USCGC ''Rush'' (WHEC-723) was a

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 ...

high endurance cutter. The ship was named after

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

Richard Rush Richard Rush (August 29, 1780 – July 30, 1859) was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat who served as the 8th United States Attorney General from 1814 to 1817 and the 8th United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1825 to 1829. He serv ...

. ''Rush'' was launched on November 16, 1968, commissioned on July 3, 1969, and was decommissioned on February 3, 2015 after 45 years of Coast Guard service. As of January 2017, the ship serves in the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy () is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for the defence of Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area from any external threat, the security of sea ports and exclusive economic zones of Ban ...

as .

History

Construction

As all ''Hamilton''-class cutters, ''Rush'' was constructed at

Avondale Shipyard Avondale Shipyard was an independent shipbuilding company, acquired by Litton Industries, in turn acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation. In 2011, along with the former Ingalls Shipbuilding, the yard was part of Huntington Ingalls Industries. It ...

near

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and launched November 16, 1968, she was the fifth Coast Guard Cutter to be named after

, the nation's eighth Secretary of Treasury.

Record Storm

During the 1970's ''Rush'' was based out of Alameda Island in San Francisco Bay and performed regular patrols of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

n waters and the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

. ''Rush'' has the distinction of having ridden out "the most powerful storm, at least in terms of depth of pressure, to affect Alaska in modern history" of October 25, 1977. As the storm built, the bridge crew recorded a atmospheric pressure drop of one inch in twenty minutes. Under command of Captain Norman E. Fernald, ''Rush'' sustained damage to her

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

dome and

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

, but completed her patrol. During the storm the decision was made to turn the ''Rush'' to take a following sea. The crew was sent to general quarters and the con was given to the Operations Officer, Lt. Paul Lundgren, who accomplished the turn on the side of a single wave.

''Eastwood'' affair

The Rush assisted in the rescue of the ''East Wood'' affair, an incident of piracy in early 1993 aboard the cargo ship ''East Wood'' (also ''Eastwood''). Chinese illegal immigrants took control of ''East Wood'' before she was taken back by her crew.

Decommissioning

On February 3, 2015, the United States Coast Guard officially decommissioned ''Rush'' with a ceremony held in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Bangladesh Navy

The Coast Guard has transferred ''Rush'' (now ) to the Bangladesh Navy as part of a Foreign Military Sale through the

Foreign Assistance Act The Foreign Assistance Act (, et seq.) is a United States law governing foreign aid policy. It outlined the political and ideological principles of U.S. foreign aid, significantly overhauled and reorganized the structure of U.S. foreign assista ...

. ''Rush'' is the Bangladesh Navy's second ''Hamilton''-class cutter acquisition. The Bangladesh Navy's first ''Hamilton''-class cutter acquired was , given to Bangladesh in 2013. ''Jarvis'' is now named . The Bangladesh Navy designates these former ''Hamilton''-class cutters as " patrol frigates."

Awards

USCGC ''Rush'' has earned numerous awards. Many of the ship's awards were earned for participation in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, as part of

Operation Market Time Operation Market Time was the United States Navy, Republic of Vietnam Navy and Royal Australian Navy operation begun in 1965 to stop the flow of troops, war material, and supplies by sea, coast, and rivers, from North Vietnam into parts of Sout ...

. Awards listed were current to May 2014.Medals and Awards Manual, p. 2-5 to 19-1

Notes

References

United States Coast Guard. (2008). ''Medals and Awards Manual: COMDTINST M1650.25D''. Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rush Ships of the United States Coast Guard Hamilton-class cutters 1968 ships Maritime incidents in 1993 Ships built in Bridge City, Louisiana Ships transferred from the United States Coast Guard to the Bangladesh Navy