Malaysia’s coast guard has taken delivery of the decommissioned US cutter Steadfast, which will be sailed to Malaysia by its new Malaysian crew across the Atlantic, Mediterranean sea, Suez Canal, and Indian ocean.
It will be the longest voyage undertaken by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, the Malaysian coast guard.
An MMEA crew of nine officers and 41 personnel have completed a seven-week intensive programme for the operation of the Steadfast, which will join the MMEA’s fleet of five large offshore patrol vessels.
The handover of the ship was made in Baltimore today, with MMEA admiral Rosli Abdullah accepting the transfer certificate from James Knight of the US coast guard, an MMEA statement said.
The 65m-long (241ft) Steadfast has a maximum range of 9,800km (6,100 miles) at a cruising speed of 14 knots (24km/h). Under the US coast guard, she was crewed by a company of 2 officers and 63 enlisted.
She has served with the US coast guard since 1968, with a major overhaul in 1992 to extend her service life by 25 years. The ship was decommissioned in February last year and made available under the US foreign military sales programme.
The Steadfast is equipped with a 25mm chain gun and two machine guns, and carries an HH65 Dolphin helicopter for search and rescue operations.
Rosli said the Steadfast would enhance MMEA’s capabilities in ensuring the security of the country’s maritime zones, in addition to expanding the scope of cooperation between Malaysia and the United States in terms of training, technical exchange and capacity development.
