Tag Archives: USCGC Decisive

A family reunion in the Indian Ocean

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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.

USCGC Decisive WMEC-629 with HH-52A #1463 1970s USCG Photo

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.

USCGC Decisive, photo by Chris Eger, 2011, at CGS Pascagoula

USCGC Decisive’s salad bar, photo by Chris Eger, 2011, at CGS Pascagoula

USCGC Decisive, photo by Chris Eger, 2011, at CGS Pascagoula

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.

HMS Kent with the Sri Lanka OPC SLNS Samudura (P261), a 210-foot Reliance class cutter, formerly USCGC Courageous (WMEC-622), Oct 24, 2021. RN photo

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.

The Mighty D hangs up her guns

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The sun is getting low on the half-century-old Reliance class cutters, and one of my favorite ones just finished up her last official tasking.

Via Coast Guard LANT

USCGC Decisive returns home from Eastern Pacific Ocean deployment, completing final patrol

PENSACOLA, Fla. — The crew of the USCGC Decisive (WMEC 629) returned to their homeport in Pensacola, Friday, following a 33-day patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, concluding 55 years of service to the Nation.

Decisive patrolled the Eastern Pacific Ocean in the Coast Guard Eleventh District’s area of operations. While underway, the Decisive’s crew supported the Coast Guard’s drug interdiction and search and rescue missions to promote safety of life at sea and deter the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States.

While deployed, Decisive’s crew collaborated with Coast Guard assets and foreign military aircraft to detect, deter, and interdict illegal narcotics voyages. At one point, Decisive disrupted two vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the same night. Decisive also collaborated with the USCGC Alert (WMEC 630) to safely transfer three suspected smugglers. While aboard Decisive, the detainees received food, water, shelter and medical attention.

“The crew’s remarkable professionalism, competence and determination were on full display as we met the diverse challenges of operations at sea,” said Cmdr. Aaron Delano-Johnson, commanding officer of Decisive. “Whether it was conducting simultaneous boardings or our skilled engineers conducting voyage repairs in Panama, the crew exceeded expectations at every turn. After a successful, final patrol for Decisive, we are looking forward to returning home to our family and friends on shore.”

During the patrol, Decisive traveled more than 6,000 miles and traversed through the Panama Canal. By transiting the historic waterway, Decisive’s crew earned their Order of the Ditch certificates, a time-honored nautical tradition recognizing mariners who have crossed the Panama Canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Decisive is a 210-foot, Reliance-class medium endurance cutter with a crew of 72. The cutter’s primary missions are counter-drug operations, migrant interdiction, and search and rescue in support of U.S. Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Back in 2011, while working on an article about the old girl for Sea Classics, I spent a day hanging out with the Swamp Rats of Decisive while she was based at CGS Pascagoula, formerly NAVSTA Pascagoula, directly across from Ingalls on Singing River Island. Since Decisive moved to Pensacola in 2017, the sprawling base, which had been originally intended for a battleship surface action group in the 1980s, has largely just hosted a Sentinel-class (154-foot) fast response cutter and the occasional passing NOAA survey ship in addition to overflow from Ingalls.

Anyway, enjoy! These were cleared by 8th District over a decade ago, but never published. 

Scratch Another Dope U-Boat

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And down goes the fifth drug sub captured by the USCG in the past ten months....

A sinking self-propelled semi-submersible vessel was interdicted in the Western Caribbean Sea March 30, 2012, by the crews of Coast Guard Cutter Decisive, Coast Guard Cutter Pea Island, Joint Interagency Task Force South and the Honduran Navy. The SPSS sank during the interdiction in thousands of feet of water. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

Coast Guard assets spearheaded by  the forty year old 210-foot Decisive caught up with a unidentified narco sub in a story released today

“The cutters’ crews were called in when an Air Station Miami aircrew, working in the Caribbean in support of Joint Interagency Task Force South’s Operation Martillio, spotted a suspicious vessel and notified 7th Coast Guard District watchstanders of the location. Pea Island and Decisive diverted to the position and their pursuit boat crews were dispatched.

With both Pea Island and Decisive’s pursuit boat crews on the case, the SPSS was successfully interdicted and four suspected smugglers were detained. During the interdiction, the drug sub sank in thousands of feet of water, an act that is common as drug traffickers design their vessels to be difficult to spot and rapidly sink when they detect law enforcement.

“Medium endurance cutters like the Decisive are built for multi-week offshore patrols including operations requiring enhanced communications and helicopter and pursuit boat operations,” said Capt. Brendan McPherson, 7th Coast Guard District chief of enforcement. “When combined with patrol boats like the Pea Island, which has superior speed and flexibility, it helps us and our partners to provide the Coast Guard’s unique blend of military capability, law enforcement authority and lifesaving expertise wherever needed to protect American interests.”

I spent some time aboard the Decisive last fall, and the Swamp Rats should be proud, Bravo Zulu!

Swamp Rats icon on the stern of the Decisive, home-ported in the bayous of the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Pascagoula, MS