The Coast Guard's Honolulu -based “Indo-Pacific Support Cutter ” CGC Harriet Lane returned to port Tuesday after its first patrol across Oceania.
It's a new mission for an old ship. The Harriet Lane is a 40-year-old, 270-foot Medium Endurance Cutter—known to the Coast Guard personnel who operate them as “270s.” It arrived in Hawaii in December after undergoing over a year's worth of renovations at a Baltimore shipyard. It's the 11th cutter to be assigned to the Honolulu-based Coast Guard District 14.
In January it set sail for its first patrol, heading south into the high seas where members of its crew boarded fishing vessels to look for signs of illegal fishing. Over the course of its 79-day deployment, the cutter and its crew made port calls in American Samoa, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru and the Marshall Islands.
Over the course of the patrol, its crew participated in 27 vessel boardings and documented 12 violations of fishery laws.
The Coast Guard has worked to increase its presence and operations in the Pacific. In February 2023, Rear Adm. Michael Ryan, the Coast Guard deputy commandant for operations and policy, told military news outlet Defense One that the service intends to triple its deployments in the Pacific in coming years.
The Lane's commanding officer, Cmdr. Nicole Tesoniero, said “the Harriet Lane delivered on a commitment made to our Pacific partners for a more robust and persistent…
