Author Archives: Chuck Hill

“34 VHF towers are down in AK; CH 16 not being picked up by USCG” –Alaska Fish Radio

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BALTIMORE Ð A digital selective calling VHF-FM marine-band radio, set to channel 16, is shown energized for operations at Coast Guard Station Curtis Bay, Md., Dec. 9, 2010. DSC radios allow for a digital transfer between radios versus voice transmission which allows mariners to instantly send an automatically formatted distress alert to the Coast Guard, provided the radio is registered with a Maritime Mobile Service Identity number and connected to a compatible GPS unit. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandyn Hill.

A disturbing report from Alaska Fish Radio that a third of the VHF towers in Alaska are down and in many cases the Coast Guard is not monitoring channel 16 where it would be expected that we would.

Curious how we got in this situation?

Thanks to Eric for bringing this to my attention. 

“Khulna Shipyard lays keel for five more Padma-class patrol vessels for Bangladeshi Navy” –Navy Recognition

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NavyRecognition reports.

“Bangladesh’s Khulna Shipyard Ltd has begun construction of the second batch of five Padma-class patrol vessels on order for the Bangladeshi Navy (BN).

“… first batch was built in Bangladesh by BN-owned Khulna Shipyard in collaboration with mainland China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding through the China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Corporation (CSOC).”

The Padma class is used by both the Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard. According to Wikipedia, eight have been completed, five for the Navy and three for their Coast Guard, with a total of 23 planned. It is similar in size to the Webber class. They are a bit slower at 23 knots but have a considerably larger crew, 45.

The Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard have vessels from a number of sources including the US, UK, Italy and South Korea, including two former USCG 378s, but most of their vessel of late seem to be coming from China or like these are Chinese designs built in Bangladesh.

 

“Griffin Missile Exercise” –Demitry Shulgin

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ARABIAN GULF (Sept. 16, 2018) A MK-60 Griffin surface-to-surface missile is launched from coastal patrol ship USS Thunderbolt (PC 12). Ships attached to U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 55 are conducting missile and naval gun exercises against high speed maneuvering targets to advance their ability to defend minesweepers and other coastal patrol ships. U.S. 5th Fleet and coalition assets are participating in numerous exercises as part of the greater Theater Counter Mine and Maritime Security Exercise to ensure maritime stability and security in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points. (Photo by MC2 Kevin Steinberg)

Dmitry Shulgin reports on a live fire exercise involving half the Cyclone class PCs and half the PATFORSWA 110 foot Island class cutters operating out of Bahrain.

“Exercise participates included Forward Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF) patrol coastal ships USS Sirocco (PC-6), USS Tempest (PC-2), USS Squall (PC-7), USS Hurricane (PC-3), USS Whirlwind (PC-11) and island class patrol boats USCGC Adak (WPB-1333), USCGC Aquidneck (WPB-1309), and USCGC Baranof (WPB-1318).

“The ships also conducted live fire exercises with their Mark-38 25-mm machine guns and other crew served weapons to maintain operator proficiency and test new equipment upgrades for future missions.”

There is one bit of information here I had not seen before, an effective range for the Griffin small, short range surface to surface missile, given as 3 nautical miles, 6000 yards or 5.56 km. Since these missiles have found no other user after the installation on the ten Cyclone class homeported in SW Asia, I think the program was probably a dead end. It is bracketed by two very successful system being produced in huge numbers,  the smaller Advance Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) and the larger Longbow Hellfire.

I am hoping, when the Webber class cutters replace the Island class in Bahrain, that the Coast Guard and Navy will have taken some steps to better equip them for this potentially hostile area, including possibly Hellfire and/or APKWS..

Crewmembers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Adak (WPB-1333) raise the American flag. Adak is assigned to CTF 55, supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Frank Iannazzo-Simmons

China’s Warship Construction. More Surface Warships Launched in 2019 than the USN has Commissioned in Five Years

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Chinese warships launched in 2019.

Earlier I noted that the Chinese seemed to be building an incredible number of warships. Found this chart of surface warships launched in 2019. I have been unable to find the original source, the style appears to be from http://www.military-today.com/, but in any case, it appears to be correct.

