Xue Long, a Chinese research ship, transits north through the U.S. EEZ and over the U.S. extended continental shelf in the Bering Sea with a declared destination of the Arctic, July 12, 2026. In recent years, the Coast Guard has observed heightened activity in the U.S. Arctic and anticipates continued and increased presence in the region this summer. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

Below is a news release. Yes, it is old news, but I wanted to use it to talk about the work load on PACAREA cutters.

There are nine large patrol cutters in PACAREA, 6 NSCs and 3 WMECs. Typically that means we can consistently have three on patrol at all times, two NSCs and one MEC. Sometimes we may be able to have more but not consistently. Large cutters do not wait in port ready to be called out. Their patrols are scheduled.

About two weeks ago, we had Kimball in RIMPAC, Midgett in Japan, and Munro following a  Chinese Icebreaker.

Typical areas patrolled are:

• Eastern Pacific drug transit area (frequently covered by Atlantic Area ships),
• West Coast fisheries (increasingly covered by Webber class WPCs)
• Alaska SE Coast Fisheries (presumably now also covered increasingly by Webber class)
• Aleutians/Bering Sea
• Oceania Fisheries including American Samoa and Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands and Republic of Palau, sovereign countries partnered with the U.S. through Compacts of Free Association (largely neglected until FRCs arrived in Guam)
• Far Western Pacific.

As I have said before, Atlantic Area (or District SE) should be solely responsible for all drug enforcement in the SOUTHCOM/Fourth Fleet AOR. Their ships are actually closer. They have more than twice as many ships, and their headquarters are all in the same time zone.

Note patrols above the Arctic Circle, beyond the Bering Strait almost never happened until recently. USCGC Healy’s annual trips to the Arctic centered on research they were not there to monitor other nation’s activity. There was essentially no fishing in US waters North of the Arctic Circle. This seems to be changing.

We have Munro monitoring one Chinese icebreaking research ship, but a second shows up.  Can Munro monitor two ships? Do we have a second cutter to monitor the second Chinese ship?

The Arctic Security Cutters seem to be the answer to this question but the Davie design is reportedly only capable of 16 knots while the Xue Long is capable of 18. In ten hours it can be over the horizon. The other Arctic Security Cutter design is almost exactly the same size but has less horsepower, so unlikely to be faster.

It may not be necessary to monitor all Chinese vessels in the Arctic and as they become more numerous it may be impossible. In 2025 there were five. Can we really tell what they may be doing, particularly if they have remotely operated or autonomously operated under water vehicles and/or a moon pool.

Brett Bonner served in the U.S. Coast Guard for 21 years.Credit…Mike Belleme for The New York Times

There is not a lot in this story, just a report of one man who retired with 21 years service in 2022 and committed suicide in 2025 after exhibiting irrational behavior.

I think we all recognize that being a surfman is hard on the body, maybe it is hard on the brain as well. Hope we are tracking this question.

Thanks to Pat for bringing this to my attention. 

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter USCGC Midgett (WMSL 757) sailing alongside the Coast Guard Administration patrol frigate Taipei (CG 5005). The location and date of the joint activity was not identified by U.S. or Taiwanese officials when released July 28, 2026. American Institute in Taiwan photo

US Naval Institute provides an interesting insight into USCGC Midgett’s last patrol into the Western Pacific.

Certainly, one of the largest ships in the US Coast Guard exercising with Taiwan is unusual, despite the existence of a prior agreement,

“In 2021, the USCG and CGA signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a Coast Guard Working Group. According to a release at the time, the document created ‘a platform to institutionalize a dialogue mechanism to develop training curriculums, build cooperation plans and share information between Taiwan and the US.’”

The last paragraph may be a bit controversial,

“The [People’s Liberation Army] exercises around Taiwan in the last two years have demonstrated that maritime law enforcement will play a central role in the enforcement of a blockade,” said Lewis. “The capacity for the USCG and Taiwan CGA to cooperate under those conditions could be useful for coordinating a response.”

USCGC Legare. Screen Grab from a video of Campbell’s arrival at Coast Guard Yard June 2026 in prep for its SLEP (in the video, I saw that there are still at least four WMEC210s moored at near the Yard).

Below is a news release from the Acquisitions Directorate (CG-9).

As reported below and in  previous statements, it is stated, the SLEP program will be completed in 2030. If so, the yard is going to have to pick up the pace and/or start working continuously on two ships simultaneously.

Spencer was in the yard 20 months and Legare for 24 months. They still have four ships to  SLEP and only 53 months to the end of 2030. Spencer arrived July 2023 and departed 8 March 2025. Legare arrived July 2024 and departed 22 July 2026.

