The CUSHING was named for an island in Casco Bay, and is within the city limits of Portland, Maine. The island of Cushing was reportedly named for Ezekiel Cushing, who obtained the island through purchase in the 1750s.
Radio call sign: NOFR
Builder: Bollinger Machine Shop and Shipyard, Lockport, LA
Commissioned: 08 August 1988
Decommissioned: 08 March 2017; sold and transferred to nation of Ukraine
PARTICULARS, AS OF 1988:
The hull of the Island-class patrol boats is based on Vosper-Thornycroft craft of Great Britain. The interior, deck arrangement, and superstructure were designed by Bollinger Machine Shop and Shipyard, to Coast Guard specifications. The Island class has a round bilge planning hull equipped with an active fin-stabilization system.
Length: 110’
Navigation Draft: 4 ft MAX.
Beam: 21’
Displacement: 171 tons, 168 long tons
Main Engines: Twin V-16 Paxman Valenta diesel engines
Performance, Maximum Sustained: 29.5 kts MAX.
Complement: 2 officers, 14 enlisted
Electronics: Radar:
Armament: 2 MM deck gun – Twin 7.62 mm M-60 machine guns
Homeports: Mobile, AL; Puerto Rico; Atlantic Beach, North Carolina
Class history—The Island class ships were built as law enforcement patrol boats designed to operate in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and US coastal waters. Fourteen of these vessels were ordered by the Coast Guard in FY 1984. Thirty-seven were purchased in total.
Ship's history:
The Cushing was stationed in Mobile, AL, Puerto Rico, and Atlantic Beach, NC, for the duration of her thirty years in the Coast Guard, 1988-2018. The ship was used for law enforcement, and search and rescue operations in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, and holds the distinction of being the first US government vessel to conduct patrol duties with the Mexican Navy.
On 5 October 1989, the crew of CUSHING seized over 6 tons of cocaine from the Colombian-crewed vessel ZEDOM SEA, reportedly the largest amount seized on the sea to that time.
On 10 June 1990, CUSHING responded to explosions aboard Norwegian oil tanker MEGA BORG, which lost up to 7,000 gallons of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico while transferring the crude to a third vessel. The vessel’s Captain and First Mate escaped the blast and were picked up by CUSHING.
On 27 September, 2018, CGC CUSHING was transferred to the nation of Ukraine. Former Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko stated at the time of transfer, “We aim at convincing the Kremlin of our determination to protect the Ukrainian coast, just like we are defending our land in Donbas, our sovereignty, freedom, and democracy…”
At the time of transfer, the name of the vessel was changed to SLOVIANSK. The vessel was sunk by a Russian air-to-sea missile on 3 March 2022 in the Black Sea during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Photographs [click on description/caption to view image]:
Sources:
CUSHING, Cutter File, USCG Historian's Office.
Robert Scheina, U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1990), pp. 10-16.