16 Type 056 corvettes, 8 Type 052D destroyers, two type 055 destroyer/cruisers, a Type 071 LPD, and a Type 075 LHD. 28 surface warships total. It is possible some of the Type 056s are intended for export or for the China Coast Guard.

By way of comparison, over the last five years, 2015 through 2019, as nearly as I can tell, the US Navy commissioned 15 Littoral Combat Ships, five Burke class destroyers, two Zumwalt class destroyers, two LPDs, no big deck amphibs (LHD or LHA),  and one aircraft carrier. That is 25 surface warships total. The conclusion is a bit startling.

The Chinese launched more surface warships in 2019, than the US Navy commissioned in the last five years. 

The 19th and 20th Type 052D destroyers are launched in Dalian on May 10 (Image: 香港 文匯 網)

The LCS program is coming to an end, but there are still 16 to be commissioned. Generally the program has funded four per year, The FFG(X) program is expected to replace the LCS program in the Navy budget with one FFG funded in the first year followed by two frigates in each year to a total of 20. Combined with the LCS this should give the Navy 55 “small surface combatants.” The Chinese have about 50 frigates but this number is likely to decline as older ships are decommissioned, as their current frigate program, the Type 054A, is nearing completion.

The USN’s Zumwalt class destroyer program will end with three ships when the Lyndon B. Johnson is commissioned in the near future.

The Burke class DDG program was expected to continue building twelve ships over the next five years, but there has been a recent report that DOD would like to cut five ships to make room in the budget for development of more unmanned systems. Also suggested is that Ticonderoga class cruisers be retired early and that the first four LCS be decommissioned.

It is comforting to assume that Chinese systems and their training are inferior. We had similar assumptions about the Japanese before WWII. It is extremely dangerous to assume your own superiority. Plus while the US Forces spread all over the world, the Chinese are concentrated in their own theater of interest.

What Has Happened to Coast Guard Online History?

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USCGC Spencer (WPG-36) in 1942 or 1943. Spencer sank U-175 with assistance of USCGC Duane, on April 17, 1943.

Several months ago the Coast Guard moved their on line presence to new servers. When they did this, a great deal of the Coast Guard history that had been available on line disappeared. Apparently there was no plan to migrate the once extensive files to the new system.

I had planned to talk about this when it happened, but other priorities kept pushing it into the future until it seemed to late, but recently I reopened a post I had included in the heritage page, “The Battle for Convoy 166, 25 February 1943” and I was struck by how much had been lost.

“For more information on the Coast Guard’s battles against the U-boats, there are a series of extensively captioned photos of 327s here, an accounting of “U.S. Coast Guard Combat Victories of World War II” which also lists significant losses is here, and a twenty page pdf on the Battle of the North Atlantic is here.”

None of the referenced resources appear to be available on line anymore. It is just one example. Go to the Coast Historian’s page and try to look something up.

If you go to the Coast Guard Historian’s link for cutters, their are four pages of listings. The first page is a listing of ten: Aaron V. Brown, 1861, AB Class, 1913-1938, Absecon, 1949 (WHEC-374), Acacia, 1927 (WAGL-200), Active, 1816, Massachusetts, 1791, Point Class Cutter (82′), USCGC 95003 (ex-Aberdeen), USCGC Bayberry (WLI-65400), USCGC Point Harris (WPB-82376). The remaining three pages are devoted to LCIs of WWII. That is it. Why only these particular ships and not some of the more famous cutters? It has been this way for months.

It should be an embarrassment that the Navy’s Naval History and Heritage web site has more Coast Guard history than the Coast Guard Historians web page.

I have not purged my Heritage page of links that have been broken because, presumably these documents still exist somewhere in the Coast Guards files. Hopefully some day they will reemerge.

HMS Clyde, a Short but Remarkable Career

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HMS Clyde (P257) has been decommissioned and is expected to be sold to the Brazilian Navy. By Coast Guard standards, she is almost new, not yet 13 years old. She is being replaced by a new ship of the more capable River Batch II class that evolved from HMS Clyde and three earlier River class Offshore Patrol Vessel.

