Public Affairs Detachment San Diego
U.S. Coast Guard
News Release
Chase crew celebrates cutter’s 42nd birthday
Contact: Lt. j.g. Sonha A. Bilunas
Email: Sonha.A.Bilunas@uscg.mil
Work: 619.556.6530 ext. 263
SAN DIEGO – Sailors onboard the Coast Guard Cutter Chase (WHEC-718) celebrated its 42nd birthday at the Admiral Robinson Recreational Center in San Diego, Thursday March 11, 2010, with an open invitation to the Chase Association, a non-profit organization created for fellowship, collecting, preserving and sharing historical information about the Chase.
The guest of honor at the birthday celebration was George Ellis, a member of the very first crew when the ship was commissioned 42 years ago, known as a plank owner. Ellis was a sonar technician second class petty officer and served on the Chase during its participation in Operation Market Time off the coast of Vietnam in 1970. During the birthday celebration, Ellis entertained the crew with stories from an earlier age. He also pointed out many of the changes in equipment, armament, and shipboard spaces from its original configuration to the Chase of today.
The Chase was commissioned on March 11, 1968. Chase is the fourth of twelve Hamilton Class, 378-foot cutters in the Coast Guard, and the third cutter named in honor of Salmon Portland Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War.
The crew held a cake-cutting ceremony with the youngest and oldest Chase sailors cutting the cake. Ellis cut the cake as the oldest Chase sailor in attendance. Only six of the more than 170 crewmembers are older than the Chase.
“Chase has served the Coast Guard and the United States with distinction for 42 years, through three different homeports and operations from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf and beyond. To have a plank owner be able to participate in the birthday celebration is an experience we will all remember,” said Capt. Gregory J. Sanial, the twenty-third and current commanding officer of the Chase.
Over 3.9 million dollars worth of narcotics have been removed from drug traffickers by the crew members of the Chase. Today, the Chase continues to press forward in her missions both in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, interdicting narco-terrorists, and the Bering Sea/Gulf of Alaska, enforcing federal fisheries law and conducting search and rescue operations.
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