Los Angeles – U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander, Vice Admiral David Pekoske, arrived on the Coast Guard’s new National Security Cutter Bertholf at approximately 11:45 this morning. VADM Pekoske’s arrival aboard a Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles helicopter marked the first operational landing by a Pacific Area Unit.
VADM Pekoske joined Bertholf out at sea today for its homecoming voyage and first homeport arrival to Alameda, Calif. After arriving at the Los Angeles International Airport, VADM Pekoske and his aide Lieutenant Jason Cameron met with Aircrew members Lieutenant Commander Toby Holdridge, Lieutenant Jorge Porto, and Chief Warrant Officer Brian Carlton at Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles to fly the Dolphin off the California Coast to meet Bertholf.
Bertholf is the first ship in the Coast Guard’s new class of highly capable, technologically advanced, mulit-mission cutters built by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss. Christened on November 11, 2006, Veterans’ Day and named after Commodore Ellsworth P. Bertholf, the first Commandant of the Coast Guard. Bertholf is the first of eight National Security Cutters to be built for the Coast Guard. Bertholf will be pulling into its new homeport Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.
