June 27, 2025 —
Former Coast Guard Cutter Mellon, now part of the Vietnam Coast Guard, participates in a communications exercise with Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Gerczak off Hawaii during the high endurance cutter’s transit to Vietnam following completion of transfer activities. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
The last of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Hamilton-class 378-foot high endurance cutters, former Coast Guard Cutter Mellon, arrived in Vietnam June 18 to serve in that country’s coast guard as CSB 8022.
The Coast Guard’s fleet of high endurance cutters was replaced by the national security cutter fleet. Transfer of the decommissioned vessel aligns with the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States, helping to bolster Indo-Pacific security and build connections in the region.
This is the third transfer of a high endurance cutter to Vietnam under the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Defense Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding; the renamed CSB 8022 will operate alongside former Coast Guard Cutters Morgenthau and John Midgett, now operating as CSB 8020 and CSB 8021. This is the 12th and final high endurance cutter transfer through the Coast Guard Office of International Acquisition; other cutters are serving in the navies of the Philippines (3), Bangladesh (2), Nigeria (2) and Sri Lanka (2).
Excess Defense Articles (EDA) transfers help to develop relationships with partner nations and allies to enhance the pursuit of cooperatively shared maritime safety and security goals. In addition to building maritime capacity among strategic partners, the EDA program has saved the Coast Guard around $41 million in disposal costs for the decommissioned high endurance cutter fleet.
For more information: International Acquisition Program page