U.S. Coast Guardsmen from the Sentinel-class fast-response cutter USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr. (WPC 1147) board a vessel suspected of smuggling illegal narcotics during Focused Operation Crimson Barracuda in the Arabian Sea, April 10, 2024.

Marine Link has a brief overview of boats used by the Coast Guard. It provides a brief description of nine types and reports how many are in the inventory, but I knew there were a lot more.

It left out a lot of different types, including the 22 foot Cutter boat, large (used on 210-foot medium endurance cutters, 225-foot seagoing buoy tenders, and Cutters Alex Haley and Mackinaw), the small RHIB used on 87 foot WPBs, the Transportable Port Security Boats, and several special purpose boats.

The first full rate production cutter boat large, hull 22335, is delivered to Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless in Pensacola, Florida, Feb. 7, 2022. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

So I went looking for where a complete listing of Coast Guard boat types might be found.

Absolutely the best, most comprehensive source I found was “Boats Of The United States Coast Guard,” Prepared by the Office of Boat Forces (CG-731), 2024. It list 43 different types, including a photo, specifications, and numbers built and inservice.

The Acquisitions Directorate (CG-9) website also has detailed information about on going Response Boat, Medium and Response Boat, Small programs.

“The Coast Guard gave an overview of its boats fleet, including current and potential acquisition programs, during the International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans in November 2024.”

The overview included some very interesting statistics about Coast Guard boats and their operations.

I’d would also like to recommend the annual Almanac issue of the Navy League’s Seapower Magazine as a ready reference and not just for Coast Guard boats. Three pages cover 16 types of Coast Guard boats and in most cases it also indicates how many of each type are in use, but it also includes almost 200 pages covering systems and leadership for the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Maritime Administration, and NOAA.

As I started writing this post, I went back through my photo library and pulled some photos. It’s not detailed. It certainly isn’t complete, but perhaps it will help to comprehend the diversity of the Coast Guard fleet of boats. Also included are four photos (the last four below) from the overview presentation at the International Workboat Show linked above.

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

33-foot special purpose craft-law enforcement (SPC-LE) smallboat crew from Coast Guard Station Key West, Fla.,pulls alongside CGC Eagle in Atlantic April 13,2012.Several types of SPCs.SPC-LE ideal platform to interdict drug smugglers’ go-fast boats.can plane in under 3seconds top speed 60mph+.Enclosed heated air-conditioned cabin has shock mitigating seats,reducing fatigue, capable of operating more than 30 miles from shore. U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Brandyn Hill

RIMPAC 2018 will also be the first time that US Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team West (MSRT-W) participates in RIMPAC SOCAL. US Navy Photo

Long Range Interceptor and Over the Horizon Cutter Boat. Two small boat crews from Coast Guard Cutter Stratton are underway for operations in the Bering Sea, April 30, 2021. Cutter crews use the small boats to conduct a variety of missions including search and rescue and law enforcement. U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy Ensign Molly Dolan.

Preliminary general arrangement drawing of the third generation of long range interceptor cutter boats to be made for the Coast Guard. Courtesy of MetalCraft Marine U.S. Inc.

A Coast Guard crew tests a newly delivered over the horizon V cutter boat near Cape May, New Jersey. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

Response Boat, Medium (RB-M). Photo from Vigor

Arctic Survey Boat

29-foot Response Boat – Small II (RB-S II) 29249 passing by Pier 9, Honolulu Harbor. 9 March 2024.

Cutter Boat, Large (22 foot)

A United States Coast Guard (USCG) Port Security Unit (PSU) boat crew fire blank ammunition from .50 caliber heavy machine gun and M240b medium machine guns mounted on a patrol vessel during training.

Photo of a Coast Guard Maritime port security unit patrolling in a TPSB boat

36 foot Special Purpose Craft, Law Enforcement II

27’ Special Purpose Craft, Shallow Water II, by RECONCRAFT, 48 delivered

Trailerable Aids to Navigation Boat

Cutter Boat, AtoN, Small. Intended for the Waterways Commerce Cutters.

Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

July 12

1953  Coast Guard aircraft and surface craft of the Search and Rescue Group at Wake Island joined with a large naval task unit in conducting an intensive search for a Transocean Air Lines DC-6 aircraft, Flight 512, last reported about 300 miles east of Wake Island.  The scene of the crash was located although there were no survivors.

