Yearly Archives: 2023

“Icebreakers, Pay Raise, New Cutters: House Adds $430M to Coast Guard Budget” –Military.com

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FOUR WEBBER CLASS PATROL CRAFT. 220822-A-KS490-1182 STRAIT OF HORMUZ (Aug. 22, 2022) From the left, U.S. Coast Guard fast response cutters USCGC Glen Harris (WPC 1144), USCGC John Scheuerman (WPC 1146), USCGC Emlen Tunnell (WPC 1145) and USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr. (WPC 1147) transit the Strait of Hormuz, Aug. 22. The cutters are forward-deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet to help ensure maritime security and stability across the Middle East. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Noah Martin)

Military.com reports,

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved an increase to the Coast Guard’s fiscal 2024 budget, forwarding a bill to the full chamber that funds a 5.2% pay raise for members, a commercial icebreaker, four additional fast response cutters, and an extra HC-130J Super Hercules aircraft.

In addition to the projects in the original budget request, the committe has obviously, they have been looking at the Coast Guard’s FY2024 Unfunded Priority List.

The Unfunded Priority List included requests for an additional $1.6B.

The House Appropriations Committee recommendation would fund about $430M, including two big ticket items, four additional Webber class patrol craft and an additional C-130J. The unfunded priority list had listed the total price for the cutters and aircraft as $538.5M, so the markup may not include all the support costs for the cutters and missionization costs for the aircraft included in the Unfunded Priority list.

This still has a way to go before becoming law, but the Coast Guard has been receiving substantial bipartisan support and for the last few years Procurement, Construction, and Improvements budgets have been increased substantially over the requested amounts. There seems to be wide support for additional Webber class cutters to serve in the Western Pacific. As I noted in March,

We shouldn’t expect everything on the list to be approved, but I think we will definitely see the additional C-130 and at least three additional FRCs. Some of the other items will probably be approved as well. Those items not funded in FY2024 will likely be included in the FY2025 budget.

Missing Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles

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Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM)

Myself and others have suggested that it might be a good idea to equip US Coast Guard cutters with anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs).

While I think cutters should be fitted for launchers of at least eight ASCMs, so that in wartime they might swamp the defenses of an enemy combatant with a relatively robust air defense, they don’t need to carry that many all the time. (The new FFGs will carry up to 16 ASCMs.) For defense against a possible terrorist attack using a medium to large ship, two LRASM, AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, with their large warhead and target selectivity, would probably suffice. For sensitive international peacetime missions, they might need or want to carry none at all.

Certainly not everyone agrees, “U.S. Coast Guard’s VADM Linda Fagan (Pacific Command) answers why the Large Coast Guard Cutters Do Not Up-Arm” by Peter Ong, but there may be another reason the idea has not been accepted.

A Defense News report has a revealing quote,

“We need about 1,000 to 1,200 [long-range anti-ship missiles] if you believe the unclassified wargames,” Gallagher adding, noting the U.S. currently has less than 250 in its inventory.

That may only refer to the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, but there may be a shortage of anti-ship missiles. That could explain a lot, including why no ASCMs on cutters; why no ASCM armed surface combatants; why so slow to arm LCS with cruise missiles, why many Destroyers apparently have no ASCMs. DOD is going to fill their highest priority needs first.

The US Navy has about 110 surface combatants (cruisers, destroyers, and LCS). If each were armed with 8 ASCMs that would require 880. Submarines may carry a relatively small number of ASCMS, but ships are not the primary users of ASCMs. Aircraft have that role.

Each Air Force B-1Bs can carry up to 24 LRASMs. LRASM and NSM are also to be carried by Navy F/A-18s and Air Force, Navy, and Marine F-35, and by P-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft. A fully loaded Aircraft Carrier might require well over a hundred missiles.

Until recently, ASCM procurement rates have been modest. Apparently, more missiles are coming.

The rapid consumption of high-tech munitions in Ukraine has apparently convinced many we need deeper magazines.

The Pentagon’s $170 billion procurement budget request ― touted as the largest ever ― would use a new “large lot procurement pilot” strategy to maximize production capacity for several munitions used across the services: Lockheed Martin’s Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER) and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) ― and the Raytheon Technologies-made RIM-174 Standard Missile (SM-6), AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AAMRAM).

Though not in the pilot program, the Pentagon is also using multiyear contracting to buy roughly 103 Naval Strike Missiles at $250 million. The Marine Corps’ new, low-signature Marine Littoral Regiments and their Navy/Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System are slated for 90 of the ground-based missiles, which Raytheon manufactures.

