Author Archives: Chuck Hill

Polar Star on the Way to Antarctica, Stop in Hawaii

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USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) transits across Elliott Bay after departing Coast Guard Base Seattle, Washington, Nov. 22, 2024. US Coast Guard

The “USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Dec. 2, 2024” reports Polar Star had arrived in Pearl Harbor (November 30).

Below is the news release that announced her departure from Seattle, November 22.

 Nov. 26, 2024

Coast Guard heavy icebreaker departs Seattle for months-long deployment bound for Antarctica

USCG Pacific Area

SEATTLE – The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) and crew departed Seattle, Friday, beginning their deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze.

Operation Deep Freeze (ODF) is an annual joint military mission to resupply the United States Antarctic stations in support of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP). This marks the 28th year that the Polar Star has supported ODF.

Each year, the Polar Star breaks a navigable channel through the ice, allowing fuel and supply ships to reach McMurdo Station, which is the largest Antarctic station and the logistics hub of the USAP.

“I am thrilled to lead Polar Star back to Antarctica for ODF 25. After months of pre-deployment preparation and working together through various challenges, the cutter and crew are ready to embark on this enduring and critical mission,” said Capt. Jeff Rasnake, Polar Star’s commanding officer. “I couldn’t be prouder of this crew’s tremendous dedication and teamwork. They have met or exceeded all my expectations in the maintenance and training phases and continue to push themselves to build upon those successes as we now shift into the cutter’s operations phase.”

The U.S. Coast Guard is recapitalizing its polar icebreaker fleet to ensure continued access to the polar regions and to protect the country’s economic, environmental, and national security interests in the high latitudes. Each year, the Polar Star’s crew commits significant time and effort preparing the 48-year-old cutter for the annual deployment in support of ODF. This year the Polar Star completed the fourth of five planned phases of the service life extension project (SLEP).

The U.S. Coast Guard provides direct logistical support to the NSF and maintains a regional presence that preserves Antarctica as a scientific refuge working under Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica (JTF-SFA). JTF-SFA provides Department of Defense support to the NSF and the USAP through ODF. Every year, a joint and total force team works together to complete a successful ODF season. Active, Guard, Reserve service members from the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy work together to forge a strong JTF-SFA that continues the proud tradition of U.S. military support to the USAP.

This Day in Coast Guard History, December 5

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

1933  Prohibition came to an end on this date when the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.

1963  CG-40597 completed a record run of 450 miles from Baltimore, Maryland to Boston, Massachusetts in a running time of 20 hours.  The first of two prototype twin-screw 40-foot plastic utility boats, CG-40597, was powered by 350 HP Cummins VT-6 diesel engines and had a trial speed of 29 knots.  Endurance at 25 knots was 200 miles.

FN Heriberto S. Hernandez

1968  FN Heriberto S. Hernandez, a CGC Point Cypress (WPB 82326) crewman, was killed in action in Vietnam.

“Chinese Warships, Cutters Harass Philippine Patrol Near Scarborough Shoal, Say Officials” –USNI

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US Naval Institute’s news service reports on the latest incident between China and the Philippines.

Units involved were:

China Coast Cutter 3304 in the Philippine EEZ. Philippine Coast Guard Photo

  • Four China Coast Guard cutters hull numbers 5303, 3302, 3104, 3304
  • Two Chinese Navy Type 054A frigates Xianning (500) and Yuncheng (571)  

Type 054A FFG Hengshui (Source: Seaforces.org)

The Chinese have typically had their navy backing up their coast guard in these confrontations, but it appears a frigate was more directly involved than in previous similar confrontations. Still, it was the China Coast Guard that played bumper-boats and water cannoned the Philippine ships.

Generally, the Philippine Navy has not been present during these confrontations. The Philippines seems to want to make sure it is clear, who is the bully here. None of the Philippine ships involved even have deck guns.

