Coast Guard Cutter Cypress arrives in Kodiak, replaces SPAR
A view of the Coast Guard Cutter Cypress is pictured as the vessel’s crew transits from Los Angeles, California, to the ship’s new homeport in Kodiak, Alaska, Nov. 12, 2021. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Amanda Harris.
The Coast Guard Cutter Cypress deck department stands on the buoy deck while the vessel transits from Los Angeles, California, to the ship’s new homeport in Kodiak, Alaska, Oct. 19, 2021. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Amanda Harris.
KODIAK, Alaska — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Cypress crew arrived in Kodiak, Sunday, after transiting from the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Maryland, upon completion of the ship’s Major Maintenance Availability (MMA).
The Cypress crew transited over 7,600 nautical miles south along the east coast of the United States through the Caribbean and Panama Canal, and North along the west coast of the United States through the Alaskan Inside Passage to their new homeport at Coast Guard Base Kodiak.
The crew began preparing the Cypress for her maiden voyage to Alaska in August and will be returning to Kodiak after four months away from home.
The Cypress will be filling the role of the “Aleutian Keeper,” replacing the Coast Guard Cutter SPAR as the 225-foot Juniper Class Buoy Tender, and will be responsible for servicing aids throughout Kodiak Island and the Aleutian chain. SPAR departed Kodiak in January 2021, entered MMA in February 2021, and will be re-homeported in Duluth, Minnesota at the completion of the MMA.
Commissioned in 2001, the Cypress was stationed in Mobile, Alabama, and subsequently re-homeported to Pensacola, Florida, as the “Strong Arm of the Gulf,” servicing aids to navigation along 900 miles of coastline, stretching from Apalachicola, Florida, to the border of Mexico. The Cypress crew aided in hurricane recovery operations after Ivan, Katrina, and Rita, recovering and re-establishing buoys that hurricanes had moved up to 24 miles off station.
In 2004, the Cypress crew successfully recovered a sunken 38,000 lb. “Blue Angels” F/A-18A Hornet from 40 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico after a training accident. The Cypress crew had served thereafter as the center point for the annual Blue Angels’ air show at Pensacola Beach until her arrival at the Coast Guard Yard for MMA in August of 2020. In 2010, the Cypress crew responded to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacting the Gulf of Mexico, conducting oil recovery operations with specialized oil recovery equipment alongside sister ships Juniper, Walnut, Sycamore, Aspen, Oak and Elm, together recovering over 500,000 gallons of spilled oil and coordinating environmental cleanup activities between numerous federal, state, local, and private entities.
During her 34-day-long transit, the Cypress crew made port calls in Mayport, Florida, Key West, Florida, Long Beach, California, and Ketchikan, Alaska. The Cypress crew took full advantage of the long transit time to conduct damage control training, small boat training, engineering and navigation drills, and worked to build watch proficiency leading to 63 individual qualifications.
The Cypress crew looks forward to returning home to their families, serving their local Alaska community, and returning to the important work of servicing aids to navigation that support the Maritime Transportation System vital to Alaska’s robust maritime economy.
“Coast Guard Cutter Forward and Coast Guard Cutter Bear, homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia, finish an at-sea transfer while underway on a two-month patrol. Coast Guard Cutter Forward returned to homeport on April 10, 2021.” (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
This caught my attention, because I was not sure if the SLEP for 270s had begun. Apparently we are still in the planning stage.
Good to see deck plate users are being asked their opinion.
It would be nice if these ships came out of SLEP with some enhancements, not just reduced capabilities. The ability to operate UAS and enhanced EO/IR capabilities come to mind.
