USCG Cutter Waesche crew returns home after 95-day counter-narcotics patrol

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Waesche (WMSL-751) returned April 8 to the ship’s homeport of Alameda following a 95-day counter-narcotics patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Waesche’s deployment supported Joint Interagency Task Force-South, with the ship operating in international waters off the coast of Central and South America, resulting in the seizure of more than 14,000 pounds of cocaine with an estimated wholesale value of $193 million. The drugs were seized during six separate interdictions by the Coast Guard Cutters Active (WMEC-618), Steadfast (WMEC-623), and Waesche, with the assistance of a helicopter interdiction squadron of pilots, aircrew and trained helicopter marksmen embarked aboard Waesche.

The contraband and 10 suspected drug traffickers were transferred April 5 from Waesche and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Agency in San Diego.

The Waesche is one of four 418-foot national security cutters homeported in Alameda. The ship and its normal compliment of 148 crew members perform deployments lasting about 100 days, carrying out missions such as law enforcement, search and rescue, fisheries management and drug interdictions from the Bering Sea to the Eastern Pacific Ocean.