11:29 pm on Friday March 30, 2012
Coast Guard Cutter Dallas decommissioned
Image by Petty Officer 2nd Class Walter Shinn/Coast Guard The crew aboard the 378-foot Coast Guard Cutter Dallas stands at attention during the cutters' decommissioning ceremony commemorating 45 years of service at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Friday, March 30.
After 45 years of service the Coast Guard has decommissioned the Charleston-based Cutter Dallas on Friday, March 30.
The 378-foot cutter's main role was drug interception and it is expected that the cutter will be transferred to the Philippine Navy.
Friday's ceremony was presided over by Vice. Admiral Robert C. Parker, commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area.
"Legacy cutters like Dallas have delivered great value to the American people, but a new and more capable cutter fleet is vital to our ability to continue to provide frontline operations as we have for more than two-hundred years," said Parker. "Today marks the final chapter in the distinguished history of the Cutter Dallas -- it is a very special day."
During the final patrol, the crew of the Dallas interdicted approximately 4,000 pounds of cocaine and 940 pounds of marijuana during two separate cases while patrolling the Caribbean Sea.
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.
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