A U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) crew member looks at Tromsø, Norway as the cutter departs Tromsø, Oct. 5, 2023. U.S. Coast Guard Photo

The US Naval Institute’s Fleet and Marine Tracker for 10 October again reports only two Navy ships operating with 4th Fleet.

I find their statistical information interesting. For instance, 23.1% of the Navy’s ships are underway and 33.1% are deployed. The fleet includes both regular Navy (USS) and Military Sealift Command (USNS) ships. 27.7% of regular Navy ships are deployed, while 54.2% of MSC ships are deployed. 33% of the fleet deployed are MSC even though MSC is only 20.3% of the total fleet. There is no USS/USNS breakdown for ships underway, but I would bet the MSC ships are disproportionately more likely to be underway than the regular Navy ships so probably less than 23% of regular Navy commissioned ships are underway. These numbers are pretty typical.

I would really like to see some comparable figures for US Coast Guard ships. I think we would look pretty good.

We frequently hear that the US Navy ships are overworked, and I would not say that they are not, but I don’t think it is because they are underway too much. Other things must be the problem.

USCGC Munro is wrapping up her 7th Fleet deployment, stopping in Honolulu before returning to homeport, Alameda, CA. Icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) is in Copenhagen, a long way from her Seattle homeport.