At least part of the reason these are being done consecutively seems to be that the crew of incoming ship takes over the departing ship, at least that is what happened with Legare and Campbell. USCGC Campbell’s crew cross decked to Legare.

I have been surprised that neither of the SLEP’d WMEC270s have followed Harriet Lane into the Pacific, considering the extreme shortage of long ranged ships in the Theater most affected by the tyranny of distance and where 84% of the US exclusive economic zone is located. While demand has grown, there are now only nine large patrol ships home-ported in PACAREA, while there were 14 when I retired 35 years ago.

If we are going to have only 35 large patrol ships, at least half of them should be in the Pacific so,17 or 18 ships, eleven or twelve ships in addition to the six NSCs.

It only makes sense to put some of our most reliable/most capable WMECs in the Pacific where the distance is greatest and support is more limited. I would think two more WMEC270s would be a good start. Assuming the two older WMECs (Active and Alex Haley) will be replaced by the first four OPCs, adding two more WMEC270 will only bring the total to 13. (6 NSCs, 4 OPC, and three WMEC270s and that is still years away.)

The fact that they are cross decking crews and sending the SLEP’d ships back to the crews previous home port works against the idea of sending any to the Pacific, but–

Since three of the remaining four ships to be SLEP’d are home-ported in Portsmouth, Va, which nominally has six ships home-ported there, it should not be too hard to find places for them on other WMEC270s in Portsmouth. Over an at least two year period, finding experienced WMEC270 sailors, who want to go to Hawaii, to form the core of two new crews should not be too hard.

Most obvious change in the ship is deletion of the 76mm Mk75 gun and Mk92 Fire-control and combat system.

July 28, 2026 —

Coast Guard Cutter Legare, a 270-foot Famous-class medium endurance cutter, departed Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore on July 22, having successfully completed its 24-month service life extension program (SLEP). The cutter is now on the way to its new homeport in Newport, Rhode Island.

Managed by the Coast Guard’s In-Service Vessel Sustainment (ISVS) Program, the SLEP ensures mission readiness, improves reliability and reduces maintenance costs of the Coast Guard’s operational fleet. The program extends the service life of legacy cutters by replacing obsolete, unsupportable or maintenance-intensive systems, enabling the cutter to continue meeting mission demands in the most cost-effective manner.

Lt. Cmdr. Ben Morseth, ISVS assistant program manager, said the following about sustaining operational capabilities of the cutters: “Continuing to invest into the 270-foot fleet and breathe life into the systems onboard will bolster the Coast Guard’s bench strength as we await the offshore patrol cutters (OPCs) of the future.”

The SLEP for the medium endurance cutters includes updates and replacements of electrical power generation and distribution systems, main diesel propulsion engines and gun weapon systems. Legare is the second  of six medium endurance cutters scheduled to receive all major system overhauls including new main propulsion engines. This intensive work, which began in June 2024, will allow the cutter to operate for an additional decade, sustaining operational capability as the Coast Guard transitions to the OPC fleet.

Four additional medium endurance cutters – Campbell, Forward, Escanaba and Tahoma – will complete SLEPs by 2030. Seneca and Harriet Lane previously served as prototypes for the electrical and structural work but did not receive new engines. Harriet Lane also served as the prototype for the MK38 gun weapon system.

For more information: In-Service Vessel Sustainment Program page and Offshore Patrol Cutter Program page

USCGC Charles Sexton (WPC-1108). US Coast Guard photo.

Below is a news release from District SE. 

This is an unusual report in that it sights the support of the vessel Ocean pictured below.

I am still uncomfortable with the designation HSC, Homeland Security Cutter. Cutter implies law enforcement authority this civilian manned ship does not have. How about USMV, United States Motor Vessel, or HSMV, Homeland Security Motor Vessel? Really I think US needs to be included in the designation as a US government vessel as it is in USS, USNS, or USCG. How about USHS or USCGV?

Homeland Security Cutter Ocean

This story was reported by US Naval Institute in the post, “George Washington CSG in the South China Sea After Philippine-Chinese Clashes.”

“We’re committed to supporting our treaty partners, and obviously we’ve already done quite a bit. In fact, there was a U.S. Coast Guard vessel in the region at the time that this happened and actually helped stand between the two sides and allowed the individual who was injured to be rescued and brought back for medical treatment,” Rubio told reporters on the sidelines of the Association of South East Asian Nations Foreign Ministers’ Meeting last week.

These Sentinel-class cutters were previously deployed to the Middle East but have since shifted to Southeast Asia since the start of the U.S.-Iran conflict.

