Category Archives: bases

“U.S. Coast Guard announces $212 million in Base Charleston improvements” –News Release

Posted on by
Reply

Reconstruction of Pier November (second from the bottom) continues July 23, 2025, at Base Charleston in North Charleston, South Carolina. The Coast Guard used funding made available under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to modify an existing contract to remove submerged pilings in the vicinity of the piers to facilitate construction of new and modernized facilities to support Coast Guard major cutter operations. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

Below is a CG HQ news release reporting the award of two contracts.

Joint Base Charleston includes Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Army as well as Coast Guard , NOAA and various other Federal agencies. It is big. A Naval Weapons Station up river is included. It is a major military out load port.

The Coast Guard relies on Joint Base Charleston for personnel support, including housing, medical/dental services, child care, and commissary/exchange services. (AI)

Coast Guard Base Charleston is one of only three bases where National Security Cutters (NSC) are home-ported and the only NSC base in the Atlantic area. Based on the news release below, apparently four OPCs are also expected to be based there.

May 11, 2026

U.S. Coast Guard announces $212 million in Base Charleston improvements

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Coast Guard today awarded two contracts that will deliver critical new operational and support facilities at Base Charleston in North Charleston, South Carolina. These projects support the Coast Guard’s transformation initiatives and will deliver critical new operational and support facilities to the expanding base.

One contract, awarded to The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company of Greenbelt, Maryland and executed by the U.S. Coast Guard Facilities Design and Construction Center in Norfolk, Virginia, is for the full recapitalization of Base Charleston’s Pier Mike. This $116.7 million, fixed-price, design-build project includes demolition of the existing pier and replacing it with a state-of-the-art structure designed to homeport four Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs) and one visiting cutter. Each berth will also be capable of mooring National Security Cutters, providing significant strategic flexibility for the fleet. Contract completion is expected in 2030.

The second contract has been awarded to Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC of Birmingham, Alabama for the design and construction of a new 30,000-square-foot combined medical and dental facility, a new entry control point/visitor’s center and various supporting utilities at Base Charleston. This $95.5 million project is a major step forward in increasing personnel readiness through improved access to medical and dental care, ensuring crews receive necessary support to sustain mission readiness. Contract completion is expected by July 2029.

Both contracts were awarded under the Department of Homeland Security’s National Multiple Award Construction Contract III and were made possible by the Coast Guard’s historic $25 billion investment included in the Working Families’ Tax Cut Act.

“I am excited for the incredible potential these projects have to improve the welfare of our Servicemembers and their families, to homeport our future fleet of Offshore Patrol Cutters and to operationalize the generous investments being made in our Service by the American people,” said Vice Admiral Jo-Ann Burdian, commander of Coast Guard Atlantic Area. “Our people are our greatest asset, and everything we do on their behalf, to ensure they are ready, trained and well-supported will enable us to act with clarity, cohesion, and purpose to deliver the outcomes our Nation expects.”

The Pier Mike project follows Whiting-Turner’s successful demolition and ongoing reconstruction of the nearby Pier November. This adjacent project is progressing on time and on budget.

“Coast Guard awards contract to rebuild Station South Padre Island” –CG-9

Posted on by
Reply

Below is a post from the Acquisitions Directorate (CG-9).

The location near the Mexican border is obviously significant, but it is also near Starbase, TX.

“Starbase, Texas, is a burgeoning city and SpaceX hub in the Rio Grande Valley near Brownsville, established around SpaceX’s Starship development and launch facilities, becoming an official municipality in May 2025 with hundreds of residents, mostly SpaceX employees, creating a unique space-focused company town known as the ‘Gateway to Mars'” —AI overview.

I presume South Padre Station also supports Operation River Wall. 

Coast Guard awards contract to rebuild Station South Padre Island

Jan. 15, 2026 —The Coast Guard’s Facilities Design and Construction Center awarded a $200 million design-build contract to The Haskell Company Jan. 9 for the comprehensive recapitalization and expansion of Coast Guard Station South Padre Island in South Padre Island, Texas. The award was made as a task order through the National Multi-Award Construction Contract III and is the largest single task order in the history of the Coast Guard’s Military Construction program.

The task order, made possible through the historic investment in Coast Guard shore infrastructure as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will deliver the design and construction of more than 120,000 square feet of essential facilities and supporting infrastructure, directly enhancing mission readiness and execution for Coast Guard personnel in the region. Preliminary design and environmental work will begin immediately, with project completion anticipated in summer 2028.

