Coast Guard cutter overhaul completed

KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - The U.S. Coast Guard Base Ketchikan saw one of its two Island-class patrol boats return to the water at the end of 2014.

The Chandeleur, a 110-foot cutter with a 17-person crew that was commissioned in 1988, went back in the water on Dec. 30 after being in the base’s dry dock since late July, according to Lt. j.g. Rebecca Rebar, the cutter’s executive officer.

The newly repaired cutter is primarily used for living marine resources - or fisheries enforcement - law enforcement, and search and rescue. The Chandeleur typically does one seven- to-10 day patrol per month when it’s in service, Rebar said Thursday.

The Naushon, also an Island-class patrol boat, and the 175-foot, Keeper-class coastal buoy tender Anthony Petit also are stationed at Ketchikan.

“It just depends on what the mission is when we go out each time,” she added.

Rebar, who’s been in the Coast Guard for about 2.5 years, arrived in Ketchikan in June and went on one patrol on the Chandeleur before it went into dry dock.

“That’s pretty much the same for most of the guys on the crew,” Rebar said. “We had a really big crew turnover this year.”

Even with the nearly six months in the dry dock, it could be another week and a half to four weeks before the Chandeleur is ready to go on patrol, according to Rebar.

The Chandeleur, being stationed in Southeast Alaska, can be impacted by debris - such as logs - in the water and sudden weather shifts, Rebar said.

Work done on the Chandeleur included cleaning and inspecting various tanks - fuel, water and sewage - that couldn’t be accessed while the cutter was in the water, cleaning the engine room and welding on new sections of hull plating, according to Engineering Petty Officer Marcus Trapp, a 16-year Coast Guard veteran who’s been on the Chandeleur for about 2.5 years.

“We’ve done quite a bit of work, quite a bit of work,” Trapp said Thursday.

While it was the Chandeleur’s turn on the maintenance schedule, some issues that were found after it got out of the water extended its time in the dry dock, according to Rebar.

“Everything went really smooth, it’s just the extent of the hull plating work that had to be done wasn’t known until the boat was pulled out of the water,” Trapp said.

Trapp added that both the amount and quality of work the base’s industrial team did in the few months the Chandeleur was in dry dock was “incredible,” which Rebar agreed with.

“A lot of the maintenance was orchestrated by Base Ketchikan’s industrial team, and they’re really the specialists that did all of the hull plate welding,” Rebar said. ” … They did an awesome job on everything. They did a lot of work.”

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Information from: Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News, https://www.ketchikandailynews.com