A new era in Coast Guard ship recapitalization arrived in Honolulu on Friday morning in the form of the 154-foot, $65 million new “fast response cutter” Oliver Berry — the first in a series of new cutters anticipated in coming years to revitalize an aging fleet.

The cutter and crew of 24 made an 8,400-mile transit from Key West, Fla., through the Panama Canal and with stops in El Salvador; Huatulco and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; and San Diego.

“The Oliver Berry has much more endurance than some of the other cutters that work here,” said executive officer Lt. j.g. Peter Driscoll. “We have a five-day endurance, and we’re able to sail up to 2,500 nautical miles on one tank of gas.”

The new fast-response cutter, the first of three slated for Honolulu, “will be able to reach far beyond the Hawaiian Islands to help with search and rescue efforts and law enforcement fisheries efforts that are the target of the Coast Guard 14th District,” Driscoll said.

The 14th Coast Guard District covers Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, some Pacific island nations and parts of Asia.

The Oliver Berry will be commissioned Oct. 31. The ship’s namesake was an early Coast Guard helicopter maintenance expert who was key in 1946 in the rapid disassembly of a helicopter in New York and its transit and reassembly in Newfoundland in time to rescue 18 from a crashed DC-4 airliner.

The planned new arrivals have kicked off a series of ship movements and retirements.

Two new 418-foot “national security” cutters of the nine being built by the Coast Guard also will be stationed in Honolulu. The Kimball is expected to arrive around April, with commissioning soon after, while the Midgett is scheduled for 2019.

The Coast Guard said with the addition of the Joseph Gerczak and the William Hart, there will be three fast-response cutters at Coast Guard Base Honolulu by the spring of 2019. Three more fast-response cutters will head to Guam starting in 2020.

“The Oliver Berry represents the first asset in the Coast Guard’s recapitalization project to arrive in Coast Guard District 14, so we’re really excited about that,” said Lt. Scott Carr, a District 14 spokesman. “The 110-foot patrol boats that the Oliver Berry and the Sentinel-class fast-response cutters are replacing have been a workhorse for the Coast Guard, and we’re still using them.”

The Coast Guard is spending more than $1 billion annually in acquisition projects to recapitalize its ships, boats, aircraft and command and control systems in what has become a more than two-decade process.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft, in his State of the Coast Guard address in March, said it had been a “phenomenal year” for the nation’s fifth armed service.

The new $695 million national security cutters are the “centerpiece” of the Coast Guard fleet, “capable of executing the most challenging operations, including supporting maritime homeland security and defense missions,” the serv­ice said.

The national security cutters are replacements for the Coast Guard’s dwindling fleet of 378-foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that were first commissioned in 1967. Only four of the original 12 ships remain in active service, including the Sherman in Honolulu, commissioned in 1968. The Sherman just returned from an Arctic patrol.

Another older high-endurance cutter in Honolulu, the Morgenthau, commissioned in 1969, was turned over to Vietnam. The ship still is in Honolulu as the crew familiarizes itself with the vessel.

The 110-foot cutter Assateague, commissioned in 1990, was removed from service on Guam on Thursday and will be decommissioned, and is being replaced by the cutter Kiska, formerly out of Hilo. Hilo can’t accommodate the bigger fast-­response cutters, which have a deeper draft, and the Coast Guard plans to aid Hawaii island in part with HC-130 airplanes and MH-65 Dolphin helicopters.

Additionally, the Galveston Island, a 110-foot cutter in Honolulu, will leave in February to be retired, officials said.

More than 100 Coast Guard personnel and family members were at the Sand Island base pier for the arrival of the Oliver Berry, which was hailed by a conch shell blower and received a Hawaiian blessing.

Michelle Wendelgass waited for her husband, Clayton, a machinery technician second class, with their daughter, Evie, 5, after moving to Oahu from Key West in January.

“We love it here,” Michelle Wendelgass said. “Just hopping from island to island is amazing. We can’t complain.”

Carr, the District 14 spokesman, said the fast-response cutters bring additional capability at sea.

“Where we are really going to see that — probably the biggest thing — is operational hours,” he said. “This cutter has about 7,500 operational hours a year versus the 110-foot patrol boat, which had about 3,400 operational hours a year, which means (the new ships) are going to be on the water more.”