An aircrew and a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Port Angeles prepares to land on the Coast Guard Cutter Active’s flight deck during a counter-drug patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Wood.
PORT ANGELES, Wash. — Coast Guard Cutter Active returned home Friday following a 50-day counter-drug deployment to the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
The 75-member crew aboard Active conducted multiple law enforcement boardings in international waters off the coasts of Central and South America. The cutter interdicted three suspected smuggling vessels, disrupting the movement of 5,794 pounds of illicit narcotics valued at more than $87 million.
An Air Station Port Angeles aircrew and a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter embarked aboard Active for the majority of the patrol. The aircrew aided in the interdiction of suspected narcotics traffickers. Two members of the Chilean Navy also deployed aboard Active during the patrol.
Coast Guard cutters operate under the tactical control of Coast Guard District Eleven in support of Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-S) while conducting counter-drug operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The U.S Coast Guard partners with other nations through bilateral agreements to conduct interdictions in foreign and international waters.
Active is a 210-foot Medium Endurance Cutter commissioned in 1966 and homeported in Port Angeles. Active’s crew routinely operate from the Straits of Juan de Fuca down to the waters off Central America. Active conducts nine of the Coast Guard’s 11 statutory missions, including search and rescue, drug interdiction, fisheries enforcement and homeland security.
