KODIAK, Alaska – The Coast Guard retired the Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter fleet during a ceremony, Tuesday.
Capt. Timothy Williams, commanding officer of Air Station Kodiak, presided over the ceremony honoring the 36 years of service the MH-65 Dolphin airframe and its crews provided to the Arctic region.
Air Station Kodiak currently has a rotary-wing fleet of six MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters. The unit will shift to a rotary-wing ship-and-shore based fleet of nine MH-60 Jayhawks in 2025.
Air Station Kodiak will be the fourth Coast Guard Air Station to transition to a single rotary wing fleet of MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters. Air Stations Borinquen, Traverse City, and New Orleans all recently completed similar transitions.
"For decades, the cutter and helicopter team were the core of the ALPAT mission,” said Cmdr. James Kenshalo, MH-65 Dolphin pilot. “Together they projected force and protection to the most extreme remote regions of our nation's territories, operating beyond where help could reach. Countless lives have been saved because of these dedicated crews."
Air Station Kodiak’s support of the ALPAT mission evolved from HH-52 Seaguard aircraft to the MH-65 Dolphin in January 1988, providing Coast Guard cutters with a potential airborne asset for patrols across the Arctic, Bering Sea, and Gulf of Alaska.
To read more about the Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin and MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters click the following links:
SRR - MH-65 (uscg.mil)
MH-60T Service Life Extension Program (uscg.mil)