U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant Returns to Port Canaveral After Seizing Motor Tanker on Caribbean Patrol

Vigilant seized motor tanker and supported major counter-illicit operations.

BREVARD COUNTY • PORT CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant returned to Port Canaveral on Friday following a 33-day patrol in the Caribbean Sea that included the escort of a recently seized motor tanker and support of major counter-illicit operations.

According to the Coast Guard, Vigilant deployed in support of Operations Pacific Viper and Southern Spear, multinational efforts aimed at countering transnational organized crime and illicit maritime activity in the region.

During the patrol, the cutter played a key role in escorting a motor tanker that had been seized by a U.S. Coast Guard tactical boarding team for operating as a vessel without nationality in the Caribbean Sea. The seizure was conducted with support from the Department of War.

After the tanker was taken under U.S. control, Vigilant’s crew coordinated closely with naval and law enforcement partners to facilitate the transfer of personnel and provisions to the seized vessel.

A law enforcement team from Vigilant boarded the tanker to provide security during its approximately 600 nautical miles to the United States.

Cmdr. Steve Welch, commanding officer of Vigilant, praised the crew’s performance throughout the mission.

“I am proud of the crew’s adaptability and professionalism during this mission of national importance,” Welch said. “Their performance ensured the safe execution of the operation in partnership with the Department of War.”

The Coast Guard said its involvement in the seizure and escort was carried out under the service’s unique statutory authorities, which allow it to enforce both international and domestic law in the maritime domain.

Operating under Title 14 of the U.S. Code and in accordance with customary international law, the Coast Guard conducts law enforcement missions in U.S. waters and on the high seas to protect maritime safety, security, and U.S. interests.

Vigilant is a 210-foot Reliance-class medium endurance cutter whose primary missions include search and rescue, counter-drug operations, migrant interdiction, and enforcement of federal fisheries laws.

The cutter operates under the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area, which oversees all Coast Guard operations east of the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf.

Atlantic Area assets are routinely deployed to the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific to combat transnational organized crime and other illicit maritime activity, and to support surge operations as needed.

The patrol fell under the broader operational oversight of the U.S. Coast Guard Southeast District (CGD-SE), which is responsible for Coast Guard activities across a 1.7 million-square-mile area that includes Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 34 foreign nations and territories.

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