The Coast Guard Cutter Dependable underway in the Eastern Pacific Ocean on patrol.
U.S. Coast Guard photograph courtesy of Coast Guard Cutter Dependable (archive).
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The crew of the United States Coast Guard Cutter Dependable returned home after a 49-day patrol conducting counter-drug and migrant interdiction missions in the Caribbean Sea, Wednesday.
The crew of the Dependable conducted two separate counter-narcotics boardings while tasked as a surface asset to Joint Interagency Task Force South. In total, the ship’s crew spent a combined 91 hours on counter-narcotics boardings, completed over 40 small boat sorties, and spent more than 647 hours ensuring that suspect vessels were in compliance with international laws.
The Dependable's crew sailed more than 7,500 nautical miles in the Caribbean Sea, and traveled as far south as Curacao and as far east as the Greater Antilles. During the voyage, the crew conducted over 100 drills in transit to maintain optimal readiness.
The Dependable is a 210-foot Reliance Class Medium-Endurance Cutter homeported in Virginia Beach. The crew conducts homeland security missions in the offshore waters of the Western Hemisphere, from New England to the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.
More information on the Dependable is available at http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/
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