page_title: USCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715)
section_title: Missions
hierarchical_section_title: USCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715) / Missions
caption_attribution_description: English: The Coastguard Cutter Hamilton crew, April 2010. Photograph by Patty Mooney, Crystal Pyramid Productions, San Diego, California.
context_page_description: USCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715) was a United States Coast Guard high endurance cutter and the lead ship of its class. Hamilton was based at Boston, Massachusetts from commissioning until 1991 and then out of San Pedro, California before it was moved to its last home port in San Diego, California. Launched on December 18, 1965 at Avondale Shipyards near New Orleans, Louisiana and named for Alexander Hamilton, the first United States Secretary of the Treasury and founder of the United States Revenue Cutter Service. The cutter was commissioned on March 18, 1967.
  USCGC Hamilton was decommissioned on March 28, 2011 and transferred to the Philippine Navy as an excess defense article under the Foreign Assistance Act on May 13, 2011 as BRP Gregorio del Pilar.
context_section_description: Hamilton had served a variety of missions with distinction.  During a 1969–1970 deployment to Vietnam, Hamilton interdicted weapons smugglers and fired more than 4,600 rounds of gunfire in support of U.S. and South Vietnamese troops ashore.  From 1965–1975, Hamilton served on Atlantic Ocean Stations, collecting valuable oceanographic data and conducting frequent search and rescue missions.  Hamilton also directed the interdictions of over 21,000 Haitian migrants throughout the Caribbean during Operation Able Manner.  In 1994, Hamilton received the Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation for rescuing 135 Haitians from the sea after their sailboat capsized and sank.  In 1996, Hamilton transited the Panama Canal and served as the command and control platform for Operation Frontier Shield, a multi-agency effort to curtail the influx of narcotics into the United States.  Hamilton intercepted 14 drug-laden vessels carrying more than 115 tons of contraband worth 200 million dollars.  In 1999, Hamilton seized over 2,700 kilograms (6,000 lb) of cocaine bound for the U.S. in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.  Hamilton frequently patrolled the Bering Sea off the Alaskan coast at the Maritime Boundary Line (MBL) which separates the Russian and the United States' exclusive economic zones (EEZ).  Hamilton's presence on the MBL deters foreign fishing vessels from fishing in the U.S. EEZ.
  In March 2007, Hamilton assisted Sherman in the largest recorded maritime drug bust in history. The two vessels intercepted the Panamanian-flagged fishing vessel Gatun in international waters and were able to recover 20 metric tons (20 long tons) of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $600 million retail. The seizure was the largest drug bust in US history and the largest interdiction at sea.
caption: Crewmembers of USCGC Hamilton at San Diego, California, in 2010
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