US Coast Guard Cutter Rush Decommissioned

Posted by Eric Haun February 4, 2015

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Rush line the deck during the beginning of its decommissioning ceremony. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Melissa E. McKenzie)

The U.S. Coast Guard held a decommissioning ceremony at Base Honolulu Tuesday for Coast Guard Cutter Rush, which will be sold to the Bangladesh Navy and replaced by Coast Guard Cutter Sherman.

The ceremony honored 45 years of Rush’s service to the Coast Guard. Vice Adm. Charles W. Ray, Coast Guard Pacific Area commander, presided over the event. Since the cutter was launched in 1968, it has served the U.S. in a variety of roles including defense operations during the Vietnam War, counter narcotics patrols off Central and South America, fisheries enforcement throughout the Pacific, and search and rescue missions around the world.

Rush is the sixth high endurance cutter to be decommissioned, with six remaining in service on the West Coast. The Coast Guard Cutter Sherman will replace Rush in Honolulu and assume Rush’s responsibilities. These high-endurance cutters are being replaced by the more capable fleet of national security cutters, which perform critical homeland security, law enforcement and national defense missions around the world.

The Coast Guard is working with the State Department to transfer Rush to the Bangladesh Navy as part of a Foreign Military Sale through the Foreign Assistance Act.