Coast Guard cutter Stratton returns from 103-day Arctic and Bering Sea patrol

The Coast Guard cutter Stratton returned to its home port of Alameda, California, on Saturday, Oct. 24, after a 103-day patrol in the Arctic and Bering Sea.

The crew worked with U.S. and Canadian partners under Operation Frontier Sentinel and Operation Tundra Merlin to reinforce maritime safety, security and national sovereignty, the U.S. Coast Guard Arctic District said in an Oct. 27 release.

"As access to the Arctic continues to increase, demand for Coast Guard presence and search and rescue in the high north continues to grow," the release said.

The Stratton spent 26 days above the Arctic Circle, and its crew earned the Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal, according to a Coast Guard account of the patrol. On Aug. 11 it flew an MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter off Kotzebue and sailed alongside the Canadian patrol vessel HMCS Max Bernays in the Bering Strait. It also held a live-fire gunnery exercise near Unalaska. The ship made port visits in Seattle, Kodiak, Dutch Harbor and Victoria, Canada.

Capt. Matthew Press took command from Rear Adm. Dorothy Hernaez on Aug. 24, with the ship anchored off Kotzebue. Alaska News covered that change of command Aug. 25, noting the Coast Guard keeps no permanent presence north of the Bering Strait.

The Stratton is a 418-foot Legend-class national security cutter commissioned in 2012. It is the second Alameda-based cutter home from the region this month: the Munro returned after a 112-day Arctic and Bering Sea patrol in which it monitored three Chinese-flagged research vessels, Alaska News reported Oct. 21.