Former US Coast Guard Island-class patrol boats Ocracoke and Washington have been loaded onto a transport ship in Baltimore, Maryland, and are now en route for Odesa, where they will join the Ukrainian Navy.
The two boats, which will be known as Sumy and Fastiv in Ukrainian Navy service, are the third and fourth patrol boats in the class transferred from the US Coast Guard to Ukraine under the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program in recent years.
The first two boats, Starobilsk (former Drummond) and Sloviansk (former Cushing), were handed over to Ukraine in 2019, while a fifth one is set to be handed over next year.
In January 2021, multiple Ukrainian Navy crews travelled to Baltimore for 10 weeks of training on the Sumy and Fastiv. The training consisted of both intensive classroom work with Coast Guard instructors and a lot of hands-on time on the boats practicing core tasks like basic seamanship, maintenance, and firefighting.
The boats will arrive in Ukraine with US-made ship systems installed on board and combat modules with 30 mm guns, optoelectronic control systems and other equipment.
With the Island-class patrol boat transfers, the US continues to provide Ukraine with vessels that are urgently needed to replace those seized, held, or destroyed by the Russian military during the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
In addition to the Island-class boats, the US is also building new MK VI patrol boats for the country and continues to support the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $2.5 billion in training and equipment to help Ukraine preserve its territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO.
