USCGC ''Benjamin Bottoms'' (WPC-1132) is the 32nd

cutter Cutter may refer to: Tools * Bolt cutter * Box cutter * Cigar cutter * Cookie cutter * Cutter (hydraulic rescue tool) * Glass cutter * Meat cutter * Milling cutter * Paper cutter * Pizza cutter * Side cutter People * Cutter (surname) * Cutt ...

built for the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

. She is the fourth of four Fast Response Cutters homeported in

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; ) is a neighborhood located within the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los ...

Operational history

The ''USCGC Benjamin Bottoms'' was placed in commission on 1 May, 2019 by ADM Charles Ray, vice commandant of the Coast Guard, with LT Lennie Day serving as her plank owner commander, who oversaw her fitting out from delivery. On July 15, 2021, ''Benjamin Bottoms'', along with ''Munro'' and ''Haddock'', were diverted to extinguish a boat fire on the ''Relentless'', seven miles west of

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is north of downtown San Diego and south of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of ...

. Under the command of LT CDR Allice Gholson, ''Benjamin Bottoms'' participated in GALAPEX III from 23 June to 9 July, 2024, a joint training exercise centered around Ecuador's

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

to gain greater cooperation and understanding with sailors from 14 partner nations in an effort to combat illegal fishing and other littoral violations. The ''Benjamin Bottoms'' transited over 7,500 nautical miles round trip across the

Equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

, spending 43 days deployed at sea as the only US surface asset to participate.

Namesake

''Benjamin Bottoms'' is named after Benjamin A. Bottoms, who died in November 1942 while attempting to rescue the crew of a crashed

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

bomber. He was assigned on a Grumman J2F-4 Duck floatplane as the radioman, and after receiving a radio message that a B-17 crashed, and accompanied pilot John A. Pritchard to search for the downed plane. The pilot spotted the crashed bomber, and landed it as close to the wreak as possible. They were able to assist two of the injured crew back to their plane and back to the USCGC ''Northland''. On their second trip, the plane encountered bad weather, causing the plane to crash, killing both men.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132) Sentinel-class cutters 2019 ships Ships of the United States Coast Guard Ships built in Lockport, Louisiana