A new Coast Guard cutter named after a Coast Guard officer who died trying to capture drug smugglers in the Channel Islands was commissioned Friday. The Terrell Horne III is one of four new fast response ships being home ported at the Coast Guard base in Long Beach.
Horne was a Senior Chief Petty Officer. In December of 2012, he was in small craft deployed near Santa Cruz Island to investigate some suspicious boats, which turned out to be drug smugglers. As the Coast Guard craft approached the two boats, one of them intentionally hit the inflatable boat. Horne suffered fatal head injuries. Two men were convicted of the death.
The Coast Guard cutter named after Horne is 154 feet long, and can travel up to 2500 miles at a speed of up to 28 knots. It has a crew of 24.
