The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) on Tuesday retired patrol cutters Ho Hsing (和星) and Mou Hsing (謀星), which had served the agency since its founding more than two decades ago.

The storied ships — which served in the Northern Flotilla Sector of the CGA Maritime Patrol Directorate — were decommissioned in a ceremony presided over by CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) at the Port of Keelung.

Ho Hsing was built by China Shipbuilding Corp, now known as CSBC Corp, while Mou Hsing was built by the Netherlands-based Wilton-Fijenoord, now part of Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam, the CGA said in a statement.

Photo courtesy of Coast Guard Administration

Formerly revenue enforcement vessels utilized by the Customs Administration, the ships were transferred to the CGA following its establishment in February 2000.

The long-serving ships took part in some of the most memorable operations in coast guard history, the CGA said.

In June 2006, Ho Hsing rescued a Taiwanese chief engineer in the waters off Iwo Jima after its boarding team stormed the Suao-registered fishing boat, detained two alleged Chinese mutineers and retrieved the remains of the boat’s murdered captain, it said.

In November 2017, Ho Hsing rescued five crewmembers of a British-registered yacht that had been entangled in fishing nets off New Taipei City’s Fugueijiao (富貴角) amid sea conditions so rough that towboats and helicopters could not approach, it said.

Mou Hsing was part of the search-and-rescue operations in May 2002 when China Airlines Flight CI611 crashed into the sea north of Penghu’s Mudouyu (目斗嶼), a difficult task the ship’s crew carried out with great dedication and urgency, it said.

In April 2014, Mou Hsing interposed itself between a hail of paintball fire from a Japanese coast guard vessel and a Taiwanese fishing boat that was caught in Japan’s waters while trying to retrieve fishing equipment that had fallen overboard, the CGA said.

In a display of outstanding seamanship, Mou Hsing’s crew repeatedly shielded the Taiwanese boat by skillfully maneuvering their vessel while calmly explaining the situation to their Japanese counterparts via radio, it said.

The Taiwanese boat was safely escorted to Taiwan after reinforcements arrived in the form of the CGA’s Lienchiang, it said, adding that the incident demonstrated the country’s will and capability to defend its fishing rights.

The coast guard last year added the 600-tonne ship Anping (安平), which is the lead ship of its class, to the list of the Northern Flotilla Sector, to be followed by the 4,000-tonne Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessel Hsinchu in April, it said.

The new offshore patrol vessels would expand the capability of the coast guard to protect the legitimate interests of the nation’s fishers wherever they set sail, it said.

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