The full scope of work under the task order includes:

  • Completion of an environmental assessment, site survey investigations and design services for various facilities.
  • Construction of new station facilities.
  • Construction of unaccompanied personnel housing, additional berthing and mission support facilities.
  • Rebuilding of waterfront infrastructure.
  • Construction of a Joint Operations Center and Customs and Border Protection support space.
  • Forward operations space for Deployable Specialized Forces.
  • Delivery of a new harbor operations center and other mission support facilities.
  • Comprehensive site development, utilities and outfitting.

Station South Padre Island is strategically positioned to support border security, interdict illicit trafficking and ensure the safe and lawful movement of commerce. The rebuild effort will address damages at the boathouse that were caused by a fire in April 2025 and enhance mission capabilities to fully support Coast Guard core missions of securing the U.S. border and maritime approaches, facilitating commerce vital to economic prosperity and strategic mobility and responding to contingencies along the Gulf Coast and surrounding waterways.

The project represents the largest award value for a shore infrastructure construction project in Coast Guard history and will be delivered on the shortest timeline to date. The planning phase was compressed from the standard 18 months to 45 days, while the contracting process was reduced from 15 months to four months.

For more information: Shore Programs

NAS Adak Reopening?

Posted on by
1

A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 participates in forward arming and refueling point (FARP) operations during Arctic Expeditionary Capabilities Exercise (AECE) in Adak, Alaska on Sept. 18, 2019. US Marine Corps Photo

I am seeing strong indications that DOD may reopen the former US Naval Air Station Adak.

First there was this from Task and Purpose, “The Navy may revive this forgotten Alaskan base that sits halfway to Russia,” published April 17, 2025.

The this, “Shuttered Aleutian naval air base straddling Arctic and Pacific oceans may reopen,” from a more official source, The Watch, NORTHCOM’s on line magazine. 

There is more discussion here.

Adak, one of the Aleutian Islands, approximately 877 nautical miles South of the Bering Strait. About 901 nmi from Kodiak, about 2075 imi from Vladivostok.

Why do we care?

For the Coast Guard, it is a potential forward operating base for fixed wing aircraft monitoring fishing in the Bering Sea, and a fueling/replenishment stop for cutters on Alaska Patrol.

For Defense it puts assets in place to protect allied shipping and movements between the US and Asia and to prevent the passage of potentially enemy shipping and movements between the Russian Arctic and China, North Korea, and Russia ports in Asia via the Northern Sea Route and the Bering Strait.

The Coast Guard and DHS should add their voices in support of the idea. 

Ports along the Northern Sea Route have seen a quadrupling of cargo since 2003 from 26.4 million tons in 2003 to 104.8 million tons by 2019 (if slipping to 96 million tons last year (2020) due to Corona). They now handle as much cargo every year as the entire Baltics, which have stagnated for more than a decade.

“Trump Administration Opens Pacific Remote Islands Marine Monument to Commercial Fishing” –gCaptain

Posted on by
7

Pacific Remote Islands Marine Monument. Map courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

gCaptain reports,

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday opening the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) to commercial fishing, marking a substantial change in U.S. fishing policy.

The proclamation specifically permits U.S.-flagged vessels to conduct commercial fishing operations within 50 to 200 nautical miles of the PRIMNM’s boundaries. This decision affects an expansive marine protected area spanning approximately 495,189 square miles in the central Pacific Ocean – a region nearly five times the size of all U.S. National Parks combined.

This would seem to provide additional justification for a Coast Guard base and cutters (presumably Webber class WPCs) in American Samoa to provide additional safety for US fishermen and to keep unwelcome foreign fishermen out.

No Helicopters on Cutters in Alaska / More Helicopters Will Operate from Forward Bases

Posted on by
4

An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew based out of Air Station Kodiak and
deployed aboard Cutter Alex Haley, prepares for a helicopter in-flight refueling at sea evolution with the cutter crew during a search and rescue case near Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020. The crew hoisted an injured fisherman from the vessel Magnus Martens and placed him in the care of awaiting Guardian Flight Alaska personnel for further transport to Anchorage. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Benjamin DeGroot)

National Defense reports,

“With an aging aircraft fleet under scrutiny and the phase-out of an older airframe, the Coast Guard has stopped sending its cutters to sea in the Arctic with helicopters onboard.”

We are not just talking about icebreakers. When a US government entity says the “Arctic” they include the  Aleutians and Bering Sea, even though they are below the Arctic Circle so this really means no helicopters on any Coast Guard vessels in District 17 (Alaska).

http://www.state.gov/e/oes/ocns/opa/arc/uschair/258202.htm . This map of the Arctic was created by State Department geographers as part of the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council.

