Coast Guard Crew Returns After First Patrol
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Tornado returned to their homeport in Pascagoula, Miss., Sunday after completing their first patrol since the ship was commissioned in December. The cutter and its crew departed for the Florida Straits Feb. 2, patrolling between the Florida Keys and Cuba in support of counter-drug and alien migration interdiction operations. The crew put months of training to good use as they safely prevented nearly 100 migrants and several suspected smugglers from illegally entering the United States. The crew also worked closely with the Royal Bahamian Defense Force in and around the Bahamas in a joint effort to interdict migrant and drug smugglers.
Coast Guard to Hold Change of Command
The Coast Guard Cutter Tornado will welcome its new Commanding Officer during a change-of-command ceremony at the Naval Station in Pascagoula, Miss. on Fridayy. Lt. Cmdr. Robert J. Landolfi Jr. will relieve Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Hollingshead who served as the Commanding Officer of the Tornado for the past two years. Hollingshead assumed command of Coast Guard Cutter Tornado in October 2004. Tornado is one of five 179-foot Cyclone-class Patrol Coastal cutters (PC-179s) transferred to the Coast Guard from the Navy. Tornado rapidly proved ideally-suited for Coast Guard operations as it deployed in support of the Coast Guard counter-drug, alien migrant interdiction, homeland security, and search and rescue missions in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Florida Straits, and Atlantic Ocean.
