Category Archives: Operation Blue Pacific

“USCG Report: Small Cutters Prove They Can Patrol a Big Ocean” –Marine Link

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Cutters Joseph Gerczak and Juniper refuel in Papeete, Tahiti, while underway during Operation Aiga, February 6, 2022. The two cutters were in the region combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and other maritime threats on the high seas throughout the Pacific. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of the USCGC Juniper)(cropped)

Marine Link has an interesting article that recounts the methods that allow the 154 foot Webber “Sentinel” class WPCs “Fast Response Cutters, FRCs”with a nominal endurance of only five days and a range of 2500 nautical miles at 14 knots to deploy well beyond that distance.

Issues that must be dealt with other than limited storage and fuel include lack of an independent duty corpsman and carbon build-up in the engines due to operating at lower than design RPM.

When we go to Tahiti or American Samoa, there’s nothing in between. We’ll usually travel with a ‘black hull’ buoy tender in case we need to take on fuel at sea. But we have to be very careful with our fuel, and how we run our engines, and balance the need to have enough provisions for the trip and arrive safety with at least 20 percent fuel on board with the need to get down there so we can get to work.”

Sea State can also make it difficult to do a Replenishment at Sea (RAS).

The article does not reflect the current number of FRCs planned–77 rather than the 64 indicated in the article. It appears likely that the number of FRCs in Guam will increase from three to six and that additional FRCs (probably three) will be based in American Samoa.)

The article talks about future OPCs allowing National Security Cutters to spend more time in the Western Pacific but makes no mention of USCGC Harriet Lane, currently based in Oahu, or other WMECs that might be based in the Pacific in the Future.

“…in the absence of the perfect asset, the FRCs are the right asset for the job right now. “We’re making it work.”

“Coast Guard to send 3 more cutters to Guam, has no plans to escort Philippine ships” –Stars and Stripes

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A U.S. Coast Guard boat crew and boarding team from U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Berry (WPC 1124) approaches a foreign fishing vessel to conduct a joint boarding inspection with members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission on the high seas in Oceania, Sept. 22, 2024. U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Berry’s crew recently completed a 45-day patrol in Oceania in support of Operation Blue Pacific, promoting security, safety, sovereignty, and economic prosperity in the region.

Stars and Stripes reports,

The Coast Guard will double its Guam fleet to six cutters but doesn’t plan to accompany the Philippine coast guard as it struggles to maintain territorial claims in the South China Sea, the service’s Pacific-area commander said Friday.

This is based on a video news conference by Pacific Area Commander Vice Adm. Andrew Tiongson speaking from Japan.

“The Coast Guard will not escort Philippine resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded warship garrisoned by Filipino troops at the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, according to Tiongson.”

The Philippines has not asked for escorts, Tiongson said. “We do advise, and we do assist,” he said. “We provide what we would do in this situation.”

He also said, “It’s possible we may get another Indo-Pacific support cutter,” using the description applied to USCGC Harriet Lane, recently arrived in the Pacific Area to support operations in the Western Pacific.

There is more in the article.

“Q&A: Vice Admiral Andrew J. Tiongson, Commander, Pacific Area and Commander, Defense Force West, U.S. Coast Guard” –Seapower

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Tiongson speaks at a press conference before the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Waesche offloads 18,219 pounds of cocaine, worth more than $239 million, on Dec. 6, 2023. U.S. Coast Guard

The Navy League’s on-line magazine, Seapower, has an interview with the Pacific Area Commander. There is a lot of good information here.

HC-130Js (and C-27Js):

CGAS Sacramento will “transition” to HC-130Js. Pacific Area certainly needs the long range aircraft because, while 84% of the US EEZ is in Pacific Area they have only three fixed wing air stations (Kodiak, Barbers Point, and Sacramento) while Atlantic Area has five fixed wing air stations to cover only 16% of the US EEZ.

What will happen to the C-27Js? No mention was made of these. They might go to Guam. That would be helpful in providing fixed wing search aircraft in the Western Pacific. Recently there was a SAR case in the Western Pacific. A C-130 was dispatched from Barbers Point, but the flight was so long the crew needed a day’s rest before the aircraft could be used in the search. On the other hand, Guam might not be an optimal location since it is so far West. There are other options.

Fast Response Cutters:

As I read the statement, the intention is to have a total of six FRCs in Guam and add a fourth in Hawaii.

His discussion about these little ships clearly indicates that their nominal five-day endurance (same as the preceding 110 foot WPBs) is being exceeded regularly.

“The FRCs, first off, are game changers for the Coast Guard in general. Back in the day, we had patrol boats that were limited in terms of the sea states they could handle, the food that they could carry, the number of crew members and certainly their duration at sea. The FRCs have changed that.”

