Coast Guard Cutter Waesche Returns Home

ALAMEDA, CA — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche returned home to Alameda Sunday morning after a 97-day deployment off the coast of Central America, Coast Guard officials said.

The crew returned at 10 a.m. to a crowd of family members braving the rain, waving signs to welcome them home.

Starting in August, the ship's crew traveled 15,000 nautical miles to conduct counter-narcotics, search-and-rescue and living marine resource operations.

The crew of the Waesche seized more than 27,000 pounds of cocaine, estimated to be worth more than $797 million, and apprehended 24 suspected narcotics traffickers, Coast Guard officials said.

In early September, the ship's crew seized a self-propelled semi-submersible in the Eastern Pacific carrying an estimated seven tons of cocaine, according to the Coast Guard.

— Bay City News; Images via US Coast Guard