“USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Aug. 28, 2023”

Posted on August 29, 2023 by Chuck Hill

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Forward (WMEC 911) steams near an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, Aug. 22, 2023. Forward deployed in support of Op Nanook, an annual Canadian-led exercise that offers an opportunity to work with partners to advance shared maritime objectives. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Mikaela McGee)

The US Naval Institute’s Fleet and Marine Tracker again reports three Navy ships are operating under 4th Fleet. This has been the case since the end of the UNITAS exercise. We will have to wait to see if this higher level of activity becomes a new norm.

As for Coast Guard activity, they note PATFORSWA in the Mid East, USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) in the Beaufort Sea, USCGC Forward (WMEC-911) participation in Operation Nanook, and, “Legend-class National Security Cutter USCGC Munro (WMSL-755) is in the South China Sea and is conducting joint training with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).”

There is good coverage of Coast Guard out of area operations. USNI is publishing what information they get from the Coast Guard, but apparently the Coast Guard does not provide anything comparable to the statistical information the Navy provides (as in the example below), so there is no information about routine Coast Guard operational tempo.

Ships Underway

Total Battle Force	Deployed	Underway
297 (USS 238, USNS 59)	100 (USS 67, USNS 33)	67 (39 Deployed, 28 Local)

Unfortunately, the Coast Guard frequently lacks visibility (particularly the larger cutters and fixed wing aircraft) because despite being an important component of the “National Fleet,” it is not included in the “Total Battle Force.” It could be argued that the battle force number is not very instructive because it includes everything from aircraft carriers to fleet tugs and research ships, but people, including people in Congress take the number seriously. They talk about it a lot.

The investment in high quality platforms that make the Coast Guard so effective in its peacetime missions is only fully justified by the fact that the Coast Guard serves as a naval auxiliary in wartime.

We cannot allow people to forget that the Coast Guard has wartime roles that justify additional investment in capabilities that might not be otherwise justified.

A revision to the statistical presentation, like the example above, that included Coast Guard major units, would demonstrate that Coast Guard units are underway at a relatively high rate. It would show that the government is getting what it paid for.

“Editor’s Notes: Why the Coast Guard Lags When It Comes to Unmanned Systems” –National Defense

Posted on July 8, 2023 by Chuck Hill

Eagle Eye UAS, part of the “Deep Water” Coast Guard recapitalization plan.

National Defense has a post that traces the Coast Guard’s two-decade effort to put unmanned aircraft on cutters.

But here is where I confess that this article is not really about the Eagle Eye. Sorry to say that it was all a bit of misdirection, because this article is really about one of the nation’s greatest but chronically underfunded assets: the United States Coast Guard.

National Defense since the Eagle Eye’s cancellation has written dozens of articles about the service’s effort to deploy UAVs. Over and over again, the only reason cited for the Coast Guard being the “have-not” of the services when it comes to drones was funding.

It is a good article, but I think the conclusion of the article is wrong. To paraphrase Jimmy Buffett (“wasting away in Margaritaville”) it’s our own damn fault.

Too long we seemed to glory in doing more with less. Too many years we went without bothering to submit an unfunded priorities list. We really haven’t changed our program of record since the rethink prompted by 9/11 more than two decades ago. We fired the Deepwater program contractors in 2012, but we are still working on their program. There have been changes around the edges, more NSCs, more FRCs, but those changes were not the result of a Coast Guard masterplan. They were ad hoc and frequently driven by Congressional interests.

Congress keeps telling us our planning is out of date. We have not done a fleet mix study since 2011 and even that one only considered the types of platforms already in the program of record without any consideration of alternative types.

Despite repeated Congressional calls for a new Fleet Mix Study, there is none.

Despite repeated Congressional calls for a 20- or 30-year ship building plan, there is none.

We still have not reached the number of medium range fixed wing search aircraft that were in the Program of Record and apparently have not plan to do so.

