Admiral Steve Koehler, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, toured the Sri Lanka Navy offshore patrol vessel P628 during a port call at Coast Guard Base Honolulu on April 3, the U.S. Pacific Fleet has confirmed.
P628 is the former U.S. Coast Guard medium endurance cutter USCGC Decisive (WMEC 629), formally transferred to the Sri Lanka Navy at a ceremony at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore on December 2, 2025. The vessel is making its delivery voyage across the Pacific to Sri Lanka and is among the largest combatants in the navy’s surface fleet.
Koehler met with the Sri Lanka Navy leadership embarked on the ship and “stressed the importance of enduring partnerships in maintaining a Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s account. The visit marks one of the highest-ranking American naval engagements with Sri Lanka in recent memory.
The optics arrive at a delicate moment for Colombo’s strategic balancing act. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar publicly described Hambantota port as a “foreign military base” earlier this month — the sharpest Indian language on the Chinese-leased facility since 2017 — and any visible deepening of US naval ties with the Sri Lanka Navy will be closely watched in New Delhi as well as Beijing.
The transfer of Decisive was authorised under the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and is intended to expand Sri Lanka’s capacity for fisheries protection, anti-piracy patrols and search and rescue across its exclusive economic zone. Indian Ocean maritime security has taken on added urgency as commercial shipping reroutes around the Strait of Hormuz amid the Middle East energy crisis, with Sri Lanka’s southern shipping lanes carrying spillover traffic.
The U.S. Pacific Fleet did not name the Sri Lankan officers who attended the Honolulu reception or release further details of the bilateral discussions.