R 051250Z NOV 21 FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC TO ALCOAST BT UNCLAS ALCOAST 406/21 SSIC 5102 SUBJ: SOLICITATION FOR 270′ WMEC SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS (SME) 1. This ALCOAST solicits volunteers to participate in a three-day 270′ Medium Endurance Cutter (WMEC) Service Life Extension Project (SLEP) Operational Assessment (OA) in Portsmouth, VA from 25-27 January 2022. The OA is a review and analysis of intended work items to determine the operational capability and effectiveness expected to be delivered during the upcoming WMEC 270 SLEP. The OA will be used to identify equipment or process discrepancies that may degrade mission efficiency, and assesses the effectiveness and suitability of a system or service during the WMEC 270 SLEP. 2. Background: The WMEC 270 SLEP is essential to maintaining viable platforms while OPCs are being constructed so as not to have a gap in offshore operational capacity. 3. The OA is a tabletop documentation review by experienced active duty members who are currently serving, or have recently served on WMEC 270s. SMEs will assist the Operational Test Director (OTD) in determining suitability of system changes during the WMEC 270 SLEP. An OA report will be submitted to the Vice Commandant and DHS’ Office of Test and Evaluation to assess the WMEC 270 SLEP proposal. 4. The OA mission areas are grouped below. a. Operations. Comprised of CO/XO, OPS, ET, and OS. This group will focus on mobility, command and control, and launch and recovery of cutter boats and helicopters. b. Deck. Comprised of 1LT, GM with Mk 38 Mod 2/3 experience, and Deck BM. This group will focus on anchoring, launch and recovery of cutter boats and helicopters, and employment of the new 270 SLEP weapon suite. c. Engineering. Comprised of EO, AUXO, ENG, MK, and EM. This group will focus on launch and recovery of cutter boats, the new SLEP Electrical Power System, equipment and machinery maintenance and repair, reliability, maintainability, and engineering casualty control. d. Support. Comprised of F&S, and SK. This group will focus on logistics supportability. e. Aviation. Comprised of helicopter pilots with ship deployment experience. This group will focus on helicopter launch and recovery. 5. Personnel required. Rate/Rank Required Experience CO 1 O-5/O-6 270′ WMEC CO XO 1 O-4/O-5 270′ WMEC XO EO 2 O-3/O-4 270′ WMEC EO OPS 1 O-3/O-4 270′ WMEC OPS AUXO 2 O-1/O-2 270′ WMEC AUXO HH-65 PILOTS 2 O-3/O-4 270′ WMEC Deployed ENG 2 CWO NESU/MPA F&S 1 CWO SUPPO BM (Deck) 2 E-5/E-6 270′ WMEC EM 2 E-5/E-6 270′ WMEC ET 1 E-5/E-6 270′ WMEC/ESU GM 2 E-5/E-6 MK38 Mod 2/3 MK 2 E-5/E-6 270′ WMEC/MAT OS 1 E-6/E-7 270′ WMEC SK 1 E-5/E-6 270′ WMEC 6. Volunteers must be available for the entire three-day event. SMEs will be provided read-ahead documents in preparation for their role to ensure the OA is completed within the allotted time. A detailed schedule of events will be provided via email after participants have been identified. 7. Interested participants should contact the 270′ WMEC SLEP Sponsor’s Representative, LTJG Louie Wu, by 10 December 2021 via email. Member must include a copy of their employee summary sheet from CGBI in-board view as an attachment and desired mission area from paragraph 4. Email must be forwarded from your unit CO or XO to demonstrate command approval for participation. COMDT (CG-9322) will issue travel orders to members selected to participate. 8. Point of contact: LTJG Louie Wu, COMDT (CG-751), 202-372-2360, Louie.Wu@uscg.mil. 9. RDML Todd C Wiemers, Assistant Commandant for Capability (CG-7), sends. 10. Internet release is authorized.
Coast Guard Cutter Fir departed today from the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, following completion of its midlife maintenance availability (MMA). The MMA is one of several projects that comprise the In-Service Vessel Sustainment (ISVS) Program to enhance mission capability, improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs of the service’s legacy cutter fleet.
Fir, which started undergoing the MMA work in August 2018, is the sixth of 16 225-foot seagoing buoy tenders to undergo this process through the ISVS Program. The work will keep the tenders in service another 15 years and includes an overhaul of the deck equipment and weight handling gear, updates to the machinery control system and HVAC systems, topside preservation and a stability assessment. The 225-foot Juniper-class seagoing buoy tenders were commissioned between 1996 and 2004. Fir will be stationed in Cordova, Alaska, after completing a roughly 7,000-8,000 nautical mile voyage through the Panama Canal and up the Pacific Coast. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Cmdr. Michael Adams.
I found the Joint Explanation easiest to wade through. The Budget breakdown is found on pages 65 to 69 of the 612 page pdf.
Note in some cases I have rounded to the nearest $0.1M
Our total Coast Guard FY2019 budget is $12,015,921,000. This is $91,803,000 less than last year, but $577,720,000 more than the budget request.
The Operations and Support allocation is $7,808.2M. That is $434.9M more than last year (a 5.6% increase), and $215.1M more than requested.
I have provided information on the PC&I budget below including a complete list of line items that I was unable to provide before.
