The Coast Guard Cutter Mellon has returned to its homeport in Seattle to be decommissioned after 52 years of service, following the vessel’s final patrol, conducting missions throughout the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea.
During their patrol in the spring of 2020, the 150 crewmembers of the Mellon conducted 38 law enforcement boardings, four search and rescues and enforced federal regulations governing Alaska’s $13.9 billion commercial fishing industry, Coast Guard officials said.
The Mellon is one of the last 378-foot high endurance cutters built for extended offshore patrols. Its capabilities range from helicopter operations to pursuit boat operations to humanitarian missions at sea.
The vessel is named after the 49th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, who served from 1921 to 1932. The Mellon, which cost $14.5 million to build, was commissioned 11 months after its launching on Jan. 9, 1968. Originally homeported in Honolulu, the Mellon spent 12 years patrolling the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to Alaska before being transferred to Seattle in 1981.
More information about the Mellon is online at http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/cgcMellon/