Six WPCs in the same port is not unusual. District 7 has three different ports, each homeport to six or seven Webber class, but this may be a move toward replicating a PATFORSWA type organization to support 7th Fleet in the Western Pacific.

Large Patrol Cutters:

There was a brief discussion of the Offshore Patrol Cutters, but no indication of when they are expected to arrive in PACAREA.

A second “Harriet Lane or Indo-Pacific support cutter” is on PACAREA’s unfunded priority list. For some reason, I think this may happen.

Commercial Icebreaker Procurement:

Plans for the commercial icebreaker (Aiviq) were discussed. It will be homeported in Juneau, as reported here in March, but still has not been purchased and it will take two years to complete changes to make it fully operational.

The admiral was asked, “Is the commercial icebreaker going to be crewed by Coast Guardsmen or by a contract crew?” and there was no definitive answer. Should the Coast Guard adopt a hybrid crew, as has been done by some Navy vessels it would be a major change in Coast Guard policy.

The Eastern Pacific Drug Transit Zone: 

Atlantic Area cutters are not assisting in Eastern Pacific drug transit zone interdiction efforts, as they normally would, because they are heavily engaged in migrant interdiction operations.

Trusted Partner:

The Area Commander talked a lot about what being a trusted partner meant, about partnerships with Asian coast guards, and the outsized effect of having a few good people in liaison positions.

“Media Advisory: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane is scheduled to return to home port following inaugural Operation Blue Pacific Patrol in Oceania” –CG News

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Australian Royal Navy personnel stand in formation on a pier as the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC-903) and crew prepare to moor at HMAS Cairns, Queensland, Australia, March 7, 2024. The Harriet Lane and crew had a five-day port call in Cairns during its inaugural 2024 Operation Blue Pacific patrol in Oceania. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Ty Robertson)

Below is a Coast Guard News release. The release has some videos including interaction with children in Port Vila, Vanuatu (very cute).

One thing that caught my eye was the use of the plural in this statement, “The Coast Guard plans to use medium endurance cutters (emphasis applied–Chuck) for responsibilities in Hawaiian waters, as well as an increase Coast Guard presence throughout the Indo-Pacific and Oceania.”

Was this just a misstatement by the PAO or does this mean we will see more WMECs in 14th District?

I would also note that Harriet Lane apparently made this patrol without a helicopter. Barbers Point does fly H-65s, but last I heard, they only have three. Did the cutter at least have a Scan Eagle?

April 4, 2024

Media Advisory: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane is scheduled to return to home port following inaugural Operation Blue Pacific Patrol in Oceania

Editor’s Note:  Media should RSVP by Monday, April 8 by 4 p.m. to Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Fisher at ryan.m.fisher@uscg.mil
Imagery of Harriet Lane’s patrol can be found here: Operation Blue Pacific 

Who: U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Michael Day, commander U.S. Coast Guard Fourteenth District, and Cmdr. Nicole Tesoniero, commanding officer U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC 903).

What: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane and crew are expected to return to home port after their inaugural Operation Blue Pacific patrol in Oceania. Media are invited to watch Harriet Lane and crew moor at Pearl Harbor and families be reunited after being away for more than 70 days. Media will be able to hear remarks from Day and Tesoniero regarding Operation Blue Pacific and the increased Coast Guard presence in Oceania.

Where: Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, 1000 North Rd, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96860

When: Tuesday, April 9 at 10 a.m.  

Harriet Lane and crew partnered alongside allies and several Pacific Island countries from January to April 2024. Among those countries were Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Marshall Islands. The focus was on advising and sharing best practices, along with bolstering our partners’ capabilities to promote and model good maritime governance in the region.

Harriet Lane and crew expanded U.S. Coast Guard presence in Oceania alongside Pacific Island countries exercising bilateral maritime law enforcement agreements with shiprider provisions to strengthen maritime domain awareness and support efforts to combat illegal fishing activities with partners with whom we have existing relationships.

The Harriet Lane is U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area’s newest Indo-Pacific support cutter and spent more than 15 months in a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) in Baltimore, Maryland, to prepare for the transition in missions and operations.

The Coast Guard plans to use medium endurance cutters for responsibilities in Hawaiian waters, as well as an increase Coast Guard presence throughout the Indo-Pacific and Oceania. The ship is especially suited for longer-range six-to-eight week joint operational and training patrols in the Pacific, taking pressure off shorter range Hawaii-based cutters more suited to service closer to home port.

Commissioned in 1984, Harriet Lane is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to support Coast Guard missions in the Pacific region. The service’s medium endurance cutter fleet supports a variety of Coast Guard missions including search and rescue, law enforcement, maritime defense, and protection of the marine environment.

“US Coast Guard Seeks Bigger Role to Search, Board Vessels in Pacific” –gCaptain

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PERU, 10.07.2023, Courtesy Photo, USCG District 11
A Coast Guard boarding team member catches a view looking aft across the deck of a squid jigger vessel during a boarding inspection, with Coast Guard Cutter Alder in the background, during 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)

gCaptain gives us a sort of status report on the Coast Guard’s emerging role in Western Pacific international fisheries enforcement.

“US to Deploy Coastguard Ship to Papua New Guinea” –The Defense Post

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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)

(Sorry, this is a couple of weeks old.)

The Defense Post reports,

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday announced the deployment of a US Coastguard ship to Papua New Guinea, as Washington seeks to boost its military footprint in the region amid fierce competition for influence with China…“A US Coastguard cutter will be here in August,” Austin said as he became the first Pentagon boss to visit Papua New Guinea.

Again, the Coast Guard is being used as an instrument of foreign policy. That is not a bad thing, but it is a fact.

It is not like the Coast Guard has not been there before. The photo is from 2022, but the US and Papua New Guinea are seeking closer, mutually beneficial ties.

For Papua New Guinea this means improvements to dual use (military and civilian) infrastructure (ports and airfields), increased economic activity, and help with preventing IUU fishing.

For the US, the diplomatic activity is prompted by Chinese attempts to obtain influence in Oceania that seemed to have been demonstrated when the Soloman Islands failed to respond to a request for a routine replenishment stop for USCGC Oliver Henry (pictured above).

Thanks to Paul for bringing this to my attention. 

Coast Guard in Oceania in the News

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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.

“The Compacts of Free Association and the Role of the U.S. Coast Guard” –CSIS

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Estimated exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs). The EEZs of countries that are the Parties to the Nauru Agreement are shown in darker blue. Note that not all EEZs of PICTs have been officially delineated under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Source: Patrick Lehodey

(Before we start, CSIS also has a great overview of what has been going on in the Western Pacific/Oceania, “STRATEGIC UPGRADES IN THE PACIFIC,” that includes an interactive map. You might want to take a look at it if you want an update on what has been happening in the Western Pacific.)

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has a study proposing,

“One way for the U.S. to show value to the relationship is by aiding the FAS (Freely Associated States–Chuck) in combating illegal maritime activities, building maritime law enforcement capacity, and working with local government and civilian partners to conduct a range of maritime domain training using the USCG as the interlocutor.”

This seems to be encouragement to do more of what the Coast Guard is already doing as part of the aid package negotiations. But to do more, the Coast Guard needs more. US EEZ South and West of Hawaii is equal to 181% the size of the entire Atlantic Area (AA) EEZ, where more than half of all Coast Guard assets are assigned.

If we add the Freely Associated States:

Without considering the other eleven additional island states with EEZs totaling 7.3 times that of the entire Atlantic Area EEZ, the US and Freely Associated States alone have a combined EEZ 4.85 times that of the entire Atlantic Area, e.g., East Coast, Gulf Coast, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Permanently based in this huge area we have exactly three patrol craft and a buoy tender, and not a single Coast Guard aircraft.

Will the Coast Guard get the four additional Webber Class Fast Response Cutters on their Unfunded Priorities List? Will there be at least a fixed wing aviation support detachment?

A US Coast Guard base in one of the Freely Associated States could be a win-win.

Thanks to Paul for bringing this to my attention.

“Indo-Pacific partners lead global fight against IUU fishing” –Indo-Pacific Defense Forum

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Catch is readied for inspection during a boarding by USCGC Frederick Hatch crew members and a local maritime officer in Micronesia’s EEZ. IMAGE CREDIT: PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS BRANDON CHAPLEA/U.S. COAST GUARD

The Indo-Pacific Defense Forum has a nice piece about cooperative efforts to curb Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated (IUU) fishing. USCG gets a lot of credit.

Visiting Fiji and other Pacific Islands

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Naval News points out the apparent strong interest of many nations in West Pacific island nations, “Pacific Port Visits Show Regions Growing Importance: Expert.”

Certainly the Coast Guard has been calling on a these small island nations with significant regularity.

We are not the only ones visiting.

Type 071 LSD Wuzhishan of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) alongside in Nuku’alofa, Tonga with an Australian Canberra class LHD visible in the background. (Xinhua)

The post points to visits by USS Jackson (LCS-6), the UK’s HMS Spey (P-234), Japan’s JS Kirisame (DD-104) and India’s INS Satpura (F-48).

Somehow, I suspect of all these, the Webber class WPCs, like USCGC Oliver Henry’s recent deployment, are the most welcome, non-threatening, the right scale, not showing off, just trying to help.