Courageous, which has been in service with the force since 2005, and two former 378-foot Hamilton-class cutters transferred in recent years, SLNS Gajabahu (P626)/ex-USCGC Sherman, and SLNS Vijayabahu (P627)/ex-USCGC Munro.

Talk about a family reunion!

Eight of Decisive’s sisters remain in USCG service while four others are laid up “In commission, special status” due to personnel shortfalls; their crews transferred to other Coast Guard units to help meet the service-wide shortage of enlisted personnel.