USCGC ''Resolute'' (WMEC-620) is a

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

medium endurance cutter The Medium Endurance Cutter or WMEC is a type of United States Coast Guard Cutter mainly consisting of the Famous- and ''Reliance''-class cutters. These larger cutters are under control of Area Commands (Atlantic Area or Pacific Area). These cutt ...

History

The Coast Guard's first cutter ''Resolute'' was a top-sail schooner built and commissioned in 1867. This first ''Resolute'' was homeported in Key West, Florida, and took on the missions of smuggling interdiction as well as search and rescue. The current cutter ''Resolute'' is very different in size and construction but the missions remain the same. The sixth of sixteen s, ''Resolute'' was the first of her class to be powered by two Alco-B diesel engines. ''Resolutes keel was laid at the

United States Coast Guard Yard The United States Coast Guard Yard or just Coast Guard Yard is a United States Coast Guard operated shipyard located on Curtis Bay in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just south of the Baltimore city limits. It is the largest industrial fac ...

Curtis Bay, Maryland Curtis Bay is a residential / commercial / industrial neighborhood in the southern portion of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The neighborhood is on steep sloping heights, about four city blocks wide (west to east) and fifteen bl ...

, in May 1965. She was commissioned 8 December 1966. Since that time she has seen several different homeports including

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

;

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...

;

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corn ...

; and her current home port of

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

. ''Resolute'' has been decorated on several occasions. She has done well during Refresher Training (REFTRA), earning eight REFTRA "E's" for overall excellence in simulated battle and damage scenarios. ''Resolute'' has earned two

Coast Guard Unit Commendation The Coast Guard Unit Commendation is the highest peacetime unit award that may be awarded to military commands of the United States Coast Guard. The decoration was first created in 1963 and is presented to members of any Coast Guard unit that dis ...

awards for exceptional work in separate Search and Rescue (SAR) cases. In 1981, ''Resolute'' extinguished a fire aboard the tug ''DeFelice'' alongside a San Francisco fuel pier. Two ''Resolute'' crewmembers entered the burning tug and retrieved her injured occupants. Several of ''Resolute''s crew were injured during this operation while they fought desperately to save the vessel and crew. In 1982, ''Resolute'' earned a

Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or ...

for protecting an from potentially dangerous demonstrators. In 1986, after successfully completing hundreds of SAR cases and fisheries boardings, ''Resolute'' saw her first drug bust. The seizure of MV ''Pamnico'' and the arrest of the vessel's crew resulted in the interdiction of over of marijuana headed for the streets of the United States. ''Resolute'' exercised her multi-mission capabilities during her tour of duty in

. On numerous occasions, ''Resolute'' was called to assist vessels in distress. Environmental protection was ''Resolute''s primary calling when she was tasked with patrolling US fishery protection zones. ''Resolute'' also responded to assist in the cleanup of the

Exxon Valdez oil spill The ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. '' Exxon Valdez'', an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company bound for Long Beach, California struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef, west ...

disaster in Alaska. ''Resolute'' was decommissioned at the

in 1994 for a major refurbishment. Following this yard period, she was recommissioned and homeported in St. Petersburg, FL, where she continues to meet diverse challenges off the Southeast United States and in the Caribbean Sea. ''Resolute'' escorted the MV ''Yalta'' from the Windard Passage to the Port of

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...

from 27 June – 1 July 2003. Members of ''Resolute''s boarding team and Rescue and Assistance detail were directly responsible for the salvage, safe navigation, operation and security of ''Yalta'', her crew, and over 4 tons of cocaine during the transit. From 5 – 25 July 2003, ''Resolute'' participated in TACT (Tailored Annual Cutter Training). The training included such activities as man overboard, anchoring, towing, swept channel, general emergency, collision, gun shoot and general quarters drills. For participation and successful completion of all drills ''Resolute'' won the Battle E Ribbon from United States Coast Guard Atlantic Area (LANTAREA), her second award in two years.

Deepwater Horizon Response

''Resolute'' was part of the flotilla used to respond to the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered ...

in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...

. The United States Government billed BP $19,000 per hour for the ship's presence.

In fiction

''Resolute'' appears in the second chapter of the

Dale Brown Dale Brown (born 2 November 1956) is an American writer and aviator known for aviation techno-thriller novels. At least thirteen of his novels have been ''New York Times'' Best Sellers. Early life Brown was born in Buffalo, New York, and was ...

novel ''Hammerheads'' where, fictitiously up-armed with (1 × OTO Melara Mk 75 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun, as well as her normal complement of 6 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns), the ship becomes involved in a gun-battle with a heavily armed freighter used by a Colombian cartel to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

References

External links

''Resolute'' home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Resolute Ships of the United States Coast Guard Reliance-class cutters 1966 ships Ships built by the United States Coast Guard Yard Historic American Engineering Record in Florida