PROCUREMENT, CONSTRUCTION, AND IMPROVEMENTS (PC&I) $2,248.26M
Vessels and Boats
Survey and design: 5.5M
In service vessel sustainment: 63.25M
National Security Cutter: 72.6M (Follow up on ships already funded)
Offshore Patrol Cutter: 400M (Second of class + LLTM for third)
Fast Response Cutter: 340M (Six Webber class including two for PATFORSWA)
Cutter boats 5M
Polar Security Cutter: 675M (First of class + LLTM for second)
Waterways Commerce Cutter: 5M
Polar sustainment: 15M (Polar Star Service Life Extension)
—-Vessels Subtotal: $1,581.35M
Aircraft
HC-144 Conversion/Sustainment: 17M
HC-27J Conversion/Sustainment: 80M
HC-1330J Conversion/Sustainment: 105M
HH-65 Conversion/Sustainment: 28M
MH-60 Conversion/Sustainment: 120M
Small Unmanned Aircraft: 6M
—Aircraft Subtotal: $356M
Other Acquisition Programs:
Other Equipment and System: 3.5M
Program Oversight and Managemen: 20M
C4ISR 23.3M
CG-Logistics Information Management System (CG-LIMS): 9.2M
—Other Acquisitions Programs Subtotal: $56M
Shore Facilities and Aids to Navigation:
Major Construction; Housing; ATON; and Survey and Design: 74.51M
Major Acquisition Systems Infrastructure: 175.4M
Minor Shore 5M
—Shore Facilities and Aids to Navigation Subtotal: $254.91M
The PC&I total, $2,248.26M, was $446.48M less than FY2018, but it was $361.51M above the budget request.
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R&D was cut by almost a third. This is probably a place to spend more not less.
Reserve Training disappeared as a separate line item, so I can’t tell what happened there.
Also included in the new budget is $5M for the National Coast Guard Museum
Incidentally, the total amount appropriated for the polar security program includes $359.6M (FY2018 and prior) + $675M (FY2019), or $1,034.6M, of which $20M is for Long Lead Time Material for the second ship, and the remainder is for the first ship and other program-related expenses.
With Operations and Support up more than 5% over 2018 and Procurement Construction &Improvement (PC&I) over $2B for the second year in a row, this is the kind of budget we can live with. It just needs to keep happening.
This is not going to flow well, I apologized for the mishmash. The video above is of a House Sub-Committee hearing that occurred on July 24. I think it is still worth a look. The video does not actually begin until just before time 19:55
Before watching the video, I would suggest a look at the “Summary of Subject Matter.” This is what the Congressional Representatives are looking at.
End of Service Lives for Medium Endurance Cutters (MEC) with Planned Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) Delivery Dates:
Check out the charts on page 2. The second chart shows “End of Service Lives for Medium Endurance Cutters (MEC) with Planned Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) Delivery Dates.” It illustrates the risks and loss of capacity that appears likely, if OPCs are funded at the planned rate of no more than two ships a year. It is unclear why the WMECs are to be retired in the order intended since it is not the order of their completion. Presumably it is based on an assessment of the condition of the ships, but it is very clear that they will all be well over aged. The 210s will retire first. The youngest retirement would be at age 53 and some would qualify for Social Security before replacement. (Diligence, 66)
How they arrived at the expected service life shown is hard to understand, because every 210 is going to be 53 years old or older at the end of projected service life plus 15 year life extension. The 210s were, of course, substantially reworked during a “Major Maintenance Availability” 1986 to 1990, but no further life extension work is apparently planned based on the testimony in the video.
It may appear we are in much better shape with respect to the 270s, but these more complex ships may actually be harder to keep operational. We saw this in the number of breakdown experienced after the Haitian Earthquake eight years ago. They were commissioned between 1983 and 1991 and are expected to be replaced between 2130 and 2135. Legare, second to newest, is planned to be the first replaced, and would be “only” 40 years old. Harriet Lane one of the earliest completed is expected to be one of the last replaced and would be 50 years old. The rest fall within that range. SLEP for 270s beginning 2021, but it is not certain it will be applied to all 13 ships.
Because ships are not being replaced as quickly as they were originally built, we see a growing gap between the end of the ship’s projected service life, even with a 15 year service life extension, and the projected date of replacement.
Cutter Capability (by operating hour):
See also Appendix A, which illustrates the current shortfall in cutter hours available compared to the “Legacy Fleet” the recapitalization program was intended to replace. The “Legacy Fleet” is based on 12 WHECs, 29 WMECs, and 49 island class WPBs. (Not sure why they used 29 WMECs, since we had 32 as recently as 2001.)
There are two charts, the first includes WPBs and Webber class WPCs as well as WHECs, WMECs, NSCs, and OPCs. The second considers on the only the larger vessels, excluding WPCs and WPBs.
