Fleet asset changes mark US Coast Guard High North operations

US Coast Guard Cutter Mustang , pictured here in Alaska, was recently decommissioned. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

As it meets the presidential directives to beef up assets in Alaska, the US Coast Guard (USCG) is decommissioning older cutters as it makes room for new and more advanced patrol craft.

The service decommissioned USCG Cutter Island-class Mustang (WPB 1310) in Seward, Alaska, on 15 April. Commissioned on 29 August 1986, Mustang was the 10th cutter of the class to join the fleet, and the first Island-class boat to serve in the Pacific, USCG officials noted.

The 110 ft (33.5 m) Island-class boat responded to over 200 search-and-rescue (SAR) cases and completed over 2,000 law enforcement sorties, the USCG said.

In March the USCG decommissioned Island-class USCGC Naushon (WPB 1311) in Homer, Alaska. Commissioned on 3 October 1986, Naushon was the 11th Island-class cutter to join the fleet.

Naushon has been stationed in Homer since 2016 and has since responded to more than 50 SAR cases and completed nearly 900 law enforcement sorties.

The coastguard is replacing the ageing Island-class patrol boats with Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) in Alaskan waters to meet growing security and other operational needs.

For more information on increasing security tensions in the region, please see US naval officials note increasing tensions in the US Arctic and High North .

The newest FRC, John Witherspoon (WPC 1158), arrived on 28 January 2025 in Kodiak, the USCG said, the first FRC to be homeported in the USCG outpost that is responsible for most of the Alaskan waters in the High North latitudes and the Arctic.