United States Coast Guard Cutter DECISIVE departs US for historic voyage to Sri Lanka

Colombo, Feb. 23 (Daily Mirror) - The former United States Coast Guard Cutter DECISIVE departed Baltimore on Friday to join the Sri Lanka Navy fleet, marking the Navy’s longest-ever voyage to bring a vessel home and its first transit of the Panama Canal.

Ex-USCGC DECISIVE, a ‘B-Type Reliance Class 210-foot Cutter’, measures 64m in length, and having endurance of 6000 NM at cruising speed. Further, she has been designed for a 100 member crew and is equipped with weapons and machinery. The ship which was used by the U.S. Coast Guard has rendered an exceptional service during her tenure by curbing illegal activities, including smuggling of narcotics in U.S. waters.

The vessel will sail thousands of nautical miles before reaching Sri Lanka, underscoring the scale of the mission undertaken by the Sri Lanka Navy crew assigned to bring it home.

Once commissioned, DECISIVE is expected to enhance Sri Lanka’s maritime capabilities, particularly in countering drug trafficking and smuggling, conducting search and rescue operations, and protecting the busy sea lanes of the Indian Ocean that are vital to global trade.

The transfer was carried out under the United States’ Excess Defense Articles (EDA) programme, reflecting the close maritime cooperation between the two countries. With the addition of DECISIVE, Sri Lanka becomes the leading operator of U.S. EDA-transferred cutters, with four former U.S. Coast Guard vessels now serving in its fleet.

The United States worked alongside Sri Lanka Navy personnel in the US to prepare them for taking command of the cutter and undertaking the long voyage home.

The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) formally took delivery of the EX-United States Coast Guard Cutter, USCGC DECISIVE, provided by the United States to the SLN, in a ceremony held at the United States Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore on December 2 last year.

The U.S. Coast Guard has previously provided 3 ships to the SLN and they are currently patrolling island waters under the names of ‘Samudura’ (P 621), ‘Gajabahu’(P 626), and ‘Vijayabahu’ (P 627). As an extension of partnership ties that bring value to each other’s services, Ex-USCGC DECISIVE was transferred as the fourth ship to be handed to SLN.