Name USCGC Richard Dixon Acquired April 14, 2015 Homeport San Juan, Puerto Rico Length 47 m | Namesake Richard Dixon Commissioned June 20, 2015 Launched 14 April 2015 Endurance 5 days 0 hours | |
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Operator United States Coast Guard Builder Bollinger Shipyards, L.L.C. | ||
USCGC Richard Dixon is the United States Coast Guard's thirteenth Sentinel-class cutter, commissioned in Tampa, Florida, on June 20, 2015. She arrived in her home port of San Juan, Puerto Rico on June 24, 2015.
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Operational career
On September 20, 2015, Richard Dixon intercepted a "go fast" smuggling boat, near the Dominican Republic, intercepting 41 bales of marijuana the smugglers had tried to scuttle, overboard, prior to their captures.
On March 9, 2016, air elements of the US Customs and Border Protection Agency requested Richard Dixon intercept a vessel with 25 refugees from the Dominican Republic. The Coast Guard subjects every refugee to a biometric recording, enabling them to recognize them if they make subsequent attempts to reach the United States. One individual was transferred to the US, for possible prosecution, while the other 24 were repatriated.
On April 2, 2016, Richard Dixon intercepted another small vessel from the Dominican Republic, carrying 20 refugees. Fourteen of the refugees were transferred to a Dominican naval vessel. Three of the remaining refugees were taken to the United States, for prosecution, because this was not their first attempt to leave the Dominican Republic. The other three refugees were not Dominicans, they were believed to be from India. They too were taken to the US, to be repatriated there.
Namesake
The vessel is named after Richard Dixon, a coast guard hero.