On June 18, 2025, an official ceremony was held at the Vietnamese port of Ninh Hoa to commission the former large patrol ship of the American Coast Guard WHEC 717 Mellon type Hamilton, which was transferred to the Vietnamese Coast Guard. The ship was commissioned into the Vietnamese Coast Guard under the designation CSB 8022, becoming the third Hamilton-class ship in its composition. The transfer took place within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral military cooperation between the United States and Vietnam.
The CSB 8022 large patrol ship, which became part of the Vietnamese Coast Guard, is a former Hamilton-class US Coast Guard WHEC 717 Mellon ship. Ninh Hoa, 06/18/2025 (c) U.S. Embassy in Vietnam
The WHEC 717 Mellon patrol ship was commissioned into the U.S. Coast Guard in January 1968 and decommissioned on August 20, 2020. From 1969 to 1972, the ship took an active part in the fighting during the Vietnam War. The process of transferring Mellon to Vietnam was started back in 2022, but eventually stretched over three years.
Earlier, the United States transferred two other Hamilton-type ships decommissioned from the US Coast Guard to the Vietnamese Coast Guard. In May 2017, WHEC 722 Morgenthau, which received the Vietnamese designation CSB 8020, and in June 2021, WHEC 726 John Midgett, which received the Vietnamese designation CSB 8021, were transferred.
The WHEC 717 Mellon became the last, 12th Hamilton-class ship transferred abroad. As a result, all 12 ships of this type, commissioned from 1967 to 1972 (full displacement 3,250 tons, length 115 m), after decommissioning from the US Coast Guard in 2011-2020, were transferred to foreign fleets - three Philippine Navy, three Vietnamese Coast Guard, two Nigerian Navy, two Bangladesh Navy and two The Sri Lankan Navy.
The CSB 8022 large patrol ship, which became part of the Vietnamese Coast Guard, is a former Hamilton-class US Coast Guard WHEC 717 Mellon ship. Ninh Hoa, 06/18/2025 (c) U.S. Embassy in Vietnam
