Retired Cutter Gets New Duty Call

As retirements go, the Point Stuart’s will be a short one.

The Newport Harbor-based Coast Guard cutter will be formally taken out of service today, sandblasted, repainted a neutral white and handed over to the El Salvadoran navy, which will put the 82-foot Point Stuart right back to work.

After 34 years of patrolling California’s coast--a career spent tracking drug smugglers and running search-and-rescue missions--the vintage vessel will sail south along with a handful of other, much smaller retired Coast Guard boats.

“This is an exciting time for us,” said Carlos Torres, an officer in the El Salvadoran navy.

While the Central American country has received U.S. military ships in the past, the Point Stuart will be the first decommissioned Coast Guard cutter given to Torres’ country.

Coast Guard boats, because they are built to navigate shallow water and are less lumbering than their naval brethren, are coveted by foreign countries. And only since 1996 have the Coast Guard ships been made available for second careers in the waters off other countries.

Members of the Fuerza Naval de El Salvador arrived last week to learn the ropes of the Point Stuart, which spent its early career in San Diego and moved to Newport Harbor six years ago. Working through gestures and broken English and Spanish, crew members relied heavily on physical interaction to understand each other.

“Look for the caliente spots!” said Coast Guardsman Raymi Wun, pointing toward the ax and other pieces of firefighting equipment. El Salvadoran crew members nodded their heads.

Chuck Lindsey, an officer aboard the Point Stuart, said painstaking efforts are being made to familiarize the El Salvadoran crew with the ship--everything from how to use search-and-rescue equipment to navigating the boat’s interior.

Noting that the boat seemed in tiptop condition, Torres said it will be used for patrolling the Salvadoran coast, looking for illegal fishing operations, drug smuggling and undocumented immigrants.

Once the cutter is handed over, its crew will push northward to San Francisco to pick up four 44-foot Coast Guard patrol boats.

All this is part of a federal program aimed at transferring decommissioned military and Coast Guard boats to other countries rather than turning them to scrap, once the traditional end for retired vessels, said Mike Ackerlind, a Point Stuart crew member.

While the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 cleared the way for aging Navy boats to be given to foreign countries, the Coast Guard boats have been offered up only since 1996, when the federal act was amended. Since then, the U.S. Coast Guard has transferred 28 patrol boats and 33 smaller rescue boats to foreign countries.

Based on supply and foreign policy at the time, retired military boats are turned over to other countries only with the blessing of Congress.

The Coast Guard is in the process of replacing its entire fleet of 82-footers with new, state-of-the-art 87-foot cutters. Coast Guard cutter Narwhal will arrive in Newport Harbor in September.

The Point Stuart is being handed over free of charge, though it will cost El Salvador as much as $100,000 to install new equipment, navigational software, weather programs and radios, said Charles Murphy, program analyst of the U.S. Coast Guard International Affairs.

Today’s decommissioning ceremony will not be without its pomp. As the orders announcing the boat’s retirement are read, three pennants--the ensign, the jack and the commission--will be lowered. Following tradition, the commission pennant will be given to the boat’s captain. Lindsey said it will be a sad moment when the cutter is stripped of its Coast Guard insignia and its orange-and-blue strips, but he takes comfort in the fact the boat won’t be heading to the scrapheap.

“It’s like your family, and the ceremony is sacred and important, because you see the ship as your home,” said Eric Reeter, the boat’s commanding officer. “You eat, sleep and work there. We got a lot of really good years out of her.”