USCGC ''Rush'' (WHEC-723) was a

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, mu ...

high endurance cutter. The ship was named after

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

Richard Rush. ''Rush'' was launched on November 16, 1968, commissioned on July 3, 1969, and was decommissioned on February 3, 2015 after 45 years of Coast Guard service. As of January 2017, the ship serves in the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...

as .

History

Construction

As all ''Hamilton''-class cutters, ''Rush'' was constructed at

Avondale Shipyard Avondale Shipyard was an independent shipbuilding company, acquired by Litton Industries, in turn acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation. In 2011, along with the former Ingalls Shipbuilding, the yard was part of Huntington Ingalls Industries. It ...

near

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

and launched November 16, 1968, she was the fifth Coast Guard Cutter to be named after

Richard Rush, the nation's eighth Secretary of Treasury.

Record Storm

During the 1970's ''Rush'' was based out of Alameda Island in San Francisco Bay and performed regular patrols of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

n waters and the Bering Sea. ''Rush'' has the distinction of having ridden out "the most powerful storm, at least in terms of depth of pressure, to affect Alaska in modern history" of October 25, 1977. As the storm built, the bridge crew recorded a atmospheric pressure drop of one inch in twenty minutes. Under command of Captain Norman E. Fernald, ''Rush'' sustained damage to her

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

dome and superstructure, but completed her patrol. During the storm the decision was made to turn the ''Rush'' to take a following sea. The crew was sent to general quarters and the con was given to the Operations Officer, Lt. Paul Lundgren, who accomplished the turn on the side of a single wave.

''Eastwood'' affair

The Rush assisted in the rescue of the ''East Wood'' affair, an incident of piracy in early 1993 aboard the cargo ship ''East Wood'' (also ''Eastwood''). Chinese illegal immigrants took control of ''East Wood'' before she was taken back by her crew.

Decommissioning

On February 3, 2015, the United States Coast Guard officially decommissioned ''Rush'' with a ceremony held in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Bangladesh Navy

The Coast Guard has transferred ''Rush'' (now ) to the Bangladesh Navy as part of a Foreign Military Sale through the

Foreign Assistance Act The Foreign Assistance Act (, et seq.) is a United States law governing foreign aid policy. It outlined the political and ideological principles of U.S. foreign aid, significantly overhauled and reorganized the structure U.S. foreign assistance ...

. ''Rush'' is the Bangladesh Navy's second ''Hamilton''-class cutter acquisition. The Bangladesh Navy's first ''Hamilton''-class cutter acquired was , given to Bangladesh in 2013. ''Jarvis'' is now named . The Bangladesh Navy designates these former ''Hamilton''-class cutters as " patrol frigates."

Awards

USCGC ''Rush'' has earned numerous awards. Many of the ship's awards were earned for participation in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, as part of

Operation Market Time Operation Market Time was the United States Navy, Republic of Vietnam Navy and Royal Australian Navy operation begun in 1965 to stop the flow of troops, war material, and supplies by sea, coast, and rivers, from North Vietnam into parts of Sout ...

. Awards listed were current to May 2014.Medals and Awards Manual, p. 2-5 to 19-1

Notes

References

United States Coast Guard. (2008). ''Medals and Awards Manual: COMDTINST M1650.25D''. Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rush Ships of the United States Coast Guard Hamilton-class cutters 1968 ships Maritime incidents in 1993 Ships built in Bridge City, Louisiana Ships transferred from the United States Coast Guard to the Bangladesh Navy