USCGC Reliance (WMEC-615)

USCGC Reliance (WMEC-615) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter. She is the fourth Revenue Cutter / Coast Guard Cutter to bear the name Reliance and the first of the 210' Medium Endurance Cutter Fleet. Constructed by Todd Shipyards in Houston, Texas and commissioned in 1964, she was originally homeported in Corpus Christi, Texas. Her duties included offshore oil rig inspections, fisheries, counter drug, alien migrant interdiction, marine pollution patrols, and search and rescue. Reliance has been homeported in Yorktown, Virginia, Port Canaveral, Florida, New Castle, New Hampshire and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Designed in the early 1960s to replace aging World War II-era vessels, the Reliance-class was developed as a modern, multi-mission platform featuring an innovative flight deck to accommodate helicopter operations. The lead vessel of the class, USCGC Reliance (WMEC-615), entered active service in 1964. Throughout their decades of service, these cutters became the backbone of United States coastal patrol, playing critical roles in major drug interdiction operations and mass migrant rescue missions, such as the 1980 Mariel boatlift. Although several vessels have been decommissioned or transferred to foreign allies like Colombia and Sri Lanka, a portion of the class remains active today as they are gradually replaced by the newer Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutters.