The rudder of the USCGC Polar Star (WAGB 10) is being removed while in a Vallejo, Calif., dry dock, April 1, 2025. The maintenance work completed over the past five years recapitalized integral systems, including propulsion, communication, and machinery control systems. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Nestor Molina)

Marine Log reports,

“On Dec. 30, 2025, California ship repairer Mare Island Dry Dock LLC (MIDD) informed the City of Vallejo that it would permanently close its Mare Island facility, resulting in the termination of all employees over the coming days.

The plan had been for USCGC Healy to go through a phased Service Life Extension program at this yard in much the same way as USCGC Polar Star had done. Apparently that plan has changed.

Having a yard with the potential of Mare Island close when the country is waking up to the fact that it needs more shipyards, particularly on the West Coast, seems unwise. This may be an opportunity for the Federal Government to recover all the Mare Island yard for future development. Government owned shipyards are an advantage, particularly for emergency repairs. No need to send out for bids. No need to wait for a court decision if loosing bidder objects.

This could be Coast Guard Yard West. It could also be a homeport.

The Polar Security Cutters and most of the Arctic Security Cutters will be coming to the West Coast.

Its true that the cost of living and consequently wages would be higher than most East Coast Yards, but by West Coast standards, Vallejo is a relative bargain with cost of living far lower than Seattle, Alameda, Long Beach, San Diego, or Honolulu.

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Coast Guard Cutter Stone’s crew poses for a group photo on the flight deck of the ship, Nov. 18, 2025, Port Everglades, Florida. Coast Guard Cutter Stone’s crew offloaded approximately 49,010 pounds of illicit narcotics worth more than $362 million. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Cutter Stone’s crew) “The cutter took custody of 36 smuggling suspects during the mission, repatriated 29 to Ecuador for prosecution and referred the others to the Justice Department, the Coast Guard said in a statement.”

New York Times reports the Justice Department has in many cases chosen not to be  bothered to prosecute the crews of boats seized by the Coast Guard.

“…for the most part, people captured by the Coast Guard in the same smuggling routes the U.S. military is bombing are being repatriated — either directly, before reaching the United States, or through deportation after briefly being questioned near U.S. ports.

“Some people who have been involved in the process caution that the strategy could erode the intelligence gathering operation that tracks the drug smuggling routes. It has helped the Coast Guard, by its own count, interdict 3,588 vessels and seize 3.26 million kilograms, or 7.19 million pounds, of cocaine and lesser amounts of marijuana since 2003.

This has resulted in closing off a source of intelligence that can result from plea bargaining in exchange for a reduction in the ten year mandatory sentence.

“…after Attorney General Pam Bondi directed prosecutors in February to mostly stop bringing charges against low-level offenders in favor of bigger investigations, the once steady stream of federal trafficking cases is drying up.”

Apparently the Coast Guard is still stopping more product than the Navy/Marine task force, and the threat of bombing does not seem to have discouraged others from making the attempt.

“Between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, when the U.S. military blew up 22 vessels, killing 83 people in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard interdicted 38 vessels suspected of smuggling drugs — three more than it had intercepted during the same period in 2024.”

The crews of the drug smuggling boats do not appear to be career cartel members. They are impoverished and cannot afford a legal defense. They are also not generally violent.

“But in the past five years, the Coast Guard says, there has been just one instance of a smuggling suspect being shot and killed during an interdiction. Lt. Cmdr. Steven Roth, the Coast Guard’s chief of media relations, described that instance as a ramming episode during a boarding operation that put members of the Guard at risk.”

As a result of the change of policy,

“The Coast Guard statement described the process this way: When the Justice Department “declines prosecution, the Coast Guard coordinates either the direct repatriation to the detainee’s country of nationality or transfer ashore to Department of Homeland Security custody for additional investigation and expedited removal.”

On the one hand, the people are deemed “so dangerous and so horrible” that the government has resorted to killing them, the agent said. On the other, capturing them would lead to their deportation because they are considered “so minor.”

A major question that has surfaced as a result of the decision to destroy rather than capture is could any of these boats be innocent?

A letter from the head of the Coast Guard released in December by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, reported that more than one-fifth of suspicious boats that were stopped by Guard forces from Sept. 1, 2024 to Oct. 7 of this year had no drugs.

A portion of that letter is quoted below.

