US Coast Guard places new vessel at Ketchikan base

There's a new vessel set to patrol the Alaskan side of the North Pacifc, as the crew of the USCGS Chandeleur take up their posts at the Ketchikan Coast Guard base.

The Chandeleur will offer up a rather dramatic change of postings for the crew, having previously been based in Miami, Florida the vessel arrived in its new homeport in early October, after a transit through the Panama Canal.

The 110 foot cutter with its crew of eighteen, part of the U. S. Coast Guards Island Class Cutter fleet, will join the USCGS Rhode Island at the Ketchikan base.

The vessel makes its appearance along the Alaska panhandle, having just completed a nine month modernization retro fit at the Baltimore Coast Guard yard,  which provided the 110 foot vessel with the latest in advanced electrical and navigational systems.

The main focus for the tasking of the Chandeleur while in Alaska will be search and rescue operations and enforcement of fishing regulations and other assigned duties.

The stay of the Chandeleur may be short lived in Ketchikan however, there are plans reportedly in the works to upgrade the vessel allocation of the Ketchikan base to two 145 foot cutters for 2015.

North coast residents may get a glimpse of the current vessels, should the US Coast Guard send one of them south on their occasional good will tours of Prince Rupert.

Ketchikan's public radio station KRBD had this report on the arrival of the vessel to the Ketchkian base.