MCKINLEYVILLE, CA, 07.10.2019, Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jordan Akiyama, D 11

1994  Coast Guard HH-65 CG-6541 crashed in the early hours of July 12, 1994 near Shelter Cove, California, while responding to a sailing vessel in distress.  When heavy pre-dawn fog made a visual approach impossible, the air crew performed several unsuccessful approaches to the sailing vessel, striking a shoreline cliff on the third attempt and taking the lives of all four crew members: LT Laurence Williams, LT Mark Koteek, ASMCS Peter Leeman, and AM1 Michael Gill.

Aerial view of Kotzebue, Alaska, U.S. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, photographer not specified or unknown

2013  The Coast Guard opened its seasonal forward operating location (FOL) in Kotzebue on October 12, 2013 in preparation for the anticipated increase of maritime activities in Western Alaska and the Bering Strait.  FOL Kotzebue, part of Coast Guard Arctic Shield 2013, consisted of one Kodiak-based MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter with supporting air and ground crews, and was based out of the Alaska Army National Guard Hangar in Kotzebue.

Northwest Arctic Borough Alaska incorporated and unincorporated areas Kotzebue highlighted. From Wikipedia by Rcsprinter123

U.S. Coast Guardsmen assigned to medium endurance cutter USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) moor the cutter at a pier in Taiohae, French Polynesia, May 18, 2025. The crew visited Nuka Hiva, the largest of the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, as part of their 73-day patrol supporting Operation Blue Pacific. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Kenneth Shellenberger)

Below is a news release from Coast Guard District Oceania. That Harriet Lane is patrolling in the Western Pacific is getting to be routine, but I am publishing it here, first because I love the photo above, but also because I thought you might be interested in the French Overseas Patrol Vessel Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai mentioned in the text. It is one of a class of six and was commissioned in July 2024.

I did a post on the class in June 2024, “The Félix Éboué class, a Modern, Minimalist, Medium Endurance Cutter.” I published the photos below as part of that post, but am posting them below for convenience. This class is essentially the embodiment of my Cutter X concept, taking the crew, equipment, and capabilities of a Webber class WPC and putting them in a more seaworthy hull with the greater endurance the Webber class lacks.

Earlier I compared the class to the Webber class, but let’s compare and contrast the French OPV with the Bear Class ships like Harriet Lane.

————————————Bear Class———————Félix Éboué class

• Displacement: ———–1800 tons————————–1300 tons
• Length: ——————-270 ft (82 m)———————-80 m (262 ft 6 in)
• Beam: ——————–38 ft (11.6 m)———————-11.8 m (38 ft 9 in)
• Draft: ———————14 ft 5 in (4.39 m)—————–3.5 m (11 ft 6 in)
• Propulsion: —————7,000 SHP————————10,320 SHP
• Speed: ——————–19.5 knots————————-24 knots
• Range: ———————6,370 nmi @ 15 knots ———5,500 nmi
• Complement: ————-100——————————30, accommodations for 59
• Boats: ———————-8 m + 6 m———————-2x 8m
• Helo Deck & hangar ——-Yes—————————–No
• UAV: ————————–No——————————Yes
• Space for Container——-No——————————Yes
• Electric motors for Loiter–No——————————Yes

Biggest difference is crew size, closer to an FRC than an MEC. Harriet Lane’s crew may be less than 100 since removal of the Mk75 gun and Mk92 fire control, but still three times as large.

The French OPV, using less horsepower than the Webber class are faster by 4.5 knots. The MEC still has greater range, but the French OPV’s range is notably more than twice that of the Webber class. The greater displacement might suggest the MEC is more seaworthy but the positioning of the French OPV’s bridge well aft would make watch standing there more comfortable. I have to say, I like the look of the French ship’s bow a lot better than that on the Bear class.

Harriet Lane has a flight deck and hangar but sails without an embarked helicopter, while the French OPV has only facilities to support a projected VTOL UAV with a catapult launched UAV filling in for now.

Forgoing the larger flight deck and hangar allows the French OPV a more spacious Fantail with space for containerized systems and a stern ramp for boat operations.

The French OPV seems to have better boat handling facilities with both stern ramp and davit launched 8 meter RHIBs.

