US Coast Guard Cutter Sails Into the Sunset

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter 'Jarvis' returns to homeport Honolulu, after completing the final patrol of 40 years in service.

The Jarvis holds the distinction of being the first Coast Guard cutter to be commissioned in Hawaii, and has called Honolulu home since being commissioned Aug. 4, 1972. The cutter is named after Captain David H. Jarvis, who led an expedition to rescue 300 whalers stranded off Barrow Point, Alaska in 1897.

Jarvis will be honored at a ceremony in Honolulu Oct. 2, where the ship will be taken out of active service and recognized for its 40 years of service to the nation. Later this year, Jarvis will be replaced in Honolulu by the Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau, which is currently homeported in Alameda, Calif.

Jarvis is the fourth of the Coast Guard’s fleet of 378-foot high endurance cutters to be removed from service to make way for the new, more capable fleet of National Security Cutters.

High Endurance Cutters such as the Jarvis have been in service since the 1960s, and are in the process of being replaced by the 418-foot National Security Cutters, the largest and most technologically advanced of the Coast Guard’s newest classes of cutters.

“Serving aboard Jarvis has been an honor and this final cruise is especially bittersweet for everyone onboard,” said Capt. Richard Mourey, Jarvis’ commanding officer. “Jarvis has proudly served the Coast Guard and the people of Hawaii for the past 40 years, and we will all remember her fondly.”