Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless returns to Galveston after 56-day patrol

GALVESTON, Texas — The U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless, homeported in Galveston, will  return home after a 56-day counter-narcotics patrol in the western Caribbean, Tuesday.

The Dauntless deployed to the western Caribbean to conduct counter-narcotics operations but was immediately diverted to the Florida Straits to assist the 7th Coast Guard District in illegal migration interdiction.  From  May 11 to May 17, the Dauntless would interdict two unseaworthy vessels each transporting over 20 Cuban migrants.  The cutter also assisted in the repatriation of another 120 migrants and medically evacuated two critically injured migrants. One medevac was conducted with assistance from Station Key West, Fla.,  while the other person was medevaced by an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla.

Upon its departure from the Florida Straits, the Dauntless' mission was to patrol off the coast of Haiti in an area known as the Windward Passage.  For the next two weeks, the crew would monitor sea lanes off the North Claw of Haiti for overloaded vessels filled with migrants and assist with stopping illicit activity into the Bahamas.

The Dauntless then proceeded south to support Joint Interagency Task Force South and the 7th District with interdicting suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.  During this time, the cutter's crew successfully disrupted the shipment of 5,000 pounds of marijuana carried by a suspect vessel. 

The Dauntless is a 210-foot medium endurance cutter with 75 crewmembers aboard. Those interested in contacting the Dauntless may contact Ensign Eric Hudson, public affairs officer, at Eric.D.Hudson@uscg.mil.