COOS BAY, Ore. – The Coast Guard decommissioned the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Orcas (WPB1327) during a ceremony, Tuesday. Rear Adm. Charles Fosse, the commander of the Thirteenth Coast Guard District, presided over the ceremony honoring the 35 years of service Orcas and its crews provided to the nation. Commissioned on April 14, 1989, Orcas was the twenty-seventh Island-Class cutter to join the fleet. Orcas has been stationed in Coos Bay, Oregon, since 1989 and is the sixth Coast Guard cutter to be stationed in Coos Bay since 1935. The Orcas was a multi-mission platform that conducted operations to support search and rescue response, marine environmental protection, and national defense. “From training allied nation maritime forces, conducting the largest-ever cocaine seizure in the history of the Pacific Northwest, and saving countless lives and hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of property on the Pacific Ocean – Orcas has done it all,” said Lt. Brendan O’Farrell, the commanding officer of the Orcas. “This ship, one of the last of its kind, is an old American-made workhorse built to endure the harsh Pacific waves. I’m extremely proud and blessed to have served with the finest crew in the fleet.”
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