Future USCGC Argus at launch Eastern Shipyard, Oct 27, 2023.

It has been almost 19 months since the future USCGC Argus was launched and more than five years since the keel was laid, but still have no news about progress on the ship. It is in the water but no reports of sea trials, no videos of the ship underway. This is not normal!

Not only that, but no news on any of the other three ships contracted to Eastern. The most recent public report is that Eastern started cutting steel for the fourth OPC on October 18, 2022. Chase was supposed to be a year behind Argus, but no indication when it will be launched. Eastern’s own web site “LATEST OPC NEWS STORIES” lists only a story about the launch and christening of Argus.

I did find this rather disturbing quote from “opening remarks, as prepared, of Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Mike Ezell (R-MS) from…hearing, entitled “America Builds: Coast Guard Acquisitions and Infrastructure” dated March 5, 2025 which seems to indicate substantial problems remain and that even the National Security Cutter program may not have been as successful as previously portrayed.

Concerns with the Offshore Patrol Cutter Program remain as we prepare for the lead ship to be delivered at the end of this year — four years late, and with a host of non-compliant parts. In addition, new problems have developed with the last hulls in the National Security Cutter Program, and we could receive one ship less than what Congress appropriated.

Hopefully the remark, “we could receive one ship less than what Congress appropriated” refers to the 12th NSC rather than the 11th.

I have more confidence in the capabilities of Austal. They successfully completed large contracts for Independence class Littoral Combat Ships and Expeditionary Fast Transports and the Navy has given them a contract for five Navajo class Towing, Salvage, and Rescue (T-ATS) ships.

From Austal’s website,

“Through continual capital investments, over $500 million to date, Austal USA has expanded its capability and capacity to enable concurrent production of aluminum and steel ships. The company recently broke ground on a new assembly building which will provide 192,000 square feet of new covered manufacturing space.  The building will consist of three bays, two of which will be sized specifically to erect the OPC.”

These delays and uncertainties only reinforce my opinion that we need to seek an alternative to replace at least some of the planned 25 OPCs.

The world has changed substantially since the requirements for OPCs were formulated about 12 years ago.

We need more than the 36 large patrol cutters currently planned. We have not had so few since before World War II, until very recently. Meanwhile, demand for Coast Guard presence has been increasing. The FRCs have taken on missions that used to be performed by medium endurance cutters but they do have limited endurance and seakeeping.

Because some time in their, probably 40 year, life new cutters, missions will change and there is a good chance the US will be engaged in a major war, the design of our ships needs to flexible enough to take on additional missions and incorporate additional weapon systems. OPCs and NSC don’t have mission bays or container space that might allow greater flexibility. They don’t seem to be designed to take on any particular wartime missions. The low speed of the OPCs will limit their tactical utility.

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

May 16

1846  Eleven cutters were assigned to cooperate with Army and Navy in the Mexican War.  Cutters McLane, Legare, Woodbury, Ewing, Forward, and Van Buren were assigned to the Army.  Cutters Wolcott, Bibb, Morris, and Polk were assigned to the Navy.

1888  Secretary of Treasury was authorized to establish anchorage grounds New York Harbor, adopt suitable rules, and “take all necessary measures” for their enforcement.

1963  The Honorable Douglas Dillon, Secretary of the Treasury, at a ceremony at Cape May Receiving Center, awarded Life-Saving Medals to three enlisted men of the Coast Guard in recognition of their heroic action and performance of duty at the risk of their own lives.  Boatswain’s Mate First Class John C. Webb, coxswain of CG-36455 was awarded the Gold Life-Saving Medal and his crewmen, Engineman Third Class Anthony D. Lloyd and Seaman Ray Dwayne Duerre were each awarded a Silver Life-Saving Medal.  The awards were based on their rescue of three persons from a stranded pleasure craft disabled approximately two miles northwest of Cape Alava, Washington, on June 1, 1962.

May 17

1999  The Coast Guard “kept the peace” when the Makah Indian tribe hunted and killed a gray whale in Neah Bay, Washington.  The Makah were guaranteed the right to hunt whales in their 1855 treaty with the U.S.

