USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716)

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Career
USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716)
Builder:	Avondale Shipyards
Laid down:
Launched:
Commissioned:	11 March 1968
Status:	Active
Homeport:	Charleston, South Carolina
General Characteristics
Displacement:	3,250 tons
Length:	378 feet
Beam:	43 feet
Draught:	15 feet
Propulsion:	Two diesel engines and two gas turbine engines
Speed:	29 knots
Range:	14,000 miles
Endurance:	45 days
Complement:	167 personnel
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-40 air-search radar
Armament:	Otobreda 76 mm, Phalanx CIWS
Motto:	Semper Nos Optima (Always Our Best)

The USCGC Dallas, originally commissioned in 1967 at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, is the sixth high endurance cutter to bear the name Alexander J. Dallas, the Secretary of the Treasury under President James Madison (1814-1816). She is one of twelve Hamilton-class cutters in the Coast Guard.

Dallas was first home ported at the former Coast Guard base on Governor’s Island, New York. She was relocated to her current homeport of Charleston, South Carolina on September 14, 1996.

In her early years, Dallas collected valuable meteorological and oceanographic data on "ocean state" as part of the Gate Project and assisted commercial aircraft crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

During seven combat patrols off the coast of Vietnam, Dallas list of accomplishments included 161 Naval gunfire support missions involving 7,665 rounds of 5-inch ammunition. This resulted in 58 sampans destroyed and 29 supply routes, bases, camps, or rest areas damaged or destroyed. Her 5-inch guns made her very valuable to the naval missions in the area.

In 1980, Dallas was the command ship for the historic Mariel Boatlift, during which 125,000 Cuban refugees set sail for the shores of Florida. At the time, it was the largest humanitarian operation ever undertaken by the Coast Guard. In 1983, Dallas earned a Coast Guard Unit Commendation for achievements that included the seizure of seven vessels smuggling over 103,000 lb. of marijuana and the interdiction of 90 illegal Haitian migrants. In 1986, Dallas served as the on-scene command for the search and rescue operation following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. For her service during this operation, Dallas received the Coast Guard’s Meritorious Unit Commendation.

In the late 1980's, Dallas underwent a fleet rehabilitation and modernization (FRAM) in the Portland, Maine yards of Bath Iron Works. During this period, her living quarters, electronics, sensors, and weapons systems were thoroughly upgraded to allow continued service beyond the year 2000. Dallas was recommissioned by the "Cross-decked" crew from Gallatin on December 20, 1989.

During the Haitian migrant crisis of 1991-92, Dallas performed as the flagship of a flotilla of twenty-seven Coast Guard cutters that rescued 35,000 migrants from hundreds of overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels. Dallas received a Humanitarian Service Medal and another Coast Guard Unit Commendation for her efforts in establishing an operation task organization that serves as the model for today’s Coast Guard multi-unit operation.

In response to the renewed threats of a mass exodus from Haiti, Operation Able Manner began in January 1993, with large numbers of Coast Guard and Navy ships and aircraft deploying to the Caribbean. Dallas assumed command of this flotilla on three separate patrols in 1993, earning her yet another Coast Guard Unit Commendation.

Dallas spent the summer of 1994 representing the Coast Guard at the 50th Normandy D-Day invasion anniversary. During these festivities, Dallas sailed with the reenactment fleet to commemorate the event. Soon after, Dallas was called upon to be the flagship for the Operation Able Vigil in response to another mass exodus from Cuba. Able Vigil was the largest Coast Guard commanded, multi-service operation since the 1940s.

During the summer of 1995, Dallas operated with the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. Among her many assignments, Dallas worked with the USS Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group in support of Operation Deny Flight off the coast of the former Yugoslavia. Dallas’ crew conducted nation-building training and professional exchange in various countries in the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Black Seas. Dallas worked with the navies, coast guards, and maritime agencies of Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Slovenia, Albania, and Italy. This marked the first time that a U.S. Coast Guard cutter operated with the U.S. Sixth fleet and entered the Black Sea. Dallas earned the Armed Forces Service Medal for her contributions to Operation Deny Flight, Maritime Monitor, and Sharp Guard.

During 1997 and 1998, Dallas served as the flag ship for Operations Frontier Shield and Frontier Lance, the most largest interagency, international counter-narcotic operations in the Caribbean.

In the summer of 1999, Dallas was again assigned to the U.S. Sixth fleet in the Mediterranean and Black Seas to support allied forces during the conflict in Kosovo. While enroute, the conflict ended, but Dallas was tasked to remain in theater and conduct training and professional exchanges with US Naval units and foreign naval forces. Dallas became the first Coast Guard cutter to enter the ports of Haifa, Israel and Antalya, Turkey and conducted training exercises with the Ukrainian Navy, Turkish Coast Guard, Geogian Navy, and the armed forces of Malta.

During the entire 1990-2000 decade Dallas held Commander Atlantic Area’s Operational Readiness Award for sustained excellence in all Naval warfare mission areas.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on New York and Washington, Dallas was deployed as part of Operation Noble Eagle off the coast of the southeaster United States. Her mission was to interrogate and board vessels entering US waterways. This marked a change in the Coast Guard’s operations as homeland security blanketed Dallas’ primary mission of drug interdiction.

During the summer of 2002, Dallas took part in a new approach to maritime drug interdiction. Deployed alongside the USCGC Gallatin (WHEC 721), the only other 378’ cutter on the east coast, Dallas took part in Operation New Frontier. Operation New Frontier utilizes armed helicopters from the Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) to stop small high-speed vessel ("go-fasts") before they can reach their destination.

In 2003, Dallas was assigned to the U.S. Sixth fleet in the Mediterranean Sea in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Dallas initially provided armed escorts through the Straits of Gibraltar, became instrumental in defense of the fleet and conducted boardings of vessels leaving the Suez Canal as the Iraqi regiment fled. Dallas made port calls in Rota Spain, Split Croatia, Sicily, and Madeira Portugal.

Dallas’ awards include: three Humanitarian Service Medals, two Joint Meritorious Unit Commendations, three Coast Guard Unit Commendations, two Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendations, a Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, Armed Forces Service Medal, numerous Coast Guard Special Operations service ribbons, the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation, the Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Unit Citation, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Dallas continues as the most capable cutter platform on the east coast. The Coast Guard’s Deepwater program calls for decommissioning all Hamilton-class cutters by 2020.