PORT ANGELES — The Active — the North Olympic Peninsula’s largest Coast Guard cutter — is scheduled to return home within the next 10 days, after three months of intensive maintenance in dry dock at Lake Union Drydock Corp. in Seattle.
The Active was originally set to return to its home port of Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles today, but was delayed, said Cdr. Darran McLenon, commanding officer of the 210-foot-long cutter, on Monday.
“We continue to work on a couple of last projects and were unable to sail today for sea trials,” McLenon said Monday.
He said he did not know the date of the cutter‘s return.
When it does sail, it will go through the Chittendale Locks from Lake Union to Puget Sound for sea trials before returning to home port.
Upon arrival, the 75-member crew will immediately begin preparing for deployment, McLenon said.
The location and length of that deployment is classified, he said.
Most of the crew members and their families live in Sequim and Port Angeles, McLenon said.
During the cutter’s time in dry dock, its crew was split into two groups that rotated service aboard the vessel.
“Half the crew has been working in Port Angeles at Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles and the other half onboard the Active,” McLeon said.
Each week, the crews reversed places, allowing all crew members time to be home with their families.
Work was done on 63 items during the Active’s three-month stay in drydock.
Work on the cutter included ultrasonic testing of the underway hull plating, looking for deteriorated steel, and the inspection and preservation of the ship’s fuel, water, and sewage tanks.
Propulsion shafts, controllable pitch propellers and rudders, were taken apart, checked and reassembled.
All shipboard depth sounders, sea strainers, the anchor and anchor chains, and ground tackle were renewed or replaced.
The ventilation system was cleaned and the cutter’s mast and underwater hull were painted.
The cutter’s last drydock maintenance was in 2008, when it went through the Panama Canal for drydock services in Baltimore, Md.
The Active performs a variety of missions, primarily search and rescue, living marine resources, marine environmental protection, drug and migrant interdiction, and port, waterways, and coastal security.
Commissioned in 1966, the Active has a 34-foot beam, displaces 1,000 tons, and draws 10 feet of water.
Its cruising range is 5,000 miles at 15 knots, and it is designed for with an operating endurance of about 30 days.
At top speed of 18 knots, it has an approximate range of 2,200 miles.
The Active has a flight deck which allows for the deployment helicopters.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
