Video

Video by Senior Chief Petty Officer NyxoLyno Cangemi

U.S. Coast Guard cutter departs for Western Pacific Ocean

U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area

Jan. 20, 2019 | 1:44

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL-750), a 418-foot national security cutter, departed Alameda Jan. 20, 2019, for a patrol to the Western Pacific Ocean.

CAPT JOHN DRISCOLL, COMMANDING OFFICER, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf

Today, Bertholf sets sail and we are going to live up to the name national security cutter.

We’re going to be doing a national security mission. When we get underway, we are going to be working for the United States Indo-Pacific Command, Combatant Commander. We’re going to be executing national security operation throughout the Pacific.

VICE ADM LINDA FAGAN, COMMANDER, U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area

We have an incredible workforce in the United States Coast Guard, and that incredible workforce is represented here by the men and women on the Bertholf as they sail today. These are incredibly dedicated individuals who live what it means to be selfless and to serve and to sacrifice for their country. I am committed to this workforce. We are an armed service. We will stand in the breach of national security and continue to meet our obligation to the country and support the oath we took to support and defend the constitution. During these uncertain times of the lapse of appropriations of the government shutdown, I know it’s hard for these crews to be leaving behind their dependents and spouses. It’s a thousand times more so when everybody’s wondering when their next paycheck will be and how they can support the family they are leaving behind.

There has been an incredible outpouring of support for the families here in the Alameda area, but the tension and the anxiety for the crew is real. We are standing by to help support those families that are left behind the same way that we are going to support the crew as they sail for the Western Pacific.