Procuring 103 missiles over five years still looks like a pretty slow pace to me, considering China is apparently threatening to attack Taiwan in 2027 and we have a capacity for producing hundreds of missiles per year. If Taiwan is attacked in 2027, it will be a target rich environment and those missiles in the out years will be too late.

In 2021 Defense News reported, there is no production bottleneck delaying the rapid deployment of large numbers of Naval Strike Missiles (NSM).

“Demand is not an issue. If they suddenly come out and they say we need 200 a year, 300 a year, 500 a year, we can do that,” Schreiber added.

Lockheed is doubling their production capacity.

Perhaps when magazines are filled, the question of missiles for cutters will be reconsidered.

“Coast Guard completes mission at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay” –MyCG

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Coast Guardsmen from Port Security Unit 307 conduct seaward security for Department of Defense assets and personnel at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, April 25, 2022. During the nine-month deployment, unit operations focused on maritime defense, providing more than 30,000 hours of around-the-clock waterside and shore side anti-terrorism and force protection. U.S. Coast Guard by photo by Lt. Cmdr. Glenn Sanchez.

Just passing this along from MyCG.

June 16, 2023

Coast Guard completes mission at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay

By Lt. Cmdr. Jeannie Shaye, Coast Guard Public Affairs Officer

NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit (PSU) 305 members conducted a casing of the colors ceremony at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Tuesday, marking the end of the Coast Guard’s 21-year mission supporting Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO).

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan presided over the historical ceremony and presented a Coast Guard Unit Commendation award to the men and women of PSU 305.

Port Security Units are part of the Coast Guard’s deployable specialized forces and have served JTF-GTMO as the Maritime Security Detachment (MARSECDET) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom for over 21 years. The Virginia-based PSU 305 was the first PSU deployed to Guantanamo Bay in 2002 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and this tour completes their fifth unit deployment.

“Thanks to the quiet resolve and careful watch of our Port Security Units for the past 21 years, the work our Nation has conducted here has been done safely and securely,” said Fagan during the ceremony.

Coast Guard PSUs and Maritime Safety and Security Teams have provided maritime anti-terrorism force protection for JTF-GTMO since 2002 as a part of the Global War on Terror.

There have been 39 unit rotations to Guantanamo Bay since the Coast Guard began supporting the mission. The men and women assigned to the MARSECDET collectively provided over 200,000 underway hours conducting around-the-clock waterside patrols and over 50,000 hours of shoreside anti-terrorism and force protection defense security to Department of Defense assets and personnel at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.

Upon the conclusion of the JTF-GTMO mission, PSUs will continue to remain an agile expeditionary force provider that play a critical role in protecting strategic maritime operations in an environment of increasing global competition. In addition, PSUs will participate in national-level joint and combined exercises to increase readiness and proficiency for the full spectrum of PSU capabilities.

“This is an exciting time for the PSU community,” said Capt. Matthew Michaelis, Pacific Area Deputy Chief of Operations. “As the focus shifts from a long-standing enduring mission, we look forward to supporting future missions that align with their diverse set of capabilities. Our PSUs recently completed three joint DoD exercises and are preparing for additional exercises overseas with DoD and some of our trusted partners.  The increased focus on interoperability will better prepare our PSUs to deploy in a joint or multi-lateral environment as they were designed, while also creating opportunities to evolve and uncover new and novel ways for their employment.”

PSUs are Coast Guard Reserve-staffed units that support our nation with well-equipped, trained, and organized expeditionary forces that can rapidly deploy worldwide for anti-terrorism and force protection operations or in defense of high-value assets. Eight PSUs are strategically positioned throughout the country and assigned to the Coast Guard Pacific Area commander in Alameda, Calif.

JTF-GTMO is a U.S. Southern Command task force responsible for the safe, humane, legal care and custody of law of armed conflict detainees; collection and dissemination of intelligence; and supporting military commissions, periodic review boards, and habeas review.

The MARSECDET responsibilities were turned over in May to servicemembers assigned to the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay’s Navy Harbor Patrol Unit and Marine Corps Security Forces.

Following the ceremony, PSU 305 members will return home to Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

“The Compacts of Free Association and the Role of the U.S. Coast Guard” –CSIS

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Estimated exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs). The EEZs of countries that are the Parties to the Nauru Agreement are shown in darker blue. Note that not all EEZs of PICTs have been officially delineated under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Source: Patrick Lehodey

(Before we start, CSIS also has a great overview of what has been going on in the Western Pacific/Oceania, “STRATEGIC UPGRADES IN THE PACIFIC,” that includes an interactive map. You might want to take a look at it if you want an update on what has been happening in the Western Pacific.)

