Three decommissioned patrol coastal ships sail out of Naval Station Mayport for last time

Mayport, Fla. — After nearly 25 years, three patrol coastal ships are sailing out of Naval Station Mayport one final time.

Normally, the service span is about 15 years but many of these have gone well past 20 and their duties will be remembered for a lifetime.

“You can equate it to closing a chapter in your life,” Commanding Officer of USS Shamal PC 13, Daniel O’Neill said. “Like selling a home and moving away.”

O’Neill has spent the last 16 months as commanding officer for the USS Shamal PC 13.

“It’s an extension of my family and I consider everyone at my port to be part of my family from now, especially because you spend so much time with them,” O’Neill said.

The three ships - USS Shamal PC 13, USS Zephry and USS Tornado - were designed for coastal patrol but have branched out to drug interdiction and working together with the U.S. Coast Guard to help protect the U.S. coastline, ports and waterways from terrorist attacks, illegal drugs and illegal immigration. They’ve captured billions of dollars in drugs throughout their career.

“Counter narcotics mission mainly in the last decade and then you have the 10 other ships out in Bahrain, who do operators in fifth fleet who do escorting, security patrols, they have a wide range of applicability in the navy,” Commanding Officer Steven Terjesen said.

O’Neill says the 127 foot long ships created a family of over 30 sailors. What the ships have done for the country speak for themselves.

“These ships have a storied legacy in the United States navy. They’re only 14 of them built and 10 of them are serving Bahrain and 3 of them here in Mayport,” O’Neill said.

The Captains tell Action News Jax the work these ships have done will go down in history, what they’ll miss most is the comradery on the boat.

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Decommissioning of USS Zephyr NS Mayport

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