May 18

1920  Coast Guard officers and enlisted personnel were granted the same pay, allowances and increases as the Navy.

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

May 15

1820  Congress declared the foreign slave trade to be piracy and instituted the death penalty for any U.S. citizen engaged in the slave trade.

USRC Naugatuck/aka E. A. Stevens (1862) Photo #: NH 58871 Line engraving published in Harper’s Weekly, circa spring 1862, when the gunboat was operating in the Hampton Roads area, Virginia. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-n/naugatck.htm

1862 Semi-submersible ironclad USRC Naugatuck participated in bombardment of Drewry’s Bluff (James River) after accompanying USS Monitor in its engagement with CSS Virginia and engaging in an attack on Sewell’s Point. USRC Naugatuck would continue in service until 1889.

US Coast Guard Academy, New London, CT. Hamilton Hall center foreground.

1931  Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon laid the cornerstone of Hamilton Hall, the first building under construction at the “new” Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

The Cunard-White Star limited liner RMS Olympic, sister to the Titanic, passes very close aboard to the LV-117 on the Nantucket station in early January 1934. The light ship had been rammed already once that year in the fog, and the following May the Olympic actually collided with LV-117 and sent it to the bottom in seconds. Four crewmen went down with the ship while the Olympic rescued the remaining seven crewmen. Three of these men died later from injuries and exposure. The British Government paid for the construction of LV 112 as reparation for the accident. ref: US coast Guard

1934  The White Star Line passenger vessel RMS Olympic, in a dense fog, rammed and sank the lightship LV-117 on the Nantucket Shoals station.  Olympic, which had been homing in on the lightship’s radio beacon very accurately, failed to steer clear in time.  Seven of the lightship’s 11 crewmen were killed.  The White Star Line agreed to fund a new lightship.

USS Forsyth (PF-102) Tacoma Class frigate. As a weather ship, she would have had the after 3″ gun replaced by a balloon shelter.

1945  On 12 May, the Coast Guard-manned frigate USS Forsyth (PF-102) was called off her weather station to search through haze and fog for a German submarine that was attempting to surrender.  Three days later Forsyth joined Sutton (DE-771) in accepting the surrender of U-234 at 46º 39′ N. x 45º 39′ W.  This submarine was carrying a German technical mission and supplies, including a cargo of uranium, to Tokyo.  Earlier, two Japanese passengers on board committed suicide rather than surrender.

USS/USCGC Bangor (PF-16/WPF-16) Photographed in 1945-1946, while configured as a weather reporting ship with a balloon hangar aft. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974. U.S. Navy photo NH 78996. USS Forsyth would have looked like this at the time.

USCGC Modoc

1975  USCGC Modoc seized the Polish fishing vessel Kalmar 10 miles off Monterey, California, for fishing inside the 12-mile limit and escorted her to San Francisco.

USCGC Gallatin WHEC -721 (378), USCGC Rockaway WHEC-377 (311), and USCGC Spencer WHEC-36 (327) moored at Governor’s Island

1996  The Coast Guard formally closed Governors Island.  The Army left the base in the early 1960s and the Coast Guard took it over on June 3, 1966 as a way to consolidate its operations in the New York Area.  At the height of Coast Guard involvement on the island over 4,600 people lived and worked there.

Governors Island U.S. General Services Administration map; indicates U.S. Coast Guard usage, 1995

1997  Coast Guard Auxiliarist Frank Mauro, while assigned to Coast Guard UTB 41351, rescued nine victims who had been forced into the water after the strong current crushed their boat.  He was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for his heroic actions.

Naval News has an interesting post which includes the Video above. While the primary focus is on Singapore’s new class of “Multi-Role Combat Vessel,” there is also discussion about two classes of vessels that might provide inspiration for future cutter designs, Singapore’s “Littoral Mission Vessel” and Finland’s ice capable corvette. and how carbon fiber is used in these ships.

Singapore has been very successful in efforts to reduce manning requirements, and their contractor SAAB is a leader in carbon fiber structures.