[2][3] Like her sister ships, Joseph Tezanos is designed to perform search and rescue missions, port security, and the interception of smugglers.

Just days before being commissioned into active service, Joseph Tezanos was the on-scene coordinator for the rescue of the burning cruise ferry Caribbean Fantasy[4] several miles outside of San Juan harbor.

Leading a flotilla of federal, territorial, commercial, and Good Samaritan vessels, the plankowner crew of Joseph Tezanos saved all 511 crewmembers and passengers from Caribbean Fantasy.

[5] In late March 2019, Joseph Tezanos seized a large shipment of illegal drugs from a 30 feet (9.1 m) "go-fast" vessel off Loiza, Puerto Rico.

Tezanos led a crew of volunteers that took a boat dangerously close to the conflagration, and rescued over forty survivors.