USCG Kodiak retires MH-65 Dolphin
On 23 April 2024, the US Coast Guard (USCG) retired the MH-65 Dolphin helicopter fleet at Air Station Kodiak during a ceremony after 36 years of service. The first Dolphins arrived at Kodiak in January 1988, replacing the Sikorsky HH-52 Seaguard.
Currently, Air Station Kodiak operates a rotary-wing fleet of six Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk multi-mission, twin-engine, medium-range helicopters. The unit will transition to a rotary-wing ship-and-shore based fleet of nine MH-60T Jayhawks in 2025.
Kodiak is the fourth Coast Guard Air Station to transition to a single rotary-wing fleet of Jayhawks. Air Stations Borinquen (Aguadilla/Rafael Hernandez, Puerto Rico), Traverse City (Traverse City/Cherry Capital, Michigan), and New Orleans (New Orleans NAS JRB, Alvin Callender Field, Louisiana) recently completed similar transitions.
On 8 December 2023, Scramble Magazine first reported that the USCG would transition its rotary-wing fleet to a standardised, single-platform fleet of Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawks. All USCG MH-65D/E Dolphin Short Range Recovery (SRR) helicopters will be withdrawn from use in the coming years, with the first six planned for FY 2024.
Credit photo (just illustrative): Coert van Breda (Scramble Archive)