Cutters carried helicopters for two reasons, for reconnaissance and as a mobile SAR air station. All the National Security Cutters (NSC) now have unmanned air systems (drones) that are more effective search aircraft than helicopters. Hopefully USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39) (really a high endurance cutter) which is home-ported in Kodiak will also be so equipped if it is not already.

Rather than having helicopters on ships which are increasingly going North of the Bering Strait, far from most fishing vessels, the helicopters will be forward deployed.

“Coast Guard District 17 and Air Station Kodiak maximized aviation forward operating sites staffed by shipboard landing capable MH-60T crews in Kotzebue, Cold Bay and Prince William Sound, a model that streamlines search-and-rescue response and enables flexible movement of the helicopter crews in support of deployed Coast Guard cutters and seasonal mission demands,” officials said in a statement provided to National Defense.

This will keep the helicopters nearer the concentrations of population and fishing vessels. Because they are shipboard capable MH-60Ts, they will have longer range than the H-65s that had been deployed on ships, and will still be able to use cutters to extend their range by HIFR (Helicopter In Flight Refueling) or by transit on a cutter’s flight deck to get within range.

The announcement makes it sound like the Coast Guard will be less capable of responding than they were before, but really this seems to be a net improvement based on the incorporation of more capable assets–Unmanned Air Systems and more numerous longer ranged helicopters.

Officials with Coast Guard headquarters said the change was made in summer 2024 as Air Station Kodiak phased out four retiring MH-65 Dolphin helicopters and transitioned to the newer MH-60T Jayhawk. The base now operates six Jayhawks and will eventually have nine, officials said. (emphasis applied–Chuck)

The trade-off is that cutters will not have helicopters immediately available on board, but having a cutter with helicopter in the right place at the right time was always a matter of luck.

(I have to wonder why this information was not included in a Coast Guard news release. I looked for it as a CG news release and found nothing.)

Thanks to Peter for bringing this to my attention.

“Coast Guard holds groundbreaking ceremony for new Base Charleston campus” –CG News

Posted on by
Reply

Base Charleston, The Base is moving from this location.

Below is a news release from CG News (photos of the ceremony at the link). While it seems the Coast Guard is contracting in some areas, it is important to remember that the Coast Guard is also being improved in others. Yes, we are decommissioning or laying up ten cutters, three 210s and seven 87 footers, but we also have 54 FRCs, compared with the 41 WPB 110s that we had when the FRC program started, and we will soon have eleven more.

The Coast Guard is also replacing and weather proofing much of its aging shoreside infrastructure.

Really, the news is not all bad. 

Jan. 26, 2024

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Coast Guard Base Charleston held a groundbreaking ceremony, Friday, for a new 64-acre campus in North Charleston.

Adm. Linda Fagan, Commandant of the Coast Guard, presided over the ceremony.

The 64-acre campus along the Cooper River will support the five Charleston-based national security cutters, their crews and the support personnel with completion expected in late 2026.

Marking a new trajectory for the Coast Guard in Charleston, Base Charleston is slated to become the service’s largest homeport and a base for global operations, training and support.

Since its commissioning in 2015, Base Charleston has delivered customer-focused premiere support to all Coast Guard members, assets, and mission partners from Northern Florida to South Carolina. Moreover, the base generates Coast Guard global operational readiness.

Growth estimates show that the Coast Guard workforce may double in the Charleston area by 2030 and continued prioritization and investment in the future of Base Charleston is needed to make this vision a reality.

As one of the original 10 homeports for the Revenue Cutter Service, the greater Charleston area has proudly supported members of the Coast Guard and its predecessor agencies for more than 230 years.

The Coast Guard footprint in Charleston includes eight major commands; Coast Guard Base Charleston, Coast Guard Sector Charleston, and the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy, as well as numerous tenant commands and personnel in supporting roles throughout the region.

The Coast Guard is a seagoing service; Charleston is the homeport of four Legend-class cutters, the Hamilton (WMSL 753), James (WMSL 754), Stone (WMSL 758) and Calhoun (WMSL 759). The Coast Guard Cutter Friedman (WMSL 760), the eleventh Legend-class cutter, is currently under construction and will be homeported in Charleston. Additionally, the cutters Willow (WLB 202), Anvil (WLIC 75301) and Kingfisher (WPB 87322) are homeported here.