Auguste Bénébig. Photo: http://www.meretmarine.com

The second of the French Navy’s six new overseas patrol vessels (POMs), the Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai, which will be based in French Polynesia and has been named in tribute to a Companion of the Liberation native of this Pacific territory, Photo: http://www.meretmarine.com

The Teriieroo at Teriierooiterai fitting out at the end of July, 2023 in Boulogne. Photo: http://www.meretmarine.com

Stern ramp for 8 meter RHIB. French Navy overseas patrol vessel (POM), Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai, fitting out 2023. Photo: http://www.meretmarine.com

Second 8 meter RHIB and davit on starboard side. French Navy overseas patrol vessel (POM), Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai, fitting out 2023. Photo: http://www.meretmarine.com

Aliaca aerial drone on its launch catapult. French Navy overseas patrol vessel (POM), Teriieroo a Teriierooiterai, fitting out 2023. Photo: http://www.meretmarine.com

The War Zone has identified,

“An unknown containerized launcher able to fire the same suite of artillery rockets and ballistic missiles as the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System(MLRS) and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) seen at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg earlier this year has been identified. This comes as the Army’s top general in the Indo-Pacific region has highlighted the value of “boxes of rockets” hiding in plain sight as part of a broader strategy that “gives our adversary pause.”

Just wanted to note that this and similar types of containerized weapons could be mounted on flight decks or even buoy decks of cutters. In Alaska where there are essentially no Navy surface vessels and few roads, this could be important in the first days of a conflict.

The Anti-Torpedo Torpedo developed in the ATTDS program being fired from a launcher on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in 2019. U.S. Navy photo.

Naval News reports,

“A program in development by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) is rapidly moving forward into the fleet to provide much deeper magazine depth for torpedoes on Virginia-class SSNs. The effort is testing and fielding multi-packed 6.75-inch Mark 58 Compact Rapid Attack Weapon (CRAW) torpedoes or 3-inch UAVs in a single 21-inch torpedo tube.

“Known as the Multi-Vehicle Torpedo Tube Defense System (MVTTDS) to ONR, the Revolver Multi-Payload (Revolver MP) program is designed to provide Virginia-class SSNs with additional magazine depth, responding to an urgent operational need laid out by U.S. Indo Pacific Command and U.S. Strategic Command. Revolver MP will deliver the capability to salvo a dozen or more torpedoes against submarines or surface ships.”

The Coast Guard needs to have access to anti-surface torpedoes, so that cutters have the ability to forcibly stop any vessel regardless of size. That is a required capability implicit in Coast Guard missions.

This post certainly answers a question posed in my last post on this weapon. The weapon will also work against surface ships.

The Revolver approach described, suggests that 21 inch (533mm) torpedo tubes may follow the example of the Mk 41 VLS, becoming a launcher for all sorts of weapons and perhaps unmanned systems of various types “including larger diameter UAVs and UUVs.” This may prompt the reintroduction of 21″ torpedo tubes on surface vessels, including perhaps cutters. Given the length of the Mk58, 21″ torpedo tubes that are shorter than those on current submarine might become an option.

We might also see a mini-Revolver used in 12.75″ (324mm) surface vessel torpedo tubes. There should be room for three Mk58 torpedoes in each 12.75″ torpedo tube.

Will it be on time?

If, as the quote above seems to suggest, the weapon is the result of an urgent request to allow simultaneous engagement of a large number of targets (say a Chinese Taiwan invasion fleet), can we wait until 2030, when it can also be used as an anti-torpedo torpedo? There have been lots of suggestions we may see a Chinese attempt to take Taiwan as early as 2027.

The post goes on to state that “Technology Insertion 1” should provide an “Early Operational Capability” (EOC) for ASW within two years “demonstrating the system in an operationally relevant environment by FY2026.” Presumably an anti-surface capability would be included. (EOC is new to me. We usually see reference to IOC, Initial Operational Capability.) That sounds like production in quantity is still years away.

Seems there might be an urgent need for a simplified anti-surface version that should be easier to develop and cheaper and faster to produce.

Other Torpedoes:

The Navy seems to be showing a renewed interest in torpedoes as anti-surface weapons. Earlier we had a report the “Navy Wants A Cheap Heavy Torpedo That Can Be Stockpiled Fast.” and Anduril is offering UUVs that launch from torpedo tubes and look an awful lot like torpedoes.