The Philippine ships were there to protect Philippine fishermen who are being deprived of their livelihood by the Chinese.

With more direct involvement of PLAN frigates, the Philippine Navy may start making an appearance, perhaps over the horizon, but within ASCM range.

 

This Day in Coast Guard History, December 3/4

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

December 3

Joseph Francis Life-Car. Image credit: Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

1852  The merchant ship Georgia grounded in a gale off Bonds, New Jersey with 290 persons on board.  The life car was used to affect their rescue and all survived.

Old Harbor U.S. Life Saving Station is a historic maritime rescue station and museum, located at Race Point Beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It was originally located at Nauset Beach near the entrance to Chatham Harbor in Chatham, Massachusetts.

1883  The schooner Pallas with a crew of three men encountered strong head winds and heavy seas off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  About half past 5 in the morning, abreast of Nausett lights, she sprung a leak and became unmanageable.  Being close to the breakers, the crew was fearful they would be washed overboard as soon as she struck and took to their boat.  Fortunately, they were discovered by the Nausett Station keeper, pulling vigorously to keep away from the surf.  The surfboat was launched and the three men rescued.  They were brought ashore by the life-saving crew, though not without a thorough drenching because the station boat was nearly swamped on the bar.  The schooner meanwhile drifted into the surf, three quarters of a mile north of the station and soon broke up.

1982  MSO St. Louis took charge of the response when the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers flooded their banks.  In all over 100 Coast Guardsmen took part in the relief efforts that covered an eight-state area.

GULF OF MEXICO – Petty Officer 3rd Class Suren Chandrasena, a boatswain’s mate, watches as Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf’s Over-The-Horizon small boat departs to receive personnel from Coast Guard Cutter Chandeleur, June 18, 2008. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Anderson

2001  Coast Guard forces, including the cutters Chandeleur (WPB-1319) and Farallon (WPB-1301), as well as aircraft from Air Station Miami and boat crews from Station Miami Beach rescued 185 Haitian migrants from the grossly overloaded 31-foot sailboat Simapvivsetz off Old Rhodes Key, Florida.

USCGC Polar Star. USCGC photo.

2013  CGC Polar Star departed Coast Guard Base Seattle for Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze for the first time since 2006 with the task of resupplying the National Science Foundation Scientific Research Station in McMurdo, Antarctica.  During the summer of 2013, Polar Star conducted sea trials in the Arctic to test all of the ship’s equipment and train the crew prior to embarking to Antarctica.  During the summer trip, Polar Star spent weeks in the Beaufort Sea north of Barrow, Alaska, testing propulsion machinery, conducting emergency drills, and qualifying crewmembers in individual watch-stations.  The cutter was recently out of a three-year, $90 million overhaul, part of the Coast Guard’s plan to reactivate the heavy icebreaker.

December 4

Mesquite aground on her final voyage

1989  USCGC Mesquite ran aground near Keweenaw Point in Lake Superior.  She was deemed damaged beyond repair and was sunk as an artificial reef.  There was no loss of life.

This Day in Coast Guard History, December 2

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

Gurnet Point Station. Plymouth Lighthouse, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA showing the one remaining tower built 1842 in the earthworks of Civil War Fort Andrew.

1883  The schooner Champion with a crew of two men stranded on Dick’s Flat, Plymouth Harbor, near Duxbury Pier lighthouse, at about 6 am. The shoal where she struck was about three miles west-southwest of the Gurnet Point Station (Second District), and the crew of the station were not sure she was aground until about 10 o’clock.  The life-saving crew therefore arrived on board a little before 2 o’clock in the afternoon.  They found one of the men, the captain, at the pumps and the other bailing from the hatch.  The vessel was leaking badly.  The two men on board were wet, cold, and very glad of the assistance of the life-saving crew.  The keeper, at the captain’s request, took charge.  The pumps were manned while another gang went to work bailing.  When she began to right with the incoming tide, they shifted the booms over and canted her the other way, so as to bring the leaky seams out of the water to chinse them with oakum and nail canvas over all to stop the leaks.  After doing this and getting most of the water out, they carried out an anchor into the channel, set all sail and by heaving hard on the hawser, they brought her on an even keel.  She was hauled off the shoal at about 4 o’clock and got safely under way.  As the weather looked bad, the captain concluded to remain in port for the night and accordingly anchored.

