Just passing this along. Always nice to be appreciated.

US Coast Guard event to recognize the service’s contributions to the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, presentation of medal to the Coast Guard 

WASHINGTON —  Media are invited to attend a ceremony Sept. 12, 2019, in Washington, D.C., when the Office of Strategic Services Society will recognize the U.S. Coast Guard’s contributions to the OSS — the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency — during World War II.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a directive in 1941 to stand up the office of the Coordinator of Information, which became the OSS in 1942. The Coast Guard’s support to the OSS on covert, counter-intelligence, espionage and sabotage operations in the maritime environment was a unique instrument for national security policy during World War II domestically and abroad, and it helped lay the foundation for future Coast Guard operations. Because the information was classified for so long, the public is not fully aware of the relationship between the OSS and the Coast Guard, including Coast Guardsmen attached to the OSS in Europe and the China-Burma-India Theatre.

The OSS Society was founded in 1947 by Gen. William Donovan. It honors the historic accomplishments of the OSS during World War II and educates the American public regarding the continuing importance of strategic intelligence and special operations to the preservation of freedom.

Event details:

What: Presentation of medal to the Coast Guard by the Office of Strategic Services Society

Who:

• Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Karl Schultz
• Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Charles Ray
• Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Jason Vanderhaden
• Mr. Charles Pinck, president of the Office of Strategic Services Society

When: Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern

Where: U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, Douglas Munro Building, U.S. Department of Homeland Security St. Elizabeths Campus, Washington, D.C.

Advance registration is required for any media wishing to attend the event — there will be no same-day registration. Please reply to mediarelations@uscg.mil by Sept. 4, 2019, for instructions on registering.

Covert shores first takes the Iranians to task for claiming they had chased off a British Type 45 destroyer, when the ship in their video was clearly not British. Now they provide a quiz to check your recognition skills. Maybe the Iranians should check it out.

Baird Maritime is reporting that about 50 shots were fired at a Customs and Border Protection boat and its crew, operating on the Rio Grande near Fronton, Texas, on Friday, Aug. 9. The boat was hit several times, but there were no injuries.

This looks to be about ten miles below Falcon Lake. This recalls an incident in 2010. Blog discussion here.

A little late, but I am passing this little tidbit of Coast Guard history along from BRYMAR consulting.

Lighthouse Act – 7 August 1789

The Lighthouse Act was the ninth statute adopted by the First Congress of the United States. It provided for the voluntary cession by the various states of all lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and public piers to the federal government and tasked the Secretary of the Treasury with building and maintaining the aids to maritime navigation. The Lighthouse Establishment (later named the United States Light House Service) is the oldest of the various components of the present-day United States Coast Guard, joining in 1939.

160919-N-AT101-177 GULF OF MEXICO (Sept. 19, 2016) Cadet 1st Class Hanson Oxford, a student at the U.S. Air Force Academy, operates an unmanned aerial system aboard a rigid hull inflatable boat during exercise Black Dart, Sept. 19. Black Dart is the largest Department of Defense (DoD) live-fly, live-fire, counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) technology demonstration. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Maddelin Angebrand/Released)

A thought provoking article from the US Naval Institute looking at ways small unmanned air systems (sUAS) have been used, or might be used, in support of Coast Guard missions in inland areas.

The Coast Guard apparently includes systems as large as ScanEagle in the sUAS category. The USNI post notes,

“Individual Coast Guard units are currently prohibited from procuring and operating their own sUAS until the Coast Guard can establish a program to provide the appropriate systems and training to operators.”

The discussion here is not about systems as large as ScanEagle, but rather small, off the shelf systems, costing less than $5,000. The costs of these systems is so low, and the potential impact so great, perhaps the Coast Guard should have a program to procure a small number of these systems for units that can make a case for them, as prototypes for future deployment. Ground rules might specify a one year trial period and periodic feedback.

Marines are already starting to deploy these at the squad level. Presumably there must be a contract for them. Maybe they are already on GSA schedule.

File photo shows the MSC Gayane. Photo: MarineTraffic.com

Three recent incidents of drugs being smuggled by containers aboard ship.

In the US:

June 18 (Reuters) – Federal authorities seized 16.5 tons of cocaine worth more than $1 billion from a ship in Philadelphia in one of the largest drug seizures in U.S. history, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agents on Monday boarded the MSC Gayane, a cargo ship docked in Philadelphia’s Packer Marine Terminal, and found cocaine in seven shipping containers, according to a criminal complaint filed in Philadelphia federal court.

Since then, four additional arrests have been made. The Customs and Border Protection news release is here. Crew members facilitated the loading of the drugs.

August 1, a vessel docked in Felixstowe, UK where the vessel was boarded and authorities found approximately 398 kilograms of heroin hidden among towels and bathrobes.

Germany seized 4.5 tonnes of cocaine from a container at the port of Hamburg, marking that nation’s biggest drugs haul to date. The shipping container in that case was loaded in Montevideo, Uruguay and bound for Antwerp.

