Image by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley/Coast Guard The Coast Guard Cutter Dallas sails at dusk Feb. 14, 2012. The ship is currently on its last patrol before it is decommissioned in March.
Update March 31: The cutter has been decommissioned.
After 45 years of service, the Coast Guard is slated to decommission the Charleston-based Cutter Dallas on Friday, March 30.
The 378-foot cutter's main role is drug interception and is currently returning from its last tour.
It is expected that the cutter will be transferred to the Philippine Navy.
Here's a bit of history on the cutter from the Coast Guard:
Originally commissioned in 1967 at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, DALLAS is the sixth cutter to bear the name of Alexander J. Dallas, the Secretary of the Treasury under President James Madison (1814-1816). DALLAS was first home-ported at the former Coast Guard base on Governor’s Island, New York. She was relocated to her current homeport of Charleston, South Carolina on September 14, 1996.
During seven combat patrols off the coast of Vietnam, DALLAS compiled an impressive list of accomplishments, including 161 Naval gunfire support missions involving 7,665 rounds of 5-inch ammunition. This resulted in 58 sampans destroyed and 29 supply routes, bases, camps, or rest areas damaged or destroyed. Her 5-inch gun made her very valuable in support of the naval gunfire missions in the area.
