The crew of the USCGC Spencer (WMEC 905) returned to their homeport in Portsmouth Sept. 25, following a 57-day patrol in the mid-Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
During the patrol, Spencer’s crew conducted fisheries enforcement, search and rescue, and migrant interdiction operations in support of the Coast Guard’s Fifth and Seventh Districts.
In response to a rise in maritime migration from Cuba, Spencer was surged to the Caribbean to detect, deter and intercept unsafe and illegal ventures to the United States. Spencer’s crew intercepted and cared for 100 migrants across multiple cases.
“Spencer’s crew expertly demonstrated the multi-mission capability of our Coast Guard by quickly adapting to the mission changing from fisheries enforcement to migrant interdiction. I am honored to serve with such a dedicated crew who maintained high morale throughout the patrol despite the changes, and difficult nature of migrant interdiction operations,” said Cmdr. Corey Kerns, commanding officer of Spencer.
Spencer is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth with 100 crewmembers. The cutter’s primary missions are counter drug operations, migrant interdiction, enforcing federal fishery laws and search and rescue in support of Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere.