The first chart shows that we are currently down 20,450 hours (8.6%) relative to the legacy fleet, but that when the recapitalization is complete the total will be 31,970 hours (13.4%) greater than the legacy fleet. This increase is all due to the greater number Webber class and the greater number of hours each is expected to operate annually compared to 110s.
The second chart looks only at the larger ships, leaving aside the Webber and Island class WPCs and WPBs. It shows we are currently down 13,950 op hours (10%) and further, that when the program is completed, we will be down 15,030 hours (10.7%)reflecting the smaller number of large patrol cutters. If we could view this as a chart of actual cutter available on a yearly basis, it suggest that we will never be down by more than the 10.7% that shows upon completion of the program. Actually that is unlikely to be the case. The aging fleet means a higher probability of unplanned maintenance and even catastrophic failure that may result in WMECs being decommissioned prematurely and becoming parts donors like the Polar Sea.
At some point Coast Guard leadership is going to have to tell Congress the ugly truth that we have started the OPC/WMEC replacement program much too late, and we need to double down on the production rate. As soon as the first ship is completed and tested we need to issue a Multi-Year Procurement contract and it should include building up to four ships a year, at least until all sixteen 210s are replaced and at least three ships a year until all the WMECs are replaced.
We need to tell the Congress this as soon as possible, because bad news does not get better with age. Unfortunately it did not happen in this hearing. In fact when asked about the possibility of accelerating OPC production, time 1:10:00, VAdm McAllister seemed to dismiss the possibility saying we had other higher priorities. This was the wrong answer. You don’t always get to decide how money is spent. If we should get the opportunity to accelerate OPC construction, as has happened with the FRCs, we should welcome it.
Mission Needs Statement:
You can see the “Mission Needs Statement” referred to here. It is 70 pages plus about 45 pages of Appendices, but as noted, “… it does not identify asset gaps or a material solution to meet Coast Guard’s mission needs.”
GAO findings, failure to plan long term:
The GAO has taken the Coast Guard to task because their acquisition portfolio planning has been limited to apparently short term planning using the annual budget and five year Capital Investment Plan (CIP). That this has resulted a bow wave of unfunded requirements being pushed progressively further into the future.
“When you are up to your ass in alligators, it is difficult to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp.”
I have to think GAO has a point here.
We still have not provided a 20 year acquisition plan that the Coast Guard said they would provide in 2014, much less the 30 year plan I have suggested that would parallel the Navy’s planning process.
We have only done one fleet mix study. It was completed in 2007 and included the apparent assumption of applying the now rejected Crew Rotation Concept to both the NSCs and OPCs. Even so, it is still being used as a basis for critiquing the program of record that was last re-baselined in 2005. Things change, we now have better information about how our assets actually function. It is long past time for updated planning.
The Video:
Witnesses were:
Vice Admiral Daniel Abel, Deputy Commandant for Operations, United States Coast Guard | Written Testimony
Vice Admiral Michael McAllister, Deputy Commandant for Mission Support, United States Coast Guard | Written Testimony
Ms. Marie A. Mak, Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management, Government Accountability Office | Written Testimony
Here is a brief outline of the topic discussed. Video actually begins 19:55.
23:00 Administration and CG leadership priorities do not demonstrate a commitment to rebuild infrastructure.
42:00 Appropriation deleted $1.4B including $750M for the Heavy Polar Icebreaker and the rest from an account to repair of replace hurricane damaged infrastructure.
46:00 Icebreaker schedule is overly optimistic.
47:00 WMEC gap.
49:00 No service life extension program for 210s. Some, but not all 270s, will have 10 year life extension.
51:00 Capabilities vs hours.
55:30 WMECs are operating at higher than anticipated tempo. Anticipate catastrophic failures within in the WMEC fleet. 5 out or 14 WMEC 210s are at high risk.
59:30 Maintenance backlog.
1:08:00 Still no 20 year plan has been provided since it was requested in 2014.
1:10:00 accelerate OPC procurement?
1:12:30 OPC homeports, of the first four, two will go to Kodiak and two to LA
1:14:00 Great Lakes icebreaking, Mackinaw replacement? SLEP of 140′
1:15:45 Will be doing a fleet mix study for the Great Lakes.
1:20:00 Homeport for icebreakers has not been decided. Working on homeport decisions for the entire fleet.
1:23:00 UAS
1:24:00 Counter UAS capability. The six WPBs in CENTCOM have some capability.
1:25:00 Manpower analysis
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Opening Statement of the Sub-Committee Chair:
The Subcommittee is meeting today to review how the Coast Guard is integrating their acquisition, manpower, and maintenance plans to align to their mission needs and assure the Service has the assets, personnel, and expertise needed to carry out its missions.
