The Ukrainian patrol vessel ''Starobilsk'' (P191) is an of the

Naval Forces A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

Armed Forces of Ukraine , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...

. Originally named USCGC ''Drummond'', named for Drummond Island, Michigan for the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

and then upon joining Ukraine, renamed for the town

Starobilsk Starobilsk ( uk, Старобільськ, russian: Старобельск) is a city in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Starobilsk Raion. The modern settlement was founded in 1686, and it was granted city stat ...

. ''Drummond'' was commissioned on 19 October 1988, at Bollinger Shipyard in

Lockport, Louisiana Lockport is a town on Bayou Lafourche in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,490 in 2020. It is part of the Houma– Bayou Cane–Thibodaux metropolitan statistical area. History Lockport, founded in 1835, ...

, and was last homeported in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. With a top speed in excess of and a cruising speed of , the ship is capable of enduring unsupported operations for six days and accommodates two officers and sixteen enlisted personnel. The US Coast Guard's first s were stationed in Florida, replacing Island-class cutters like ''Drummond''.

History

Service in the U.S. Coast Guard

After commissioning, ''Drummond'' served in the

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

's busiest district and was decorated for her involvement in a variety of operations. In 1992 and 1994, ''Drummond'' was awarded the

Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...

while working with other U.S. Coast Guard and

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

units that combined for the safe interdiction of over 20,502 Haitian migrants at sea. Originally homeported in

Port Canaveral, Florida Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo, and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with 4.5 million cruise passengers passing through during 2016. Over 5.4 m ...

, ''Drummond''s home port was changed to

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

in the summer of 2002. Typical patrols in Key West's area of operations involved

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

, migrant interdiction operations, fisheries law enforcement, counter

narcotic The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

s operations, and homeland security. ''Drummond'' shifted homeports to

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

in support of the Coast Guard's effort to maximize the operational hours of the patrol boats in the Seventh District by utilizing a dual-crew manning concept. In April 2004, ''Drummond'' again returned to

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

in support of Operation Able Sentry and Operation Secure Tomorrow as that country's poor political and economic situation generated an exodus of migrants. In 2005, ''Drummond'' was again awarded the Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation for her efforts in stemming the illegal flow of Cuban migrants in the

Florida Straits The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait ( es, Estrecho de Florida) is a strait located south-southeast of the North American mainland, generally accepted to be between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between th ...

. ''Drummond'' also was credited for saving more than $500,000 in property during this period in search-and-rescue cases, including a daring rescue of a dismasted

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

during Tropical Storm Arlene. After 2004, ''Drummond'' was credited with interdicting over 550 illegal Cuban migrants in the Florida Straits, on eight go-fast vessels and 26 homebuilt boats and rafts. ''Drummond'' also recovered nearly 120 illegal migrants from various Bahamian islands, working closely with the

Royal Bahamas Defence Force The Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) is the military of The Bahamas. Since The Bahamas does not have an army or an air force, its navy composes the entirety of its armed forces. Under The Defence Act, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force has been m ...

. ''Drummond'' cared for 1,600 illegal migrants on her decks while conducting 32 politically sensitive repatriations to Cabanas,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Transfer to the Ukrainian Naval Forces

On 27 September 2018, ''Drummond'' and were formally transferred to

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, after their retirement from the US Coast Guard. The two vessels were shipped, as deck cargo, and arrived in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

on 21 October 2019. The patrol boat was renamed after the

Donbas The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...

town

. This name perpetuates the memory of two deceased sailors, natives of the namesake town — sailor Olexandr Veremeyenko and senior sailor Stepan Kryl.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Starobilsk 1988 ships Island-class patrol boats Patrol vessels of Ukraine Ships built in Lockport, Louisiana Ships involved in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Ships of the United States Coast Guard Ships transferred from the United States Coast Guard to the Ukrainian Navy