Alameda-based cutter returns home after 140-day deployment

Photo By Capt. Aaron Moshier | Coast Guardsmen from the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton from Alameda, Calif., unload narcotics from a smuggling vessel intercepted by the crew in the Eastern Pacific Ocean July 30, 2014. (Coast Guard photo by Cutter Stratton)  

ALAMEDA, CA, UNITED STATES

11.28.2014

Story by Lt. Donnie Brzuska 

U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area

ALAMEDA, Calif. – The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton is scheduled to return to its homeport at Coast Guard Island in Alameda Friday at 8:30 a.m. after a 140-day deployment to the Arctic and Central America.

Since departing July 11, the Stratton’s crew completed a 24,000-mile deployment in support of the nation’s interests in the Arctic and joint counter-drug operations off the coast of California and Central America.

During this operational patrol, Stratton’s law enforcement crews seized and disrupted 6.6 tons of illegal narcotics valued in excess of $27.5 million. Stratton Coast Guardsmen assisted mariners in four separate Search and Rescue cases. Furthering national strategic goals, the cutter’s crew patrolled the Arctic and conducted interoperability tests with new equipment.

Stratton Coast Guardsmen worked closely with the communities in isolated locations of Point Lay, Gamble and Barrow, Alaska. The crew went ashore to schools and civic centers to teach water safety and provide life jackets to community members.

The cutter is one of the newest Coast Guard National Security Cutters and is capable of patrolling from South America to the Arctic Ocean. Stratton’s unmatched combination of range, speed, and ability to operate in extreme weather are a critical component of the Coast Guard. Stratton and the cutter’s 145-person crew provide the mission flexibility necessary to conduct counter-narcotics, homeland security, and alien migrant interdiction operations, domestic fisheries protection, search and rescue, and other Coast Guard missions at great distances from shore keeping threats far from the U.S. mainland.

Media interested in attending the arrival of the STRATTON should contact Coast Guard Pacific Area Public Affairs Office, Lt. Donnie Brzuska, at 510-437-3319 or [e-mail]. Be prepared to provide photo I.D., and proof of insurance in order to gain access to the base. Pier-side interviews with the commanding officer and crew will be available.

• Date Taken: 11.28.2014
• Date Posted: 11.28.2014 12:36
• Story ID: 149022
• Location: ALAMEDA, CA, US