1. From September 1, 2024, to October 7, 2025, Coast Guard surface assets, operating under Coast Guard law enforcement authority, interdicted 212 suspected drug-smuggling vessels at sea headed toward the United States. Of the 212 interdictions, 41 vessels had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted: 24 of those 41 vessels without contraband did not appear to commit any federal criminal offense.
2. Of the 212 total vessels interdicted during this period, 69 vessels were interdicted in the Caribbean Sea by Coast Guard surface assets, operating under Coast Guard law enforcement authority. Of these 69 interdictions, 14 had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted: 11 of those 14 vessels without contraband did not appear to commit any federal criminal offense. Of the 69 Caribbean interdictions, 14 vessels were interdicted off the coast of Venezuela. Three of the 14 vessels interdicted near Venezuela had no illicit contraband on board when interdicted, but one of the three violated other U.S. federal criminal statutes.
3. The Coast Guard did not use lethal force against any of the 212 vessels interdicted at sea during this period. The Coast Guard used non-lethal force to warn and/or disable non-compliant vessels suspected of smuggling on 105 occasions during this period

The report also found no basis for linking the attacks on boats to overdose deaths from Fentanyl.

“Fentanyl, which comes from China, appears in only three years of Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean seizures since 2003, and insignificantly so: about 38 pounds in the fiscal year 2021, 12 pounds the year before and a quarter-pound in 2023.”

Location of China’s five Antarctic Research Stations and a proposed sixth station. The U.S. operates three Antarctic Research Stations. (Image: ABC News: Maggie Khameneh)

Sixty Degrees North has an interesting report on what is happening with regard to Chinese and Russian icebreakers.

China’s actions in the Arctic have been getting a lot of Press, but their actions in Antarctic deserve more attention.

The Russian section notes for the first time, Russia had eight nuclear powered icebreakers underway. Sanctions and the War in Ukraine have made exports from the Russian Arctic essential. The coverage reveals why Russia has so many icebreakers, that the Russian icebreaker fleet is getting old, and sanctions are making building replacements difficult.

Manufactured by AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China), the Wing Loong II is an advanced iteration of the earlier Wing Loong I. It features a wingspan of 20.5 meters, a length of 11 meters, a height of 4.1 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 4.2 tons, and a payload capacity of up to 480 kilograms. It is powered by a rear-mounted turbocharged engine with a three-bladed propeller, allowing for a top speed of 370 km/h, a service ceiling of 9,900 meters, and a flight endurance exceeding 20 hours. Its satellite communications system enables long-range control over distances of more than 2,000 kilometers, covering the full expanse of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Army Recognition Group’s Navy News reports,

“Illustrative images released by the China Coast Guard on December 30, 2025, suggest the operational use of the Wing Loong II unmanned aerial vehicle during the Justice Mission-2025 exercise. If confirmed, this would mark the first publicly documented appearance of the MALE drone in a coast guard mission, highlighting a potential shift in China’s maritime law enforcement capabilities.”

This only illustrates that China is following a world wide trend of employing land based medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAS for Maritime Domain Awareness. The US Coast Guard is planning on getting some MQ-9s, but if anything, we may be behind the curve. Current MQ-9 maritime users include Canada, India, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US Navy.

Wing Loong II appears to be similar to the MQ-9, perhaps a bit smaller. There is no indication if it has detect and avoid capability that would allow it to be certifiable in civil airspace like the MQ-9B. The Wing Loong II’s operational history is interesting and perhaps even a bit surprising. It has been used against Iran, Boko Haram, and the Houthi.

The exercise mentioned, Justice Mission 2025, simulated a blockade of Taiwan. Not surprisingly China Coast Guard seemed to have a significant role to play. This series of exercises might be used to normalize occasional movement of significant forces to surround Taiwan. Ultimately this apparent routine may be used to delay response prior to an attempt to forcibly unify Taiwan with the PRC.

Source: Seaspan. Canadian Coast Guard Multi-Purpose Icebreaker (MPI). Source: Seaspan. This is the ship to be built by the Bollinger/Seaspan/Rauma Marine Constructions (Rauma)/Aker Arctic Team. Two will be built in Finland while four are be built in the US.
Note: The MPI image does not show the right propulsors; it will use Steerprop’s contra-rotating propulsors (CRP). Additionally according to Seaspan, the design could easily be upgraded to PC3. Confirmation from Seaspan and Aker Arctic.

Below are two news releases, first from the Coast Guard and second from Bollinger. This is one of two programs that are ultimately expected to provide eleven Arctic Security Cutters.

The choice of the NSC as the basis for the FF(X) has prompted a lot of discussion about their survivability. Ten years ago, I did a post, “Small Warship Survivability,” I think it is still relevant. Basically I found that while it is certainly true that a major hit is more likely to sink a small ship than a large ship, the probability of actually being sunk is, based on US WWII experience, less likely for smaller ships. Looking at the video above, it seems that is the British experience as well.

In addition, it is far more likely that large ships will be taken out of service for a period due to damage that does not sink the ship. The current lack of tenders, repair ships, and floating dry docks makes these periods likely to be relatively long.

Considering the possibility of a war with China, it seems little thought has gone into how the effort will be supplied. In 2018 the Navy frankly told Military Sealift Command that they would probably not be able to escort the logistics ships that supply the US military. Additionally we have so few merchant mariners, we cannot afford to loose any of them.

