Crime & Safety

PHOTOS: Coast Guard Crew Returns Home to St. Pete After 45-Day Deployment

The following is a press release from the U.S. Coast Guard: 


The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Resolute, homeported in St. Petersburg, returned home after a 45-day deployment in the Florida Straits and South Western Caribbean Sea in support of counter-narcotic and alien migrant interdiction operations, Thursday.  

While on deployment, the crew interdicted 19 Cuban migrants after having been discovered aboard a hand-made vessel that was taking on water by an Alabama fishing vessel. They transferred all 19 Cuban migrants to another Coast Guard asset for repatriation. 

The crew of the Resolute hosted a Panamanian ship rider for 11 days in support of joint counter drug operations near Panamanian waters.

Working for Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), the crew assisted a Dutch oiler with the transfer of 20 bales of contraband, and two suspected Honduran detainees to another Coast Guard asset. They also assisted the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Gallatin with the transfer of five detainees and 14 bales of contraband back to the United States for prosecution. The crew worked in concert with a Customs and Border Protection Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA), which disrupted a go fast vessel with an estimated 1000 kilograms of contraband on board. 

In addition to completing 90 training drills and 38 helicopter evolutions, the crew of the Resolute made three port calls in Cartagena, Colombia, Bocas Del Toro, Panama, and Roatan, Honduras. Crewmembers held a community relations event where they spent an afternoon at a local orphanage assisting with yard work, trash collection and playing sports with the children. They also donated six fans to the orphanage, greatly improving the comfort of each child’s bedroom.

The Resolute is a 210-foot Reliance Class cutter and has a crew complement of 12 officers and 62 enlisted personnel.

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