Built at Bollinger Shipyard in Lockport, Louisiana, Adak was placed in commission on 18 August 1989 in New Jersey and decommissioned on 30 June 2021 in Manama, Bahrain after almost 32 years of service.
[2] After stopping F/V Hunter off the coast of New York in 1991, Adak's boarding team found 10,771 lb (4,886 kg) of cocaine worth over $861 million at the time.
[2] During Adak's stateside service she conducted many successful fisheries patrols, enforcing maritime laws and treaties, and ensuring the safety of fishermen.
During this time Adak issued eleven Magnuson Fishery Conservation Act violations, five of those resulting in catch seizures that, together, totalled over $160,000.
[2] After the attacks on the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard tug Hawser, homeported in Bayonne, New Jersey, was the first on scene in New York Harbor and acted as On-Scene Commander.
[2] For hours Adak coordinated the evacuation of civilians, transport of firefighters and rescue personnel, and the establishment of security zones to protect other high valued assets from further attack.
[6] In early February 2003, the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area Command deployed to the Persian Gulf the WPBs Adak, Aquidneck, Baranof, and Wrangell.
With the vessels scattering in all directions, Adak, Wrangell, and their small boats, aided by other Coalition units, managed to corral all of the Iraqi watercraft and board them.
After boarding teams had thoroughly searched the dhows, Adak and the other patrol vessels allowed the watercraft to proceed along a specific route into the northern area of the Persian Gulf.
[6] In the early morning hours of March 20, Coalition forces initiated combat operations with air attacks against key military targets in Baghdad.
The Adak and Aquidneck enforced a security zone while the USS Higgins launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles into Iraq.
Adak conducted Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations, recovered three hypothermic Iraqis at 8:30, and transferred the prisoners to an Australian naval vessel for processing.
The process proved slow as the minesweepers proceeded at a rate of three knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) up the forty-mile (64 km) channel to the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.
[6] It took about a week to complete mine-clearing operations on the KAA and with Umm Qasr in Coalition hands, cargo vessels could begin steaming into the Iraqi port.
Naval combat operations concluded near the end of March, but Adak joined the other WPBs to continue their force protection role and served as escorts while the navy salvage vessel Grapple and the tugboat Catawba removed obstructions in the waterway.
On March 28, Coalition forces sent the first shipload of humanitarian aid into Umm Qasr on board the shallow draft Royal Fleet Auxiliary Sir Galahad under the escort of Adak, Wrangell, a minesweeper and patrol craft Firebolt.
On April 11, Adak escorted Iraq's first commercial shipment on board MV Manar, which carried 700 tons of Red Crescent Society aid of food, water, medical supplies and transport vehicles.
Given the frequency that hostilities erupt in the world's littoral regions, shallow-draft Coast Guard units and their specialized personnel will continue to play an important part in future naval operations.