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has a study proposing,

“One way for the U.S. to show value to the relationship is by aiding the FAS (Freely Associated States–Chuck) in combating illegal maritime activities, building maritime law enforcement capacity, and working with local government and civilian partners to conduct a range of maritime domain training using the USCG as the interlocutor.”

This seems to be encouragement to do more of what the Coast Guard is already doing as part of the aid package negotiations. But to do more, the Coast Guard needs more. US EEZ South and West of Hawaii is equal to 181% the size of the entire Atlantic Area (AA) EEZ, where more than half of all Coast Guard assets are assigned.

If we add the Freely Associated States:

Without considering the other eleven additional island states with EEZs totaling 7.3 times that of the entire Atlantic Area EEZ, the US and Freely Associated States alone have a combined EEZ 4.85 times that of the entire Atlantic Area, e.g., East Coast, Gulf Coast, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Permanently based in this huge area we have exactly three patrol craft and a buoy tender, and not a single Coast Guard aircraft.

Will the Coast Guard get the four additional Webber Class Fast Response Cutters on their Unfunded Priorities List? Will there be at least a fixed wing aviation support detachment?

A US Coast Guard base in one of the Freely Associated States could be a win-win.

Thanks to Paul for bringing this to my attention.

Canada’s Multi-Purpose Vessels

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Canadian CG MPV. Credit Aker Arctic.

Canada has a project to replace a large part of the Canadian Coast Guard fleet with up to 16 Multi-purpose Ships at an estimated cost of $14.2 billion (Canadian), with the first ship to be delivered in 2029.

There has not been a lot of reporting about this class, but frequent contributor Walter pointed me to two sources, Seaspan Shipyards and designer Aker Arctic. It appears they have very concrete ideas about what the class will look like.

Canadian CG MPV. Credit Aker Arctic.

MISSIONS:

According to Aker Arctic,

The MPVs will also perform cargo missions, bringing supplies to northern communities, carry out search & rescue and patrol missions, in addition to icebreaking. Most of their time will be spent on the St Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and along the Canadian East Coast. Additionally, they will have a summer Arctic mission leaving from Victoria in British Columbia and travelling north around Alaska to the Canadian Arctic.

Due to the wide variety of tasks, the long-distance mission to the western Arctic, and the fact that some of the waterways have a limited depth, the vessel needed to be compact with a shallow draught, narrow beam, high endurance, and with a large cargo capacity.

CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Displacement: about 8,500 tons
  • Length, overall: 99.9 meters (328′)
  • Beam: 20.3 meters (66.7′)
  • Draft: 6.2 meters (20’4″)
  • Propulsion: diesel-electric; two azimuthing propulsion units

As is the case with all Canadian Coast Guard cutters, they have no fixed armament. It does look like it could host a medium sized helicopter and containerized systems, including perhaps below the hangar deck.

RANGE:

To me the most surprising characteristic of the ship is its range, 12,000 nautical miles. This was apparently driven by a summer Arctic mission from Victoria in British Columbia, north around Alaska to the Canadian Arctic.

ICE CLASS: 

These ships will be Canadian Ice Class 4, meaning they will have the capability to maintain a speed of 3 knots through ice 4 feet thick. The Canadian Coast Guard will consider these heavy icebreakers. We don’t have any figures on horsepower, but they probably will have less than 20,000 HP which, in the USCG system, would classify them as light icebreakers.

Compared to the US Coast Guard’s “heavy” Great Lakes icebreaker, Mackinaw (3,500 tons and 73m), these will be more powerful and more than twice as large. These might be a good design for the planned second USCG Great Lakes icebreaker.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE USCG:

Aside from possible use of the design for Great Lakes icebreaker, these might be pretty close to what the USCG needs for their planned medium icebreakers. Certainly, consultation with Canadian counterparts will sharpen the focus of the US design effort. We might also have reasons to limit beam and draft.

U.S. Coast Guard participates in Exercise Argus 2023

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The USCGC Sycamore (WLB 209) crew participates in a navigation exercise with HDMS Knud Rasmussen (P570), a Royal Danish Navy Knud Rasmussen-class patrol vessel and the FNS Fulmar (P740), a French Navy patrol vessel, off the coast of Southern Greenland, June 13, 2023. Deployed forces demonstrated U.S. Coast Guard capabilities to build partner capacity and expertise in search and rescue, navigation, and damage control. These efforts solidify key strategic relationships while achieving mutual Danish, Greenlandic, and U.S. goals in the North American Atlantic Arctic and Northwest Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Cmdr. Katherine Blue)

Just passing along this very nice photo and caption from the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS). I have added links to describe the vessels involved.

