This is one of those things where I ask myself, what does this really mean? UPI reports five US Navy destroyers, USS O’Kane (DDG-77), USS Howard (DDG-83), USS Chafee (DDG-90), USS Kidd (DDG-100) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) exercised with USCGC Midgett (WMSL-757) and USCGC Oliver Berry (WPC-1124).
The only clue seems to be a quote from USS Michael Murphy’s CO:
“Working with our Coast Guard counterparts has allowed us to expand interoperability between our AEGIS weapons system and their unmanned systems. The Coast Guard is an indispensable partner in an integrated, all-domain naval force,” Maloney said.
The Destroyers are homeported in San Diego, Everett, and Pearl Harbor. Both Midgett and Oliver Berry are homeported in Honolulu. So I presume this happened in the operating areas near Hawaii. None of these destroyers is mentioned as underway in the June 14 US Naval Institute Fleet and Marine Tracker.
The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service quotes Midgett’s captain, Alan McCabe, “Combined operations like this one provide the Coast Guard an opportunity to bolster our interoperability with the Navy and ensure readiness that facilitates a free and open Indo-Pacific consistent with international rules and norms.”
It is likely the Coast Guard is helping with boarding techniques, but the mention of Coast Guard unmanned systems, suggests they are also learning to tap into the information from Midgett’s Scan Eagle.
Wonder if this had anything to do with the Russian exercise near Hawaii reported here: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41124/questions-remain-after-report-that-f-22s-were-scrambled-due-to-major-russian-naval-exercise-near-hawaii
This confirms the location is off Hawaii. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2021/06/28/naval-us-russia-hawaii/9261624895683/
I remember the good ole’ days when the Soviet AGI’s would just hang out (flying Ball – Diamond – Ball) 3 miles outside of Pearl Harbor or follow us all around during RIMPAC.
on an oiler, aor-2, in the med, russian trawlers following us around while we did unreps. apparently it was still new to them. early 80s.