07.28.2026
« Return to News#1 — History Made: How USCGC MUNRO Completed a Historic 119-Day Patrol
By Donnie Brzuska, Coast Guard Mutual Assistance
For 119 days, the crew of USCGC Munro operated far from home.
They crossed more than 26,000 miles and two oceans. They trained for national defense, pursued drug smugglers in the Eastern Pacific and tracked a sanctioned tanker across the North Atlantic.
By the time Munro returned to Alameda, California, the crew had completed a patrol unlike any other in the cutter’s history.
One Cutter. Two Oceans.
Munro departed Alameda on Nov. 3, 2025, for training off Southern California before sailing into the Eastern Pacific in support of Operation Pacific Viper.
There, the National Security Cutter joined an ongoing effort to disrupt maritime drug trafficking along routes from South and Central America.
During one operation, Munro detected a heavily loaded go-fast vessel traveling along a known smuggling route.
The cutter launched two pursuit boats and used its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system to track the vessel. An embarked MH-65 helicopter crew from the Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, better known as HITRON, used warning shots and disabling fire to stop it.
It was the Coast Guard’s largest single maritime drug seizure in 18 years and the largest seizure in HITRON history.
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Then the Mission Changed
After transiting the Panama Canal, Munro entered the Caribbean in support of Operation Southern Spear.
The cutter located Bella 1, a U.S.-sanctioned motor tanker that had resisted an earlier boarding attempt off Venezuela. The United States determined the vessel was without nationality and subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
Munro pursued and monitored the tanker for 18 days and more than 4,900 miles across the North Atlantic.
The operation ended when Coast Guard deployable specialized forces, supported by Department of War assets, boarded and took control of the 333-meter crude oil carrier for transfer to the departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
Built for the Long Patrol
National Security Cutters were designed for extended operations far from shore, but endurance at sea depends on more than the ship.
It depends on the crew.
For nearly four months, Munro’s crew stood bridge watches, maintained propulsion and electrical systems, launched aircraft, operated small boats, processed intelligence and remained prepared for missions that changed with little warning.
Those routine evolutions rarely appear in the final video.
They are what made everything else possible.
Every flight operation depended on the aviation detachment and flight deck crews.
Every pursuit depended on engineers keeping the cutter moving.
Every interdiction depended on watchstanders, intelligence specialists, boarding teams, cooks, medical personnel and support crews doing their jobs day after day.
History Made
Munro’s patrol produced historic results, but no single statistic fully explains why it earned the top spot.
The crew completed missions spanning military readiness, counternarcotics operations, maritime law enforcement and national security.
They adapted when the orders changed.
They remained ready through 119 days and more than 26,000 miles at sea.
One cutter carried those missions across two oceans.
One crew made them possible.
That is the United States Coast Guard.
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Watch History Made and follow USCGC Munro’s crew through a 119-day patrol spanning record-setting counternarcotics operations in the Eastern Pacific and a national security mission in the North Atlantic.
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Photo & Video Credits
Featured video and imagery courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Southern Command. Counternarcotics footage provided by U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters and Coast Guard Cutter Munro. Bella 1 footage provided by the crew of USCGC Munro. Homecoming imagery provided by the U.S. Coast Guard.