2012  BMCS Terrell Horne, III, CGC Halibut’s Executive Petty Officer and Boarding Officer, was killed in action while carrying out law enforcement operations near Santa Cruz, California. The Coast Guard posthumously awarded BMCS Horne the Coast Guard Medal for his heroism that night.  His citation read, in part: “…Shortly after midnight, Senior Chief Petty Officer Horne deployed in HALIBUT’s cutter boat with three other crew members to investigate a vessel loitering in the area without navigation lights.  Upon approaching the unlit vessel and identifying themselves as law enforcement officers, the vessel ignored commands to stop and instead rapidly accelerated directly toward them.  The boarding team immediately maneuvered to avoid the oncoming vessel and fired side arms in self-defense.  When impact with the oncoming vessel became unavoidable, Senior Chief Petty Officer HORNE, disregarding his own safety in order to protect a fellow crewmember, forcibly pushed the coxswain from the helm, directly exposing himself to the oncoming vessel.  The violence of the subsequent collision forcibly ejected him from the boat, and despite immediate recovery from the water and application of first aid by his shipmates, he succumbed to the severe injuries received during the incident.  Senior Chief Petty Officer HORNE demonstrated remarkable initiative, exceptional fortitude and daring in spite of imminent personal danger.  His courage and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.”

PERU, 10.06.2023, Courtesy Photo, USCG District 11
The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Terrell Horne conducts a patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean in support of Operation Southern Shield 2023, October 2023. The Coast Guard recently completed the first high-seas boardings and inspections off the coast of Peru under a newly adopted multi-lateral agreement to monitor fishing and transshipment operations within the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) Convention Area. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

This Day in Coast Guard History, December 1

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

 

Revenue Cutter Spencer before conversion to Lightship R

1844  Captain Alexander Fraser, head of the Revenue Marine Bureau, reported to Congress on the failure of the service’s first steam cutters Spencer and Legare.

Admiral Russell R. Waesche, Sr., USCG

1916  Second Lieutenant Russell R. Waesche was designated as the first Communications Officer for the Coast Guard, an office established at Coast Guard Headquarters.  The office was renamed Chief, Communications Division, soon thereafter. Waesche went on to serve as Commandant 14 June 1936 to 31 December 1945. He was the longest serving Commandant in Coast Guard history.

SB-29 “Super Dumbo”, a variant of the B-29 Superfortress, with an air-droppable EDO A-3 lifeboat rigged underneath. Fifteen B-29s and one B-29A were adapted for air rescue duty after World War II. Nicknamed “Super Dumbo” and designated SB-29. When a downed aircrew was spotted in the water, the lifeboat was released from the aircraft. The lifeboat, which descended by parachute, was equipped with watertight compartments, self-righting floatation bladders, an inboard engine, food and water.  The SB-29 remained in service throughout the Korean Conflict and into the mid-1950s. Photo: US Air Force

1944  The Office of Air-Sea Rescue was set up in the Coast Guard. The Secretary of the Navy, at the request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff early in 1944, established the Air-Sea Rescue Agency, an inter-department and inter-agency body, for study and improvement of rescue work with the Commandant of Coast Guard as its head.

“Coast Guard awards contract for commercially available polar icebreaker” –CG-9

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Icebreaking Anchor Handling Vessel Aiviq

Below is a news release from the Acquisitions Directorate, CG-9. For background see my earlier post, The Icebreaker Aiviq Saga.

