CAPE MAY, N.J. – The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Dependable returned to its homeport of Cape May on May 26.
During the 58-day patrol, the Dependable crew conducted fisheries operations in the North Atlantic, and counter-drug and migrant interdiction operations in the Caribbean Sea.
In the North Atlantic, the Dependable crew was tasked with enforcing marine mammal protection laws and fisheries and safety regulations, successfully completing 18 boardings. In the Caribbean Sea, the Dependable crew took part in counter-drug and migrant interdiction operations alongside the DEA, Customs and Border Patrol, the Joint Interagency Task Force South and the Dominican navy.
Throughout the patrol, the crew constantly enhanced its readiness through drills and training exercises. The Dependable moored in Boston, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This marks the final scheduled patrol under the leadership of Dependable’s current commanding officer, Cmdr. Lee Petty. In the past two years aboard the Dependable, Petty has operated in the waters stretching from the Colombian Basin in the Caribbean Sea, to the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. He has led the cutter amid mission pursuits ranging from more than 200 fisheries enforcement boardings off New England, migrant interdiction operations off Haiti, counter-drug efforts throughout the Caribbean, and numerous search and rescue cases.
“The men and women who crew and support this cutter are absolutely phenomenal,” said Petty. “The missions we perform – while tough – are critical to our country’s maritime safety and security, and the places we’ve operated and visited make for some really fond memories and sea stories. This has been another great patrol, and I’ll miss the camaraderie, sense of satisfaction, and challenge that accompanies life on a deployed Coast Guard cutter, that’s for sure.”
Petty is scheduled to transfer to the Pentagon this summer, where he will serve as a Coast Guard liaison officer to the Chief of Naval Operations.
The cutter Dependable is a 210-foot medium endurance cutter with 85 crew members that conducts maritime safety, security, and stewardship operations in the waters stretching from the U.S. / Canadian maritime border off New England, to the Florida Straits and greater Caribbean Sea.