US Coast Guard / CENTCOM released photo of weapons seized aboard an Iranian dhow on February 15 2024. The seizure included UUV and USV components. The annotations, highlighting possible UUV parts, have been added.

TWZ (The War Zone) reports,

From the ongoing conflict with Iran, to the Ukraine war and hotspots around the world, aerial drones have proven to be extremely dangerous and effective weapons and a mad rush is on to counter them. It is a technology race that makes headlines on a near daily basis. However, a similar but far quieter and less visible threat is emerging below the waves and now the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is looking to do more about it.

Faced with a growing threat from uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), the USCG is seeking technology not just to detect these weapons, but to defeat them. Ports and other maritime facilities are vulnerable to this kind of attack vector, and our adversaries surely know it. The effort is being led by the Coast Guard Futures Development and Integration (FD&I) Directorate, which oversees research, modeling and simulation, technology forecasting, and field experimentation.

As glad as I am that someone is actually looking into this, I am surprised because, so far, the Coast Guard does not seem to have done anything, since the upgrades to the six FRCs that were assigned to PATFORSWA, to counter attacks by unmanned surface and air threats that are much easier to stage and probably more likely.

Is this just harbor defense or open ocean as well? Could this lead to the rebirth of the Coast Guard’s ASW mission?

I would think the Mk58 Very Light Weight Torpedo might be used. if so it might also be used against surface threats.

Coast Guard buoy tenders functioned as net tenders in WWII. Nets are a major project but they have had some success.

Attacking ships in port has always been an option, but we usually think in terms of air attacks, but the Italians were very successful attacking British ships in port using swimmer delivery vehicles. 

Related;

• “Mounting Ship Losses To Explosive USVs” –Covert Shores
• “Houthi’s Blowfish: Guide To Explosive USV Threat In Red Sea” –Covert Shores /
• Ruminating on an Attack on a US Port
• “Successful JAGM Quad Launcher Demo Showcases 90-Degree Vertical Launch And C-UAS Capabilities” –Lockheed Martin
• Invariant’s Surface-to-Air Kinetic Engagement (STAKE) system–Maybe Something the Coast Guard Needs
• Hellfire the Drone Killer

Arctic Exclusive Economic Zones. Note the location of the Arctic Circle inside the larger circle.. 

CIMSEC provides a look at the legal status of both the Arctic and Antarctic, contrasting the Maritime nature of the Arctic and the continental commons nature of the Antarctic. The post is written by a Coast Guard officer. “CDR Jake Brantley currently serves as Deputy Chief – Coast Guard Office of Future Plans and Operations (CG-35) at CG Headquarters.”

It is a concise look at two complicated subjects. Well worth the time. The accompanying charts here may be helpful.

Taiwan received Penghu (CG 1007) from the CSBC Corporation’s Keelung shipyard on July 21, 2026. Taiwan Coast Guard photo

The US Naval Institute News service reports the Taiwan Coast Guard has received the fifth of a class of six new Offshore Patrol Vessels.

The ship is a pretty typical Offshore Patrol Vessel. reportedly 2,077 tons full load with a speed of 24 knots and a range of 6,000 nautical miles.

What I found remarkable was the ship’s armament, a remote weapon station that can fire up to 42 rockets before being required to reload. It is called the NCSIST 2.75in rockets remote weapon station. These rockets are 70mm in diameter, the same as standard Hydra Rockets and APKWS. Turns out, these have been fitted to several Taiwan CG cutters in place of the Bofors 40mm gun they used previously.

NCSIST 2.75in rockets remote weapon station

There is no indication that the rockets used by this system are guided in any way. Even unguided rockets could be devastating at close range. It is almost certain that these mounts could fire guided rounds. They also have a flare illumination round that reportedly can burn up to five minutes.

System carried on Coast Guard Administration (Taiwan) vessel Anping-class offshore patrol vessel. This appears to be the breech, looking forward. 

I don’t see any electro-optics mounted on the remote weapon station, so presumably the fire control system is mounted separately.

Equipped with APKWS, this system could be very effective out to at least 8,000 yards.

The Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) returns to Seattle following a two-month Arctic patrol, Aug. 16, 2024. The Healy is the United States’ largest Polar icebreaker and was commissioned in 2000. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Taylor Tracy)

Coast Guard News reports,

“WASHINGTON – U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (CGC) Healy experienced a significant engineering casualty while operating northwest of Port Angeles, Washington. There were no reported injuries. On July 13^th, tugs safely towed CGC Healy back to homeport for an investigation into the incident and to undergo major repairs.”

Sounds like they already know this was a major casualty.