Thu, 12/13/2018 - 13:40

Coast Guard Cutter Abbie Burgess makes a stop in Buffalo, New York, Nov. 20, 2018. Abbie Burgess departed Rockland, Maine, on Nov. 5, 2018, to support District Nine in Operation Fall Retrieve. (U.S. Coast Guard photo, Petty Officer 3rd Class Zachary Hupp)

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Nunan visits the Abbie Burgess crew in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 27, 2018. Rear Adm. Nunan, commander of the Coast Guard 9th District, thanked the crew for their help with Operation Fall Retrieve. (U.S. Coast Guard photo, Petty Officer 3rd Class Zachary Hupp)

Coast Guard Cutter Abbie Burgess encounters rough seas and strong winds near Nova Scotia on Nov. 9, 2018. The crew estimated that the waves reached heights of 15 feet. (U.S. Coast Guard photo, Petty Officer 3rd Class Zachary Hupp)

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Abbie Burgess returned to homeport of Rockland Dec. 12 after a 37-day patrol to the Great Lakes region in support of Operation Fall Retrieve.

During the patrol, Abbie Burgess' crew assisted in efforts to remove or replace 1,219 seasonal aids to navigation in the ninth Coast Guard District area of responsibility.

The crew also serviced two Canadian weather buoys.

Abbie Burgess transited through the St. Lawrence Seaway, making stops in Montreal, Buffalo, New York and Cleveland.

"Although it was an unusually long trip for a cutter this size, I think the whole crew saw the benefits to our shipmates in District Nine," said Chief Warrant Officer Michael Bollinger, commanding officer of Abbie Burgess, in a news release. "It was an amazing journey, both accomplishing the mission and growing together as a crew. The morale of the crew during the patrol was phenomenal, and the amount of support provided by everyone in District Nine was incredible."

Abbie Burgess is a 175-foot coastal buoy tender with primary missions of maintaining aids-to-navigation and light ice breaking, and is named after a heroic lighthouse keeper from Rockland. Read more about Abbie Burgess HERE.