USS/USCGC Chincoteague (AVP-24/WAVP/WHEC-375)/RVNS Lý Thường Kiệt (HQ-16)/RPS Andrés Bonifacio (PF-7)

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Title: USS Chincoteague (AVP-24) Photographed on 27 December 1943 off the Mare Island Navy Yard following repairs to severe battle damage incurred in July 1943. One of the four 5/38 guns in her original armament has been replaced by a quadruple 40mm mount. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection  in the U.S. National Archives. Catalog #: 19-N-57482

Recently finished reading “USS Chincoteague the Ship That Wouldn’t Sink” by Frank D. Murphy. It is a small, large print book, the first-person story of a young sailor, then 19, and his first ship, a newly commissioned small seaplane tender, USS Chincoteague, that endured eleven air attacks 16-17 July 1943, only three months after she had been commissioned.

I had a personal interest because my first ship, USCGC McCulloch, the former USS Wachapreague, was also Barnegat class ship.

The attacks on Chincoteague were during a period when the US was moving up the Soloman Island Chain. The Allies had invaded New Georgia, but the fighting was heavy, and the Japanese were making a strong effort to push the allies off the island.

Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina. US Navy photo.

USS Chincoteague was anchored in Sabot Bay, Santa Cruz Islands, Southeast of the Soloman Islands, servicing a squadron PBY patrol planes when the attacks began. When an attack was expected she would get underway to maneuver. Between attacks she would return to service her brood of sea planes.

Attacks on the 16th caused only minor fragment damage. During attacks on the 17th, she received two damaging near misses that caused flooding and fires, then a direct bomb hit that wrecked the after engineroom killing ten crew members, followed by another near miss that dented the hull and knocked the remaining engines offline. Dead in the water, having taken on 663 tons of water, she had a negative GM, and was listing 12 to 18 degrees, it looked as if she would be sunk by the eleventh attack when four Marine Corsairs arrived splashing three of the attackers and driving off the fourth.

After repairs to the forward engineroom, which powered the starboard shaft, the ship got underway at 2350, but at 0245 on the 18th one of the engines was overheating. In an attempt to deal with the overheating, control of the engine was lost, and it ran away in spite of a closed throttle, causing a severe fire that forced the crew to abandon the engineroom.

The ship was taken in tow and, after temporary repairs at Espiritu Santo, was towed by to the West Coast where complete repairs were made including addition of eight 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and additional 20 mm guns. Ultimately, she would earn six battle stars.

You can read the full original damage report here.

USCGC Chincoteague (WHEC-375) seen here late in her service with the Coast Guard, armed with a single 5″/38, Mk 56 Gun Fire Control System, torpedo tubes for ASW torpedoes, and Hedgehog ASW mortar.

In the 1940s Chincoteague and 17 of here sisters were transferred to the Coast Guard, where they primarily served as weather ships on a number of “Ocean Stations.” In Coast Guard service, these were referred to as the Casco Class.

As part of “Vietnamization” Chincoteague and six of her sister Coast Guard cutters were turned over to the South Vietnamese.

After being turned over to the South Vietnamese, the former Chincoteague, along with another former Coast Guard cutter of her class and two former US Navy ships fought the Chinese Navy in the “Battle of the Paracel Islands,” 16 January 1974.

RVNS Lý Thường Kiệt (HQ-16), the former USCGC Chincoteague

As the South Vietnamese government collapsed, the former Chincoteague along with five other ships of the class (the former Yakutat, Bering Strait, Castle Rock, Cook Inlet, and McCulloch) crowded with hundreds of refugees made their way to the Philippines. In 1976 these ships were turned over to the Philippine Navy as the Andrés Bonifacio class, with four of them commissioned and two (the former Yakutat and Cook Inlet) retained to provide spare parts. They remained in service until at least 1985.

The former USS/USCGC Absecon continued in service with the Vietnamese People’s Navy perhaps as late as 2000 and was probably the only Barnegat class ship ever armed with guided missiles, the SS-N-2 Styx and the SA-N-5 Grail.

Exercises–RIMARCTIC? and Unmanned in UNITAS in July

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National Defense has a short post, “JUST IN: Gilday Calls for Massive International Exercise in Arctic.” It talks about doing an exercise comparable to RIMPAC in the Arctic. Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Michael Gilday is almost certainly talking about an exercise on the Atlantic side of the Arctic, in the Norwegian Sea, above the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap. If the Exercise were held as far North as the Barents Sea, the Russians would probably get very excited.