The Coast Guard has not been transparent in publicly reporting their measures of effectiveness. We don’t see reports like this one anymore. I have not been able to make reports like these (here, here, and here) since 2010.

We have failed to field any shore based maritime search UAS system, a capability that was included in the Deep Water program, while Japan, Thailand, India, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK have already done so. This in spite of the fact that we have been piddling around with CBP’s MQ-9 program for well over a decade.

Regional Maritime Domain Awareness programs are being implemented all over the world, but if we have such a program with Mexico and Canada no one seems to know about it.

Planning for the medium Icebreakers could have proceeded in parallel with planning for the heavy icebreakers. We know we need them, but I have seen no indication that we have started looking seriously at the possibilities.

We have not talked about the possibly devastating effects the delays in the OPC program are going to have, that would justify increasing the pace of construction to more than two per year.

We still have not adequately addressed the water borne terrorist threat to our ports. Since we never have its easy to continue to ignore.

Despite demands for reports from field units, for whatever reason, the “puzzle palace” is not making public the kind of analytics required to justify significant departures from what we did last year, so we keep stumbling along from one budget to the next.

USNI “Fleet and Marine Tracker: May 22, 2023” Includes Some Coast Guard. This a Good Thing?

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Chuck Hill

The USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC-1140) crew gets underway from Guam on May 21, 2023, before Typhoon Mawar’s arrival. US Coast Guard Photo

For the first time in my memory, US Naval Institute’s weekly Fleet and Marine Tracker includes information about Coast Guard units. The post reports,

“USCGC’s Myrtle Hazard and USCGC Oliver Henry departed Guam to avoid Typhoon MAWAR, which continues to strengthen and head toward Guam. Storm conditions are expected to arrive near Guam sometime on Tuesday, May 23.

and includes the photo and caption above. It also reports,

“Six U.S. Coast Guard Sentinel Class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) are forward-deployed to the region under Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA). PATFORSWA deploys Coast Guard personnel and ships alongside U.S. and regional naval forces throughout the Middle East. Initially deployed in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, PATFORSWA is now a permanent presence based out of the Kingdom of Bahrain, providing capable littoral assets for maritime interdiction, theater security cooperation, and maritime domain awareness operations.”

and

“Coast Guard Cutter Eagle moored in Oslo, Norway on Friday as part of its summer training cruise for cadets from the United States Coast Guard Academy.”

along with the photo and caption below (I added the link).

Cadets and crew members aboard USCGC Eagle (WIX-327) render honors to the Oscarsborg Fortress, May 19, 2023, during the transit into Oslo, Norway. US Coast Guard Photo

I was happy to see this. The Coast Guard needs to be generally recognized as part of the National Fleet. That status is officially recognized, but not by the general public or, more importantly, by large parts of the Navy and Coast Guard.

My initial reaction was that I wanted to see the Coast Guard included in this report regularly. But as I worked through what I thought should be done, I changed my mind.

Still, I believe that the US Naval Institute should want to publish something similar for Coast Guard units and that Coast Guard public affairs should want to support the effort by providing information in an agreed upon format essentially ready to publish.

What do we want to emulate and what do we want to do differently?

The Fleet and Marine Tracker consists of three parts:

A world map where normally only carrier strike Groups (CSGs) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs) are plotted.
A statistical breakdown including the total number of battleforce ships, how many are deployed, how many are underway (Including some differentiation of USS vs USNS), and how many of those deployed are assigned to each numbered fleet.
A narrative of operations broken down geographically.

While I don’t think the world map plot is appropriate, at least not on a weekly basis, a statistical breakdown of ships underway or deployed out of area followed by a narrative section including short outlines of unusual or interesting operations broken down geographically would be useful.

The statistical break down might be by broad vessel types and by Atlantic and Pacific Areas. A listing of assignments to numbered fleets is probably not necessary. I don’t think we want to specify how many ships are assigned to 4th Fleet operational control since they would virtually all be involved in drug interdiction. The few assignments to other Combatant Commanders could be handled in the geographic narrative section.

