The 110-foot island class cutter Chandeleur.The U.S. Coast Guard intends to transfer the cutter Chandeleur from Miami, Fla., to Ketchikan to replace the Acushnet, which was decommissioned in March.
But some folks, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, are unhappy with the swap.
The Chandeleur is a 110-foot "island class" patrol boat, while the Acushnet was a 213-foot "medium endurance" cutter.
Murkowski, in this press release, suggests the replacement cutter is too small and "will have difficulty making it far out into just the Gulf of Alaska."
She's also concerned the Chandeleur won't arrive in Ketchikan for months pending an overhaul, as this Coast Guard letter explains.
The Chandeleur is named after the Chandeleur Islands, a chain of barrier islands off Louisiana.