As an OPV, Clyde’s design is largely unremarkable (specifications below), but her twelve year deployment on distant station, with reportedly only a single yard period, in spite of having a crew of only 40 on a ship slightly larger than a 270 foot WMEC, is quite unusual.

HMS Clyde was commissioned in 30 Jan. 2007 and decommissioned 20 Dec. 2019. In Brazil where she will join three newer, but similar type ships, also built in Britain.

Specifications:

  • Displacement: 2000 tons
  • Length: 81.5 m (267 ft 5 in)
  • Beam: 13.5 m (44 ft 3 in)
  • Propulsion: twin diesel, 11,280 HP total
  • Speed: 21 knots
  • Endurance: 21 days
  • Range: 5,500 nmi (10,200 km)
  • Flight Deck for helicopters up to and including Merlin
  • Armament: 30mm auto cannon, 2 miniguns

What Frustrates Me? –an Apparent Lack of Transparent Long Term Planning

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A reader recently asked me, “What frustrates you, Chuck? … what is the one or two key areas that you think the USCG needs?  A new ship design, up-arming, or missiles?”
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My answer, actually it is the apparent failure to plan.

Rant to Follow

Maybe there is a plan, but if there is, it has not been shared with the Congress or the public. Consequently there has been no opportunity to build support for the plan.

Despite direction from Congress to provide a 25 year shipbuilding plan, none has been provided. Is the hold up in the Coast Guard or the Department? Who knows.

Our shipbuilding “Program of Record” (POR) was last baselined in 2005, as part of the defuncted “Deepwater” program. It was based not on need, but on expected funding.

An examination of need was made, in the form of an “Offshore and Aviation Fleet Mix Study.” A report was completed in 2009. It was reevaluated in 2011, resulting in lower requirements that still indicated that we needed assets far in excess of the program of record. Results were not made public until 2012.
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There has been no reexamination of our needs since then, in spite of the fact that the Fleet Mix Study was based on an assumption of the use of the “Crew Rotation Concept” on the National Security Cutter and Offshore Patrol Cutter. It also anticipated deployment of shore based Unmanned Air Systems (UAS), large vertical take off ship based UAS, and networking that would provide a common tactical picture. So far, no land based UAS, only a much smaller less capable ship based UAS, and no real common tactical picture. The only pleasant surprise has been the utility of the Webber class cutters.
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I have a half assed Operations Research background. It pains me to see that we are apparently not using the planning tools that are available.
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When we present a well considered and fact based plan, the Congress has been responsive. They have supported the program of record, and are funding icebreakers in response to the High Latitude Study.
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  • We sorely need an updated Offshore and Aviation Fleet Mix Plan.
  • From this and consideration of other needs we need to develop a 30 year Shipbuilding and Aviation Procurement Plan.
  • We need to update these planning tools on a regular basis. We can expect that they will get better with each iteration.
Normally the leadership changes every four years. It is reasonable that we have a planning cycle that follows this pattern. We can give the new Commandant and his staff a year to work with his predecessor’s planning products before initiating a new cycle. A year in he should initiate a new Fleet Mix Plan. Using it and other inputs, a new 30 year Shipbuilding and Aviation Procurement Plan should be completed well before the new Commandant is selected. 
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Only tangentially related, but a budget document we seldom see, is the Coast Guard’s unfunded priority list. Almost three years ago, I did one of my own. Not much has changed.
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Thanks to Peter for kicking off this line of thought. 

“Metal Shark set for full-rate production of Navy’s next-gen patrol boats” –MarineLog

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MarineLog reports that the Metal Shark Defiant 40 foot patrol boat, selected by the Navy to replace its Force Protection patrol boats is nearing completion of its Operational Test and Evaluation phase and is now ready for full rate production (one every four weeks).

Earlier we discussed this boat and compared it to the RB-M. Significant features are a remotely operated weapons system and ballistic protection for the crew.