After three months and 15,000 miles, crew members of the 418-foot Legend-class national security cutter U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro came back to its Alameda homeport Monday.
During that time, the crew was in the Bering Sea for 37 days, making sure that mandates for fisheries were being followed between Alaska and the U.S. and Russia maritime border.
They boarded 11 commercial fishing vessels as part of U.S. fishery and safety enforcement, patrolled the Aleutian Islands and the maritime border to ensure that foreign fishing vessels did not enter U.S. waters and participated in a joint border patrol with a Russian Border Guard vessel.
Munro also took part in an at-sea-only version of the Rim of the Pacific 2020 exercise from Aug. 17-31 near the Hawaiian Islands, where the cutter performed “formation steaming exercises, communications drills, maritime intercept operations and live-fire training alongside partner nations,” according to the agency.
"This has been an extremely rewarding patrol," said Munro's Commanding Officer Capt. Blake Novak, adding that this was Munro's first Alaskan patrol. “It was an incredible opportunity to patrol as far north as the Arctic Circle to protect our borders and natural resources, and then transition to leveraging our DOD partnership with RIMPAC exercises. Conducting two distinctly different missions within the same deployment is what makes the Coast Guard unique and why I chose this service.”
Novak said that while COVID-19 has posed a challenge, the cutter was able to establish processes to maintain readiness and operate safely.
“Munro's success is attributed to the young women and men that make up our diverse crew,” Novak said. “While we have enjoyed our time at sea, and are proud of our accomplishments, we are excited to return home to our loved ones."
Friday, September 11, 2020