A New Website on the Recommended Blog Page and Feedback for Coast Guard PAOs

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Chuck Hill

It seems recently press releases from the Coast Guard have been coming out in a different format. There is a brief description of the story and a link to the full story on the “United States Coast Guard News” page.

The USCG NEWS page is not really new. Stories there go back to 31 August 2022, but somehow, I had not recognized its reemergence. I like it and have added it to my list of recommended blogs. It is searchable by keyword, region, and date.

I would like to make a comment on the format used on the news page. Got a news release pointing me to this story on USCGC Munro’s return to Alameda after a 105 day Winter Alaska Patrol. There are eleven photos that accompany the story, but when I down loaded the one above you will note, that there is no caption, no identification as a “US Coast Guard photograph,” and no credit for the photographer.

Today Show on Cutter Eagle

Posted on August 6, 2022 by Chuck Hill

Al Roker of the Today Show took a ride on Eagle and the video above was the result. Nice to see the service get some national recognition. Perhaps important to see what the Nation sees of us, even if it did look like a lot of brass polishing. Too bad no shots looking down from the rigging.

I was a little surprised to see Eagle still has an old fashioned motor surf boat not much different from the one on my first ship, 53 years ago. Would have expected an RHIB.

Thanks to Lee for bringing this to my attention.

What’s Going on With the Coast Guard News Website?

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Chuck Hill

Every day I try to look at all the sites included in my “Recommended Blogs” list. This includes three USCG sites:

MyCG, which seems directed at Coast Guard personnel, has been very active. CG-9’s site is, as you would expect, less active but still seems to be informative.

“Coast Guard News,” which seems to be directed at the national press, has covered Coast Guard ongoing operations, but seems to have dried up. For some time, it has seemed to have been neglected with few changes and little new material. Currently the top story is dated October 20. I know a lot has happened since then.

What’s going on?

If the site is not going to be maintained, we should say so and put some kind of notice on the site to say where to find Coast Guard news.

A Coast Guard Christmas Greeting

Posted on December 3, 2021 by Chuck Hill

Paul sent me this story from the Nantucket Current. Hopefully they will forgive me for republishing it here.

GOOD MORNING NANTUCKET: Christmas Stroll weekend is here. On Wednesday, members of Coast Guard Station Brant Point renewed the tradition of hanging a wreath from the Brant Point Lighthouse. The 2021 holiday wreath was designed and donated by Hafsa Lewis, local floral designer and owner of Hafsa & Co. The wreath tradition was started in 1993 by Station Brant Point Master Chief Jack Downey. The base of this year’s wreath is grapevine foraged from the Coast Guard’s Sconset Station. The red bow includes 50-plus poinsettias that are individually zip-tied to the base of the wreath. The Coast Guard members who are hanging the wreath from the top of the lighthouse are in full gear due to the lead and asbestos inside the lighthouse, which requires them to wear precautionary gear to avoid exposure.

“Ding Ding, We Have a Winner – Eight Bells: A Celebration of Sea Service” –MyCG

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Chuck Hill

MyCG announced Coast Guard Cutter Mellon as the Eight Bells multimedia contest winner. (No theirs is not the one I have included above. That one comes from Campbell and includes scenes from their exercise North of the Arctic Circle.)

You can see all the ten entries here. All the entries are worth a look. Well Done.

Coast Guard Cutter Maria Bray Crew Helps Create Underwater Reef Habitat

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Chuck Hill

Something a bit unusual.

Caption from YouTube,

“Coast Guard Cutter Maria Bray crew members deploy concrete reef balls and old navigation anchors, July 18, 2018, off the coast of northeast Florida. The Maria Bray crew assisted in the deployment of reef balls, built by Mandarin High School students, and old navigation anchors for Think It, Sink It, Reef It, or TISIRI in order to create an underwater reef habitat. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Dickinson)”