“U.S. Coast Guard formally establishes Base Guam” –CG News

Posted on by
Reply

APRA HARBOR, Guam (Aug. 11, 2021) – An aerial view of U.S. Naval Base Guam shows several vessels moored in Apra Harbor, including vessels from the United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group 21, Aug. 9. The deployment is the U.K.’s first by a carrier strike group in the Indo-Pacific for almost 25 years and marks a historic achievement in the bilateral partnership between the U.S. and U.K. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) is deployed with the strike group, as are F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211, HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), HMS Kent (F78), HMS Defender (D63), RFA Fort Victoria (A387), RFA Tidespring (A136), Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HNLMS Evertsen (F805). French Ship Dupuy de Lome (A759), USNS Rappahannock (T-AO 204), USNS Salvor (T-ARS 52), USS Jackson (LCS 6), USS America (LHA 6), along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), were also in Guam for a scheduled port visit. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Naomi Johnson)

Below is a news release from Coast Guard News. This is another step in the growing Coast Guard presence in the Western Pacific. We have gone from a WLB and two 110s in Guam to a WLB and three FRCs and occasional CG helicopter presence. (A Navy MH-60S squadron normally provides SAR coverage.) I think we may see additional resources in the near future. Coast Guard Base Guam is a tenant command of Naval Base Guam. (Thanks to Bob for bringing this to my attention.)

Nov. 7, 2023

U.S. Coast Guard formally establishes Base Guam

U.S. Coast Guard Base Guam

SANTA RITA, Guam — The U.S. Coast Guard is proud to announce the establishment of U.S. Coast Guard Base Guam on Nov. 8, 2023, in a ceremony presided over by Rear Adm. Carola List, commander of Operational Logistics Command.

Led by Cmdr. Dana Hiatt, Base Guam, will be pivotal toward enhancing the U.S. Coast Guard’s mission support logistics in the region. This strategic move aligns with the Service’s commitment to increase mission support throughout Oceania. Given Guam’s vital importance to national security, this initiative takes center stage.

The establishment of Base Guam is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 and expands the U.S. Coast Guard’s mission support in the Indo-Pacific region. The establishment will shift current facilities engineering, naval engineering, comptroller and base operations, health, safety, and work life, personnel support, information technology, and procurement billets and responsibility from the existing U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam to a new Base Guam command structure. The establishment of Base Guam will consist of 17 additional personnel billets and will rely on the realignment of existing elements to provide logistical efficiencies improving U.S. Coast Guard mission support on Guam.

U.S. Coast Guard Base Guam will operate under the direction of the Operational Logistics Command, responsible for mission support logistics across the entire U.S. Coast Guard enterprise while coexisting with U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam. The base is taking on the role of the lead logistics and support command, a strategic decision aimed at better serving the needs of the operational community and partners. Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam retains the role of operational authority for U.S. Coast Guard activity in the Western Pacific.

The Base crew’s responsibilities encompass contingency logistics planning for joint operational plans, integration of logistics services, and support for tactical logistics needs for deployed operational assets. Additionally, the enterprise maintains a national-level logistics common operating picture and commands the Coast Guard’s 22 existing bases, ensuring the execution of assigned tasking through each of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Logistics and Service Centers.

The establishment of Base Guam marks a significant milestone in strengthening the U.S. Coast Guard’s presence and capabilities in the region. The unit is physically located on the existing U.S. Coast Guard footprint within U.S. Naval Base Guam.

-USCG-

About the DOL commander:
Rear Adm. Carola List currently serves as the commander of Operational Logistics Command in Norfolk, Virginia, overseeing the delivery of mission support logistics and administering procurement policy, guidance, and advocacy while also providing operational procurement and contracting services for all supported commands and units.

About Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam:
U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam comprises more than 300 dedicated members based in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Capt. Nicholas Simmons currently leads Forces Micronesia and serves as the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port for Guam and the CNMI. The U.S. Coast Guard is committed to maritime safety, security, and stewardship in Oceania, operating under the U.S. Coast Guard 14th District umbrella, which oversees Central and Western Pacific operations.

“First US deep water port for the Arctic to host military, cruise ships” –Navy Times

Posted on by
2

This rendering provided by the City of Nome shows how the Port of Nome, Alaska, will appear following an expansion project that will cost more than $600 million. Shipping lanes that were once clogged with ice for much of the year along Alaska’s western and northern coasts have relented thanks to global warming, and the nation’s first deep water Arctic port should be operational in Nome by the end of the decade. (PND Engineers Inc./City of Nome via AP)

Navy Times reports,

Workers will dredge a new basin 40 feet (12.2 meters) deep, allowing large cruises ships, cargo vessels, and every U.S. military ship except aircraft carriers to dock, Port Director Joy Baker said.

Nome in red. Adapted from Wikipedia’s AK borough maps by en:User:Seth Ilys.