Late addition: 

‘Aiviq’ at Tampa Ship’s Graving Dock #4 on November 28, 2024. (Source: GCaptain via tabasco44)

Coast Guard awards contract for commercially available polar icebreaker

Nov. 25, 2024 —

The Coast Guard awarded a contract on Nov. 20 to Offshore Service Vessels, LLC, of Cut Off, Louisiana, to acquire a commercially available polar icebreaker to supplement mission readiness and capability in the polar regions. The firm fixed-price contract, with a total value of $125.0 million, includes delivery and reactivation of the M/V Aiviq, a 360-foot U.S.-built polar class 3-equivalent icebreaker. The contract also includes provisions for technical data, spares, necessary modifications, certifications, crew training, and operational readiness activities.

The Coast Guard is procuring a commercially available polar icebreaker to increase operational presence in the Arctic while the service awaits delivery of the polar security cutter (PSC) class. Coast Guard polar icebreakers are highly specialized vessels that possess the endurance, resilience and capability to execute a wide range of maritime safety and security missions.

The contract action is the product of a disciplined effort to identify a domestically produced commercially available polar icebreaker through industry outreach and engagement. This approach was made possible through direction and statutory relief provided in the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022 and funding appropriated in fiscal year 2024.

With minimal modifications, the commercially available polar icebreaker will be capable of projecting U.S. sovereignty in the Arctic and conducting select Coast Guard missions. The service will evaluate the vessel’s current condition and capability and identify requirements to attain full operational capability.

The Coast Guard intends to permanently homeport the vessel in Juneau, Alaska, and is planning infrastructure improvements to support future operations. In the interim, the service is evaluating options to temporarily homeport the commercially available polar icebreaker.

Acquisition of a commercially available polar icebreaker does not affect the acquisition of the PSCs, and the vessel will not be included in the PSC program of record. The Coast Guard needs a mix of eight to nine polar icebreakers to meet operational needs in the polar regions. The commercially available polar icebreaker will supplement these operational capabilities and provide much-needed operational presence in the near term as a bridging strategy to address maritime interests in support of national security until the full complement of PSCs is available.

For more information on the PSC class: Polar Security Cutter Program page

This Day in Coast Guard History, November 30

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

1837  Two early complainants on the efficiency of the American lighthouses, E. and G.W. Blunt, publishers of the famous Blunt’s “Coast Pilot,” submitted a statement to the Secretary of the Treasury. They argued that the whole lighthouse system “needs revision, a strict superintendence and an entirely different plan of operation.”

U.S.R.C. “Richard Rush,” on her departure Jan. 2d, 1886, in search of the “Amethyst.” Photo credit: Isaiah West Taber (1830–1912)

1886  USRC Rush made the service’s first drug seizure at sea, confiscating 350 lbs of opium from SS City of Rio De Janeiro near the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Only the opium was seized, as no connections to the ship’s owners, captain, or officers could be established. [The Nautical Beginnings of America’s War on Drugs, American History, November 17, 2019. https://www.historynet.com/online-exclusive-the-nautical-beginnings-of-americas-war-on-drugs/]

4 May 1943
Mare Island, CA
Starboard bow view during inclining experiment
U.S. Navy photo 2558-43. Source: Jon Burdett

1920  The Navy minesweeper USS Swan (AM-34, later AVP-7) ran aground on Duxbury Beach, Massachusetts.  Coast Guardsmen from three nearby stations rescued the minesweeper’s crew with a breeches buoy.  CGC Androscoggin assisted in the rescue.  USS Swan was refloated 22 Feb. 1921 and went on to assist in the search for Amelia Earhart and was present during the Attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941 and claimed to have shot down a enemy aircraft. She was decommissioned 1946 but was still in existence in 1988. Fate unknown. 

This Day in Coast Guard History, November 29

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

1808  Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin requested 12 new cutters at a cost of $120,000 to enforce “laws which prohibit exportation and restrain importations” to support the embargo ordered by President Thomas Jefferson.  President Jefferson had ordered an embargo against most European imports and exports to protest the harassment of U.S. sailors by warring European powers.  The embargo did not work.  The United States went to war with England in 1812 but the Revenue Marine got the new cutters.

