Author Archives: Chuck Hill

WMD Material Bound from China to Iran Seized in Malasia

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The Coast Guard has rightly become concerned about what may be shipping in all those containers. We just had the Israeli intercept at sea, and now we hear that a couple of weeks ago, Malaysia seized two containers loaded with embargoed material that could be used to make WMDs including nuclear weapons bound from China to Iran.

There is no indication that the Chinese government was implicated in the transfer, but the US has been concerned that Chinese private companies may be helping the Iranians.

Israeli Navy Seizes Arms Smuggler with ASCMs on board

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The Israeli Navy has interdicted an arms smuggling vessel 200 miles off their coast. The arms are believed to have been en route Hamas in the Gaza strip, and there is speculation that the weapons, at least some of which were made in Iran, were delivered to Syria for transhipment by the Iranian Naval vessels that recently transited the Suez Canal.

"Victoria" Cargo Ship Carrying WeaponryInterestingly, among the arms found on board were Chinese designed, Iranian made C-704 anti-ship cruise missiles.

This is a smaller weapon than a harpoon. The Chinese make a series of anti-ship weapons, quoting, “While TL-10 series is specifically designed to engage boats displacing 500 tons or less, TL-6 series is specifically designed to engage larger naval vessel with displacement up to 1,000 tons. Along with C-704 that covers ships from 1,000 tons to 3,000 tons, and larger anti ship missiles such as C-802 that covers large ships, China has developed a complete anti ship cruise missile families that covers every displacement class. Western sources have claimed that the Iranian Nasr anti-ship missile is based on TL-6.”

(Israeli Defense Forces Photo)

 

Piracy Update: Pirates 61 Captured, 14 Indicted, 5 Sentenced

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The Indian Navy captured 61 pirates and freed 13 hostages in their third mothership take down of the year. The two previous operations were Jan. 28 and Feb 5. Sixty-one seems like a lot of pirates on a small ship.

A US court sentenced 5 pirates who had mistakenly attacked the frigate USS Nicholas to life plus 80 years. More here.

Fourteen of fifteen “suspected pirates” have been indicted in the case of the yacht Quest that resulted in the murder of 4 Americans.

And “As a last resort, the U.S. Coast Guard is drafting proposals to authorize merchant marines and private boat owners to use weapons against the pirates.”

 

 

 

Does This Mean the Chinese Will Create an American Style Coast Guard?

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This is the second time I’ve seen reference to Chinese frustration with the fractured nature of their maritime law enforcement organization. As mentioned before, China currently has five different agencies that share “coast guard” duties. This has got to lead to some inefficiencies. Again we see the Chinese comparing their maritime law enforcement organization to that of the Japanese.

It will be interesting to see what the Chinese do about this perceived problem.

 

 

 

What Does It Take to Sink a Ship?

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The Coast Guard spends much more time thinking about how to keep ships from sinking, than it does about how to sink them. But because the Coast Guard is tasked with maritime security and because of the potential for terrorists using a ship as a means of attack, the question has become relevant. It becomes important when you consider, is the Coast Guard adequately armed for its missions. I’ve mentioned several times that I don’t believe the 57 mm gun is adequate to stop a medium to large ship being used as a weapon. I’ll try to explain why I have reached that conclusion and offer some examples.

https://i0.wp.com/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/BB61_USS_Iowa_BB61_broadside_USN.jpg

Stopping–keeping it from reaching the target–rather than sinking a ship is probably more the relevant criteria, but generally ships don’t sink rapidly, particularly if you are trying to do it with a gun, so almost inevitably it is necessary to do enough damage to ultimately sink the ship if you are going to stop it in a timely fashion. Many of the ships that I will talk about continued to fight on for over an hour after the first hits were registered. Think of sinking a close surrogate for stopping a ship before it reaches its objective.

There are of course many examples of ships either surviving grievous attacks or alternately ships sink after a single hit. What it takes to sink a ship is highly variable and at best probabilistic. Its highly dependent upon ship design and preparation, but the most important variable seems to be size.

World War II experience

Over a long period, I’ve made an informal study of this subject. The primary source I used was the US Navy Report of War Damage series available here. The same index also includes reports of individual ship damage and reports of damage to British warships. I would also recommend the “Destroyer Report: Gunfire, Bomb and Kamikaze Damage, 17Oct41-15Aug45” which includes annotated damage control plates. The amount of damage these little ships took and in some cases survived is truly amazing.

The US Navy Report of War Damage series briefly outlines all incidents of damage to US Navy Battleships, Carriers, Cruisers, Destroyers, and Destroyer Escorts as they were known at the time the document was published and includes diagrams of the location of hits. Continue reading →

The Commmandant Answers–Future of WLR, WLI, WLIC, WTGB, WYTL

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Shortly after the “State of the Coast Guard” address, the Commandant contacted us and offered to take some questions. Ryan Erickson, Bill Wells, and I took advantage of this generous offer and generated several–probably more than we should have. We may have overloaded the system, but the Commandant is being a good sport and says he will answer them all. Rather than try to answer them all at once, which would make for a very long post, they will come out individually or in small groups. This is the first:

Is there a plan for replacement or life extension for the old small
ships, including the WLR, WLI, WLIC, WTGB, WYTL?

The President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budget request includes funds for the completion
of engineering change work, materials purchasing and production for the first 140-foot
WTGB Ice Breaking Tug Service Life Extension Project (SLEP).  The goal is to add 15
years to the service life of the 140s.  We are not looking at a replacement project for the
140 fleet at this time.

In FY 2009, we were appropriated $5 million to begin the Inland River Tender
Recapitalization Project (formerly the Heartland Waterway Vessel Project), which is
planned to cover the WLR, WLIC & WLI classes.  Since that time, we have completed
the necessary mission analysis reports and drafted the mission needs statements.  The
U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Marine Design Center in
Philadelphia are collaborating on various Inland Fleet studies including some notional
designs.

There are currently no plans to replace the 65-foot WYTL Harbor Tugs.

Old Cutter Alert WPC/WSC/WMEC-127

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File:USCGC Alert August 2019.jpg

The Active-class cutter USCGC Alert (WMEC-127) moored on the Columbia River, by Hayden Island in Portland, Oregon. Seen on 14 August 2019. Photo from Wikipedia by Godsfriendchuck.

Ran across an effort to preserve a bit of our heritage. These volunteers’ mission to “…preserve, maintain and operate the old United States Coast Guard Cutter Alert, WSC-127 as a living museum. As one of the last warships representative of her era afloat we feel we have been given a chance to see to it that this fine old vessel continues to enlighten and inspire future generations.”She is now in North Portland Oregon.

As far as I can tell she is not open to the public yet. (Tried to e-mailed them but did not get a response.)

Anyone have a current status?