We have been talking about a deepwater port in the area for some time,

Alaska and the Bering Strait

Nome isn’t actually in the Arctic, despite the fact that the US government defines the Arctic to include the Bering Sea. The Arctic Circle runs just a little North of Nome, essentially at the Bering Strait. The Bering Strait connects the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean and is about 44 nautical miles (82 kilometers) wide at its narrowest point. Whoever controls the Bering Strait can regulate traffic between the Pacific and the Arctic Oceans. Having a nearby deepwater port would certainly help, if it were desirable to regulate that traffic. Nome is within 160 nautical miles of the Russian side of the Strait.

Traffic through the Strait has increased and the possibility of a cruise ship disaster in the Arctic is probably a District 17 nightmare, but I think the probability is low that large numbers of CG units will be based at Nome. As noted earlier, I don’t think we will see either large patrol cutters (unless it is the Alex Haley) or FRCs based there but moving one of the Juniper class seagoing buoy tenders there, with its light icebreaking capability might make sense. A medium icebreaker might be a possibility, but that is a very long shot.

As I have noted before, the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet surface ships have not really shown much interest in operating in the Arctic. Their “Arctic” exercises have been in the Gulf of Alaska or little, if at all, North of the Aleutians.

We might see Air Force and Marines in the area in time of War. Airpower and/or shore based anti-ship missiles could control surface traffic through the Strait. Those forces would have to be supplied, which would mean logistics shipping to what we now know will be the deepwater port at Nome. The shipping would presumably require naval protection, air and/or surface.

 

Coast Guard in Oceania in the News

Posted on by
1

The USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) crew arrives in Manus, Papua New Guinea, on Aug. 14, 2022, from Guam as part of a patrol headed south to assist partner nations in upholding and asserting their sovereignty while protecting U.S. national interests. The U.S. Coast Guard is participating with partners to support the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency-led Operation Island Chief and the larger Operation Blue Pacific through patrols in the Western Pacific in August and September 2022. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by SW3 Victor Villanueva, NMCB-FOUR)

A couple of recent articles about the US relations with Palau and Papua New Guinea.

Map of the exclusive economic zones in the Pacific.

There has long been interest in a US base on Manus, Papua New Guinea, but this is politically sensitive. Basing cutters there that protect an important economic resource and occasionally rescue the locals when they get in trouble, would probably be most welcome.

On the map above, Manus and Guam do not look that far apart, but Manus is 1,737.88 km (938 nautical miles) SSE of Guam. That is about the distance from Miami to New York City. 

Cutters based in Manus would be closer to parts Freely Associated States (FAS) of Palau and Federated States of Micronesia than cutters based in Guam and much closer to most non-FAS Micronesian nations. It might also be a good place to site a fixed wing forward operating base (CGAS Honolulu DET).

I am beginning to think we will see two new bases in the Western Pacific, one in American Samoa and one in Manus.

If we do end up with additional Webber class based outside Hawaii and Guam, we might need a squadron support organization similar to, and perhaps even larger than, PATFORSWA, to support all FRCs based in the Pacific South and West of Hawaii, e.g. a PATFORSWPAC.

Some Posts of Interest

Posted on by
4

Bell’s V-280 prototype

There have been some posts that may be of interest published recently that I will point to below, with only brief comments.

“The New Coast Guard Funding Bill Is Really Good For The USCG” –Forbes There is a lot here, but you should recognize that this is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), not an actual budget. It is not uncommon to have items in the authorization that are not included in the corresponding budget, so we have to wait a little longer to see what is actually funded.

The Coast Guard is directed to complete a number of studies. I hope they will be completed and delivered to Congress, but they may not be and if they are, we may never know. I have been told, a lot of reports get delivered late, because there is little penalty, and the committees don’t need to inform anyone else of whether they have received a report they requested.

“Some Fun Coast Guard Reads In Forbes” –Next Navy: This talks about the post above and a second post that suggests that the Coast Guard replace the C-27 with the Army’s recently selected V-280. I think the production version of the V-280 has a good chance of finding a place in the Coast Guard. Ultimately it might even replace all our land-based helicopters and all the fixed wing aircraft except the C-130, but that is many years in the future. It’s premature to consider replacing the C-27. (Thanks to Walter for bringing this to my attention.)

“Expand Seattle Coast Guard base without impacting working waterfront”: The local longshoremen’s union takes issue with the three proposals for expansion of Base Seattle. (Thanks to Mike for bringing this to my attention.)

“MOAA Interview: Coast Guard Commandant Charts the Path Forward” Admiral Zukunft emphasized the Cutter recapitalization. Admiral Schultz spent a lot of time talking about shoreside infrastructure. Admiral Fagan’s emphasis is on personnel issues, e.g., recruiting, incentives for afloat billets, afloat billets for women, and women the Coast Guard in general. There is also a nod to the Arctic.