1877  The first annual report of the U.S. Lifesaving Service was submitted in published form to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Courtesy Photo The German freighter Nordmeer, which ran aground on Nov. 19, 1966, is seen in this 1967 photo provided by the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

1969  The German freighter Nordmeer ran aground on the Thunder Bay Shoal in Lake Huron. Most of her crew safely evacuated to a nearby ship but eight crewmen remained on board to attempt to save their vessel.  The weather quickly deteriorated, however, and they radioed for assistance.  A Coast Guard helicopter and the icebreaker Mackinaw responded and safely evacuated the eight men while the freighter broke up.

SAN FRANCISCO. The Coast Guard Cutter Waesche transits through the San Francisco Bay for the first time en route to its homeport of Alameda, Calif., Feb. 28, 2010. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Kevin Metcalf)

2013  CGC Waesche returned from a 109-day deployment in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean to its homeport at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, California on November 29, 2013.  While on patrol Waesche’s crew conducted a broad range of operations including maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, maritime surveillance and community outreach.  While underway, the crew was on scene for the opening of the red king crab fishing season to help ensure the safety and security of fishermen conducting operations in the Bering Sea.  The crew also enforced fisheries laws and regulations to ensure sustainable fishing is practiced in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.  The crew responded to five search and rescue cases including a removal of 14 mariners from a disabled fishing vessel, Alaska Mist, some 160 nautical miles northeast of Dutch Harbor in mid-November.  In Unalaska, Alaska, the crew participated in helping with maintenance and upkeep at a high school and several other community relation projects.

This Day in Coast Guard History, November 27/28

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

November 27

Crumple Island Station

1883  The schooner Maggie W. Willard with a crew of five men struck on Sea Horse Rock about two miles west of the Crumple Island Station (First District) on the coast of Maine at 1 o’clock in the afternoon.  She was discovered by the station crew, who offered assistance.  Finding the vessel in a very dangerous position and leaking the crew’s effects were saved and they were taken to the station.  All efforts to get the vessel off failed.  That night the schooner drove over the reef and sunk in deep water, becoming a total loss.

November 28

1894 photograph of Keeper Lawson surrounded by his NWU student surfmen. (Courtesy of NWU Deering Library)

1889  The crew of the Evanston, IL, Life-Saving Station earned the Gold Lifesaving Medal for the rescue of the crew of the steamer Calumet.   Most of the crew consisted of students from Northwestern University.

1942  Petty Officer Clifford Johnson was on liberty at the Coconut Grove Lounge in Boston on the night of November 28, 1942 when the lounge caught fire.  Over 490 persons perished in what was one of the worst fires in the nation’s history.  Petty Officer Johnson repeatedly risked his life by entering the fire on four occasions to pull victims from the flames, receiving severe burns over his body.  He spent over two years in the hospital recovering from his injuries.

USCGC Stratton

2014  CGC Stratton returned to its homeport at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, California, after a 140-day deployment to the Arctic and Central America.  Since departing in July 2014, Stratton’s crew completed a 24,000-mile deployment in support of the nation’s interests in the Arctic and joint counter-drug operations off the coast of California and Central America.  During this operational patrol, Stratton’s law enforcement crews seized and disrupted 6.6 tons of illegal narcotics valued in excess of $27.5 Million.  Stratton Coast Guardsmen assisted mariners in four separate search and rescue cases.  Furthering national strategic goals, the cutter’s crew patrolled the Arctic and conducted interoperability tests with new equipment.  Stratton Coast Guardsmen worked closely with the communities in isolated locations of Point Lay, Gamble and Barrow, Alaska.  The crew went ashore to schools and civic centers to teach water safety and provide life jackets to community members.