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Saying Goodbye to An Old Friend: USCG Cutter Naushon Decommissioning
First commissioned on October 3, 1986, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter NAUSHON has been part of the Coast Guard's presence in Homer since June 2016. The NAUSHON is an Island-class patrol boat, a class of cutters of the United States Coast Guard named after Islands. (For the curious, Naushon Island is the largest of the Elizabeth Islands in southeastern Massachusetts near Cape Cod.)
These 110-foot island class vessels replaced the U.S. Coast Guard’s older 95-feet Cape-class cutters with longer range and better seakeeping capabilities, and have been used in support of the Coast Guard's maritime homeland security, defense operations, fisheries enforcement, and search and rescue missions.
Of the 49 cutters of this class that were built, very few remain in commission. After March 21st, the number will be one less when the NAUSHON will be decommissioned. The USCG is presently in the process of replacing these vessels with newer, larger and more advanced Fast Response Cutters (FRCs). The USCG plans to homeport six FRC cutters in Alaska in Kodiak, Ketchikan, Seward and Sitka.
We honor NAUSHON’s long service to the USCG District 17 and the Coast Guard’s dedication to Alaska ports, waterways and coastal security. We honor all the crews that have served aboard the NAUSHON, are grateful to all our brave Coast Guard men and women, and encourage our community to come out to support them during NAUSHON's decommissioning ceremony.
The ceremony will start 1200 noon (following the sounding of the ship's bells) on Friday March 21st and will be held at the Homer Spit near the cutter's homeport mooring at 4373 Freight Dock Rd, Homer, AK, 99603. Tours of the ship will be available on a first come, first served basis. Refreshments and small bites will be available immediately following the ceremony.
NAUSHON also will be open for public tours the days leading up to and proceeding the event.
While not required for attendance, the Coast Guard kindly encourages folks to RSVP at the following link by March 7th for planning purposes: eInvitation - NAUSHON Decommissioning Ceremony