On June 1, 2018, Admiral Karl Schultz became the 26th Commandant of the Coast Guard. His guiding principles for the Service are: Ready, Relevant, and Responsive. He said, “These guiding principles frame my direction and will support the Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense and Combatant Commanders, and other national and global maritime interests.” Admiral Schultz and his senior leadership team are in the midst of reviewing the status of the Coast Guard and making changes to align the Service with those guiding principles. Today, we will hear from two members of that team, and look forward to better understanding their perspectives on the status of the Coast Guard.
The ongoing recapitalization of the Service’s cutters was planned two decades ago to address mission demands at that time. The world and the demands on the Coast Guard have since changed and it is critical that the Service be ready to respond to the demands of today, as well as those that will exist in decades to come. It is also important that the Coast Guard is prepared to manage capability gaps that are occurring and likely to continue to occur as recapitalization continues.
The decisions being made today will shape the Coast Guard of the future. The cutters being built today have a planned 30-year service life and will probably serve longer, and the final OPC is projected to be patrolling the seas until 2064. Like Admiral Schultz, Congress wants to ensure the Coast Guard is Ready, Relevant, and Responsive for years to come. In order to do so, we need accurate information from the Service to determine whether current plans will provide the capabilities to meet future demands.
Even more important than Coast Guard ships and aircraft are the people who operate them. The Coast Guard’s active duty workforce is only slightly larger than that of the New York City police department and less than ¼ the size of the next smallest U.S. Armed Force. Congress has encouraged the Coast Guard to better understand and articulate its workforce needs to meet current and emerging needs. Looking forward, it is likely that the Service will need to make tough, strategic decisions regarding how Coast Guard personnel are allocated. Even before the advent of a new cybersecurity operating domain, the Coast Guard was struggling to meet mission demands; creating a cybersecurity workforce while also conducting legacy operations poses an additional challenge that must be addressed immediately.
In addition to our focus on Coast Guard assets and personnel, this Subcommittee has continually pushed the Service to improve its shore infrastructure made up of approximately 43,400 assets nationwide. Unfortunately, even after several years of us stressing the need for action, much of that property is in dire need of rebuilding or repair. While Coast Guard leaders consistently stress the importance of investing in shore infrastructure, the budgetary trade-offs being made within the Coast Guard and the Administration do not reflect a genuine commitment to address this need. For example, despite a shore infrastructure backlog of more than $1.5 billion, the Coast Guard’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget request only includes $30 million to address those projects.
Shore infrastructure is critical to every Coast Guard mission – cutters need piers, aircraft need runways, inspectors need buildings, etc. – and if the Service truly desires to remain Ready, Relevant, and Responsive, it needs to find ways to address these critical needs.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a number of reports since 2012 reviewing Coast Guard acquisition programs and providing recommendations to improve those programs. Over the years, the Coast Guard has agreed with many of those recommendations and agreed to take action on them. However, the new GAO report released today notes that the Coast Guard has not fully implemented those prior recommendations. Hopefully, today’s hearing will help us understand why that is.
A new senior leadership team brings new perspectives, new ideas, and new priorities. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today on how they see the Coast Guard and how we can best position the Service for success going forward.
Third Round of Industry Input Sought On 47-Foot Motor Lifeboat Service Life Extension Program
July 13, 2018
A request for information (RFI) was released by the Coast Guard on July 12 for the 47-foot motor lifeboat (MLB) service life extension program (SLEP) as part of the In-Service Vessel Sustainment (ISVS) program. The Coast Guard is providing industry with the latest draft of the statement of work and specification along with access to the majority of the MLB technical data – drawings and technical publications – while seeking industry comments before making a formal solicitation for the contract, which has an estimated value of over $100 million.
This is the third RFI for the MLB; the first was released in September 2016 and the second in November 2017.
The MLB is the Coast Guard’s primary search and rescue platform in surf and heavy weather conditions. The fleet of more than 100 MLBs is approaching the end of its planned 25-year service life, and operational availability has been limited by parts availability and obsolescence issues. The SLEP will extend the useful life of the MLB by 20 years. The original operational capabilities and characteristics of the MLB will effectively remain the same, while efforts to enhance human system integration will be made where practical.
“This RFI answers questions posed through prior industry engagement,” said Cmdr. David Obermeier, deputy program manager for boats acquisitions. “It also gives industry the opportunity to provide additional feedback on the latest draft statement of work and specification.”
The RFI can be found here. The deadline to submit responses is July 27, 2018, at 2 p.m. EST.
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