The video above is wide ranging. It’s a bit long, but I think it is useful in understanding concerns.

One thing that surprised me was that the Commandant pledged to pursue construction of a second Great Lakes icebreaker. I would have thought since the Arctic Security Cutters will be able to access the Great Lakes that they would provide seasonal icebreaking in the Great Lakes.

It surprises me that we don’t yet seem to know what the additional 15,000 Coast Guard personnel that are expected to be added to the Coast Guard under Force Design 2028 will be doing, so how did we come up with this figure? There is apparently a study underway.

Recently it seems some comments got accidentally deleted. I approved them but they never showed up on the blog.

If this happened to you, my apologies, please try again. I am very proud that we have an open and active discussion here. If I intentionally delete a comment I will send the author a note and explain why.

The Coast Guard has issued a Request for Information for systems that can improve its acquisitions process. You can see it here. 

Below is the description provided.

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Colombian Navy patrol vessel ARC 20 de Julio carries out an ocean patrol.
(PHOTO COURTESY OF COLOMBIAN NAVY). A post on this class now used by Chile and Colombia and slightly larger class used by Germany and soon Singapore.  

The November 2025 issue of US Naval Institute Proceedings includes an article by the head of the Colombian Navy, Admiral Juan Ricardo Rozo Obregón, that talks about their drug interdiction efforts and the international alliance they have formed to combat international drug smuggling, “which is now a year-round operation that integrates the efforts of 130 institutions from 64 countries and 10 multilateral organizations.”

“The Colombian Navy has achieved significant successes in facing down these threats. For instance, in 2024, the Navy seized 572 metric tons of cocaine—65 percent of the total amount confiscated by Colombian authorities.

“Through efforts aligned by the MOS (Multinational Orion Strategy-Chuck), partner nations have seized 3,830 metric tons of illicit drugs—including cocaine, marijuana, coca base, hashish, and methamphetamines—along with 1,130 vessels, including 81 self-propelled semisubmersibles. These joint efforts have led to 7,456  arrests. To date, these results have cost criminal networks more than $105 billion, prevented 21,966 overdose deaths, and saved $1.427 billion in healthcare costs.”

Cameron County is East of Hidalgo County

The NORTHCOM on-line Magazine, The Watch, reports,

“The United States Coast Guard is conducting an unprecedented surge of force along 418 kilometers of the Rio Grande River to complement the activities of federal agencies to secure the Mexico-U.S. border. Operation River Wall, which includes quick response boats and tactical teams, began in October 2025 to further suppress illegal activity along the frontier. The exact number of vehicles and personnel has not been released, according to Stars and Stripes, a military affairs newspaper.

“The Coast Guard patrols the river as it winds through Cameron and Hidalgo counties in southeast Texas, eventually entering the Gulf of America. In the first 10 days of deployment, Guardsmen assisted in detaining 20 illegal migrants, according to Stars and Stripes.”

Much of the area of operation, Cameron and Hidalgo counties, is actually a metropolitan area including McAllen and Brownsville.

Kinetic attack target #20. Pentagon image.

The US Naval Institute reports,

U.S. forces struck a suspected narco boat in the Caribbean Sea earlier this week, killing four people, USNI News has learned.

The strike, which occurred Monday, killed all four people on board, leaving no survivors, a U.S. defense official confirmed Friday to USNI News. Unlike previous instances, Monday’s fatal strike was not announced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or other members of the Trump administration on social media platform X.

These kinetic attacks have now become somewhat routine, but since this is a continuing topic of interest for my readers, I will report future attacks in the comments section of this post.

Eastern Shipbuilding, Argus and Chase building. 2021

Maritime Executive reports,

“Florida-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) has finally made the tough decision of suspending work on the troubled Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs) program, a development that comes six months after the Trump administration announced partial termination of the contract owing to delays and cost overruns.

“ESG CEO Joey D’Isernia announced that owing to the significant financial strains caused by the program’s structure and conditions, the company has opted to suspend work on its in-construction Heritage-class OPCs, resulting in layoffs.”

Can’t say this is a surprise. May 28, 2025 the Department issued a Request for Information for towing and a technical assessment for what could only have been an Offshore Patrol Cutter. OPCs #3 and #4 were cancelled in July.

Now, what will happen to OPC#1, Argus, and is there anything we can salvage from OPC #2, Chase?

This does leave the Coast Guard short of large patrol cutters, particularly in the Pacific. By now, there were supposed to be two OPCs home-ported in San Pedro and two home-ported in Kodiak. This is another reason LANT AREA’s should assume full responsibility for policing the Eastern Pacific drug transit zone. 

There really should be an investigation of how this happened.

Thanks to Pat for bringing this to my attention.

Keel Laying for OPC#3 hull number 917. Presumably future 915 is to the right and future 916 to the left. July 2022.

Credit: ACR Electronics

A Marine Log op-ed asks, “Is it not time for regulators to embrace the alternatives and make electronic flares permissible?”

Marine Inspection is definitely not in my wheel house, but if there are safer alternatives to pyrotechnical flares, it does seem they should be acceptable alternatives.

If we don’t have them on our own units already, maybe we should.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Naushon (WPB 1311), Mustang (WPB 1310), Liberty (WPB 1334) transit through Seymour Narrows in British Columbia, Canada, May 2025. Through the Excess Defense Articles program, these boats will find a second life with the Colombian navy. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of USCGC Mustang)

Defense News reports,

“Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered his nation’s security forces Tuesday to stop sharing intelligence with the United States, until the Trump administration stops its strikes on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, as relations deteriorate between the nations that were once close partners in the fight against drug trafficking.”