As you have probably heard, Ukraine has used unmanned surface vessels to attack three tankers of the Russian shadow fleet in the Black Sea.

Just wanted to point out where they targeted the vessels, specifically they used multiple unmanned systems and attacked the stern near the engine room, propeller, and rudder.

Tankers. particularly those with empty tanks are very hard targets to sink, with lots of sealed tanks providing reserve buoyancy. During the “Tanker War” in the 1980s tankers proved extremely resilient.

Attacking the propulsion and steering will probably keeps them out of service longer than damage in any other part of the ship.

Should the Coast Guard be faced with an attack on a US port using a medium or larger ship, it might be impossible for local Coast Guard forces to sink the attacking vessel. In that case, it might be best to follow the Ukrainian example and attack the propulsion and/or steering to keep the attacker from reaching its objective and provide time for reinforcements to arrive.