The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche returned to homeport at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, Calif., Sunday, following a 79-day, 13,000 nautical-mile patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Since their departure Dec. 12, 2014, the crew of Waesche patrolled international waters off the coast of Central America, disrupting Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) networks through joint inter-agency counter-drug operations seizing nearly 1,400 lbs of cocaine with an estimated value of more than $22 million.
During the last four weeks of their deployment, crewmembers aboard Waesche spent time off the coast of San Diego completing rigorous proficiency exercises geared toward sharpening the unit’s readiness to conduct the many operations that are vital to the Coast Guard’s military, homeland defense, and law enforcement missions.
Homeported at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, Calif., Waesche, which is the second of eight planned national security cutters, is 418 feet long with a top speed of 28 knots and a range of 12,000 nautical miles.
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Image: USCG