47-Foot Motor Life Boat (MLB) 47231 from Station Morrow Bay, 4 Dec 2007. Photo by Mike Baird

The Acquisitions Directorate (CG-9) reports award of a contract for service life extension work on its 47 foot motor lifeboats. 

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The Coast Guard on Aug. 5 awarded a firm fixed price indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to Birdon America Inc. of Denver, Colorado, to perform work supporting the service’s 47-foot Motor Lifeboat (MLB) service life extension program (SLEP). The initial award to complete the detail design and service life extension work on the first vessel is valued near $6.5 million, with a total projected contract value of close to $190 million to complete the MLB SLEP over the 10-year contract period. The initial work for detail design and the first vessel will be performed at a subcontractor facility on the West Coast, Fred Wahl Marine Construction along the Umpqua River in Reedsport, Oregon. Once in full production, a second subcontracted work facility is planned to be opened on the East Coast.

The 47-foot MLB is the Coast Guard’s primary search-and-rescue platform operating in surf and heavy weather conditions. It has self-righting capability and the ability to operate in winds up to 50 knots, seas up to 30 feet, and surf up to 20 feet. The service’s fleet of more than 100 MLBs has been in service for 15 to 21 years and is approaching the end of its planned 25-year service life. The operational need for these unique capabilities in search-and-rescue, maritime law enforcement, and contingency response remains high.

The SLEP will extend the useful life of the MLB by 20 years; SLEP work will be performed on a minimum of 107 MLBs and a maximum of 117 MLBs. The main work will be on systems experiencing technical obsolescence: the main propulsion, electrical, steering, towing and navigation systems, as well as replacement of areas of the hull and structure that have demonstrated high failure rates. Additionally, efforts to enhance human system integration will be made where practical to do so. The original operational capabilities and characteristics of the 47-foot MLB will not change.

The Coast Guard Cutter Lawrence Lawson crew mans the rail during sea trials off the coast of Miami, Florida, on Dec. 12, 2016. The ship will be the second fast response cutter stationed in Cape May, New Jersey, and is scheduled for commissioning in early 2017. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Eric D. Woodall)

The Acquisitions Directorate (CG-9) reports the exercise of a contract with Bollinger for construction of six more Webber class WPCs (Fast Response Cutters or FRCs).

The Coast Guard exercised a contract option for production of six more Sentinel-class FRCs and associated deliverables worth just over $297.4 million with Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, Louisiana, July 31.

This option brings the total number of FRCs under contract with Bollinger to 56 and the total value of the contract to approximately $1.23 billion. The contract has a potential value of $1.42 billion if options to procure all 58 cutters are exercised. The FRCs built under this option will be delivered beginning late 2022 into late 2023. To date, there are 33 FRCs in operational service.

Things to note.

• The $1.23B referred to did not pay for all 56 vessels, only those purchased under the most recent contract.
• Buying in quantity lowers the price. Since this is a long running contract and we have ordered the maximum number Bollinger can build in a year, increasing efficiencies have lowered the per ship price from over $60M to less than $50M.
• While this program will likely continue to deliver vessels through at least 2024, we are nearing the end of this program, at least in terms of contracting. FY2020 may be the last year that will include money for WPC new construction, if it includes funding for six more vessels and 64 is final number constructed. This would include 58 in the program of record and six to replace the six WPBs in PATFORSWA (four of which have already been funded).

It is Coast Guard Day. It is time for picnics and telling your shipmates how you appreciate them. Of course many are still on the job.

For 22 years I had the privilege of being part of the organization. Most of the time it was fun, although there were times when it definitely was not. Don’t expect perfection. Like the nation itself, the Coast Guard is a work in progress. It can be better. Your efforts may not always be appreciated. Be true to the ideals that motivate you, and you and the organization will be better in the end.

Royal Thai Navy’s second offshore patrol vessel based on the River class, HTMS Prachuap Khiri Khan (OPV 552) constructed by Bangkok Dock Ltd and poised for induction into service. Note RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles fitted. Photo: http://thaidefense-news.blogspot.com/2019/07/blog-post_31.html

Naval News reports that the Thailand has recently launched a second Krabi class Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV). (It appears the ship has completed fitting out.) These are a version of the Royal Navy’s BAE designed River class OPVs. The Royal Navy is still building “Batch II” of this class. Three of the class are also in service with the Brazilian Navy and they may build more.

The Thai vessels are clearly the most heavily armed. While the British Royal Navy ships have at most one 30mm gun and the Brazilian ships have one 30mm and two 25mm guns, the first Thai ship emerged with an Oto Melara 76mm and two 30mm. This second OPV has added Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Four missile cannisters are visible in the photo above and they could probably carry as many as eight missiles.

At 90.5 meters (297′) in length and about 2,000 tons full load, they are a little larger than a WMEC 270, and about half the size of an Offshore Patrol Cutter.

Note: Thailand does have a small coast guard squadron, but these ships are not part of it. Naval history buffs might find this naval battle between Thailand and France in 1941 interesting.