Just one day after the ceremonial commissioning of the icebreaker Storis in Juneau, the US Coast Guard welcomed another vessel into its Alaska fleet, officially commissioning the Coast Guard Cutter Earl Cunningham during a ceremony Monday at Coast Guard Base Kodiak.
Acting Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday presided over the ceremony, which was attended by members of the Cunningham family, including the ship’s sponsor, Penney Helmer, granddaughter of the cutter’s namesake.
“Commissioning the USCGC Earl Cunningham strengthens our ability to control, secure, and defend Alaska’s U.S. border and maritime approaches, protect resources vital to our economic prosperity, and respond to crises throughout the Aleutian Islands,” Lunday said. “This crew will honor the heroic legacy and selfless devotion to duty exemplified by Petty Officer Cunningham in the years ahead.”
The Earl Cunningham is the 59th Fast Response Cutter in the service and the second of three slated to be home-ported in Kodiak. Its crew will operate primarily in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and North Pacific Ocean, carrying out missions such as search and rescue, fishery patrols, drug and migrant interdiction, national defense, and ports, waterways, and coastal security.
The cutter honors Petty Officer 2nd Class Earl Cunningham, who enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1928 after serving in World War I. On Feb. 8, 1936, Cunningham volunteered to rescue two ice fishermen trapped in the frigid waters of Lake Michigan. He reached them in a skiff and pulled them aboard, but severe weather stranded the group on the ice. Three days later, one fisherman made it to shore alive; the other died trying. Cunningham was found frozen in place at the oars of the skiff.
For his sacrifice, Cunningham was posthumously awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal. He left behind his wife, Helen, and three sons.
The new cutter is part of the Coast Guard’s modernization effort to replace its aging 1980s-era Island-class patrol boats. Backed by the largest single funding commitment in Coast Guard history, nearly $25 billion through President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including $1 billion for additional Fast Response Cutters, the vessels boast advanced communications, surveillance, and over-the-horizon deployment capabilities. They are a key component of Force Design 2028, an initiative launched by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to build a more agile and responsive Coast Guard.
The commissioning marks the Earl Cunningham’s joining active service, with a mission ranging from saving lives to defending America’s maritime borders.