The Arctic Circle runs just North of Iceland and North of the upper end of the Baltic Sea. Credit: CIA

The Coast Guard would almost certainly participate. The Canadians already host an Arctic Exercise, Nanook, but it is very small scale. It takes place west of Greenland and the US Navy has not generally participated.

(I have serious doubts that this RIMARCTIC is ever going to happen, at least not as something on the scale of RIMPAC. Everyone wants to go to Hawaii.)

The USCGC Bear (WMEC-901) and allied ships from Canada, Norway, France, and Denmark steam in formation in the North Atlantic Ocean during Operation Nanook in August 2022. 

The post also talks about China’s massive investment in Oceanography and there is an interesting footnote. We have heard 4th Fleet would be start experimenting with Unmanned systems soon, paralleling what has been done in 5th Fleet with Task Force 59. Apparently, it will begin with UNITAS.

The Navy plans to introduce unmanned vessels to their South American partners as a part of the UNITAS naval exercise in July. Uncrewed surface and subsurface boats can monitor sea lanes and search for nefarious activities such as drug smuggling and illegal fishing, he said.

These “potentially unmanned [capabilities] give us, along with allies and partners —which is really key here — the ability to keep an unblinking eye on that kind of activity and collect data,” he said.

The Coast Guard fast response cutter Clarence Sutphin Jr. sails alongside an unmanned surface vessel in the Persian Gulf during exercise Eagle Resolve 23, June 1, 2023. Eagle Resolve is a combined joint all-domain exercise that improves interoperability with the U.S. military and partner nations, including Saudi Arabia.

“Italian commandos storm Turkish ship to foil migrant hijackers” –The Telegraph

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The heavily armed commandos dropped onto the ship from helicopters. ©IMPA

The Telegraph reports,

“Italian special forces stormed a cargo ship after 15 “illegal migrants” armed with knives attempted to hijack a ship and take its crew hostage.”

The Brits had a similar incident in 2018, involving four migrants, also without firearms. “Special forces retake cargo ship after stowaways threatened staff” –The Telegraph (UK)

The Coast Guard does train for this sort of thing. “CBS Reports on MSRT Exercise”

Even in a benign environment, fast roping can be dangerous. “Two FBI Agents Die in Maritime FAST Roping from Helicopter Training Exercise”

Not to take anything away from the professionalism of the Italian commandoes, but if you are going to do something like this, you hope the opposition will be something like the Italians faced, desperate untrained people without a plan or organization, without firearms. One man with an RPG or a .50 caliber could ruin your entire day. Even when confronted by “peaceful protesters,” things can go terribly wrong. “Israeli Navy intercept of Gaza aid convoy turns deadly”

There are sometimes alternatives, “Israeli Blockade–Lessons Applied”

If you consider worst case, this is what we might be facing. “Potential Terrorist Threat Weapons“

“Replenishing Controversy: The US Navy’s New Tanker Program” –gCaptain

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gCaptain has a post that looks at a Navy proposal to build ten smaller underway replenishment ships, but it goes on to provide an overview of US sealift capacity (see the video above, included in the gCaptain post), and it finds that it is pretty poor.

“…amateurs talk strategy, but professionals talk logistics.”

Why should the Coast Guard care?

Any merchant marine construction in the US is going to be subject to Coast Guard oversight.

The health of America’s shipbuilding industry is in the Coast Guard’s interest.

It would be nice to have enough underway replenishment ships to be able to keep one on station in the Eastern Pacific to support drug interdiction efforts. Might make operating groups of Webber Class WPCs in the drug interdiction role in the drug transit zone more practical. It might even be possible to fly supporting Coast Guard rotary wing or UAS assets from a T-AOL.  It would probably be good to have one in Oceania as well.

Because there are so few US owned merchant ships, and because the MSC and MARAD sealift ships are old, unreliable, and use outdated technology, it is difficult to find crews for them. Then there might also be a problem of getting the mariners we do have, to take what is likely to be a hazardous job.

The Navy has already told MARAD that in wartime they would be on their own. That they should not expect the Navy to protect them.

Take a look at what happened in WWII. The Coast Guard ended up crewing 351 US Navy and 288 Army ships and craft. Many of the Navy vessels and most of the Army vessels were logistics ships. If the Navy has trouble crewing logistics ships, they might well commission them and put Coast Guard crews on them.

The Coast Guard should support MSC and MARAD recapitalization.