The head of the Chinese Navy is a submariner. The Chinese have studied the naval war in the Pacific during WWII and they found the Japanese’s primary mistake was not attacking US logistics. We can be pretty sure, if we go to war, Chinese nuclear submarines, supported by their constellation of satellites, will be positioned to ambush our logistics when hostilities start. (I think there may be a possibility of armed merchant ships as well early in the conflict. MSC ships are essentially unarmed making them easy prey.)

Our situation is not unlike that of the Royal Navy in WWII. We do not have enough ships to escort the logistics ships. If we try to make each new ship capable of dealing with every threat, we will be unable to build enough. We need to build enough that are just good enough to handle escorting in areas where the threats are limited to submarines and their limited number of weapons. In areas where the threats more diverse, they will have to be teamed with more capable ships.

We will also need to be able to take out their satellites, but that is a job for Space Force.

It might be possible to escort some ships with Maritime Patrol Aircraft like the P-8. To make that possible we probably need to reopen NAS Adak, but if the vessels are sunk, the aircraft cannot rescue the crew.

An aspect of the Battle of the Atlantic that is frequently overlooked, is how many merchant mariners were rescued by escorts and specialist rescue vessels. If the crews know that there will be no rescue if their ships are sunk, they might not even choose to start.

Check out the video. The success of the corvettes was remarkable.

The War Zone reports what seemed obvious from the artists’ renderings, that the FF(x) derived from the National Security Cutter will not have any permanently installed vertical launch missile tubes,

“The initial flight of FF(X) will have a 57mm gun, 2 x 30mm guns, a Mk 49 Rolling Airframe Missile [launcher], various countermeasures, and a flight deck from which to launch helicopters and unmanned systems. Aft of the flight deck, there will be a flexible weapons system, which can accommodate containerized payloads (Counter-UAS, other missiles),” a Navy spokesperson told TWZ today. “Much like the successful DDG-51 [Arleigh Burke class destroyer] program, we are building this in flights. The frigate will be upgraded over successive flights to evolve and has the space reservations needed to improve capability over time.”

Members of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford’s crew remove a RIM-116 missile from a Mk 49 launcher during qualification trials.

I must admit, I missed the two 30mm guns, presumably Mk38 Mod4s.

A Revolution in Coast Guard Readiness:

There is reference to containerized, modular, or off-board unmanned systems operating from or in conjunction with the FF(X).

That sounds like the promises that accompanied the LCS, but if the Navy delivers on these systems, it could revolutionize the way the Coast Guard meets its military readiness mission. There are already mine counter measures and missile launching systems.

The Navy could maintain the mission modules and identify those who would operate and maintain them and simply assign them to Coast Guard units upon mobilization. The Coast Guard maintains and operates the platform while the Navy maintains and operates the payload.

Towed Arrays and helicopters is what I think about first, but it might include mine clearance if a US port may have been mined–don’t have to wait for a mine countermeasures ship to get there, just fly in the equipment and the crew, have them operate from a CG station or perhaps a buoy tender.

“USS Savannah (LCS 28) conducts a live-fire demonstration in the Eastern Pacific Ocean utilizing a containerized launching system that fired an SM-6 missile from the ship at a designated target. The exercise demonstrated the modularity and lethality of Littoral Combat Ships and the ability to successfully integrate a containerized weapons system to engage a surface target. The exercise will inform continued testing, evaluation and integration of containerized weapons systems on afloat platforms.”

Mk70 missile launchers could be flown to Alaska and mated to a cutter already in the area.

The USCGC Myrtle Hazard (WPC 1139) crew departs Guam for Honolulu on May 13, 2024, marking a significant milestone as the crew prepare for the first drydock maintenance period of approximately four and a half months. Commissioned in 2021, the Myrtle Hazard is the first of three Guam-based Fast Response Cutters to make the transit to Hawaii from Guam, traveling 3,743 miles to undergo this crucial maintenance phase. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Warrant Officer Sara Muir)

Below is a U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia news release

The chart above is a bit disorienting because South is up. 

gCaptain reports,

Dec 20 (Reuters) – The United States is interdicting and seizing a vessel off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Saturday, a move that comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

It also provides an overview of what is happening in regard to the blockade announced by the President.

Apparently the Coast Guard, after seizing the first tanker, is still deeply involved.

“The officials, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say where the operation was taking place but added the Coast Guard was in the lead.”

The chart at the head of the post was found on Facebook. I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but the list of Navy assets seems to reflect what I have heard from reliable sources so I suspect the Coast Guard assets listed are at least representative, though I question 26135 and 55115 which in silhouette appear to be 87 foot WPBs.

I wish I could give you a more comprehensive overview of what the Coast Guard is doing but I have seen almost nothing official.