Category Archives: Uncategorized

Massive Investment Coming to Northern Alaska

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caeluspipelinewsj

Photo from Wall Street Journal, Click to enlarge.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that little known Caelus Energy has made a huge find of oil in Smith Bay off the North Slope of Alaska, West of the current North Slope oil fields.

To get at the oil they expect to use “barges built along the Gulf Coast, then towed to Alaska and permanently sunk in the bay to create man-made drilling islands.”

To move the oil they expect to build “an $800 million, 125-mile pipeline that will carry the oil underneath state-owned waters to connect with existing pipelines.”

What does this mean to us?

Certainly, it means that there will be more activity in the Arctic. That may mean more work for the Coast Guard. On the other hand, it may not be a bad thing to have some of the assets the oil company will bring to the Arctic there for mutual aid.

Those commercially built, medium icebreakers are probably going to have another buyer soon, and may not be on the market for long.

This may also be an opportunity to share some infrastructure in the Arctic.

I do have to wonder why the pipeline will be, “underneath state-owned waters,” when it would be much shorter if it went from point to point rather than following the coast. Do they think it will be easier to maintain, or are they avoiding Federal regulation?

 

Three New Ships for Norwegian Coast Guard

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KV Nordkapp, lead ship of a class of three which will be replaced. Photo by Marcusroos

The Barents Observer reports Norway is ordering three new icebreaking cutters for the Norwegian Coast Guard which will replace the Nordkap class.

I note the Nordkapp class looks like they could have been a contender for the OPC contract–3.200 tons, 345 ft (105 meters) long, ice strengthened, helo deck and hangar, 22 knots, 57mm gun, plus hull mounted sonar and provision for adding Penguin ASCMs and ASW torpedoes. The new ships may end up looking a lot like the OPC.

Two 110s to be Transfered to Republic of Georgia

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

CG-9 reports, 

“The Coast Guard transferred the former cutters Jefferson Island and Staten Island to the Georgian coast guard in a ceremony at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, Sept. 30, 2016. The event marks the Office of International Acquisition’s first transfer of 110-foot patrol boats to a friendly nation through the Excess Defense Articles program.”

UAE Transport, Former US High Speed Vessel Swift, Hit by Shore based ASCM

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There have been numerous reports (and here) that the former US Navy High Speed Vessel Swift has been attacked and apparently destroyed by a Chinese designed but possibly Iranian built C-802 anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) while transiting the 25 mile wide Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.

Map of Bab-el-Mandeb.png

Map of the Bab-el-Mandeb by Archer90

The missile was launched by a rebel group in Yemen. This not the first report of their use of anti-ship cruise missiles. They have claimed to have hit ships of the Saudi led coalition before. Plus the American built Israeli Corvette Hanit was hit by a Hezbollah launched C-802 in 2006. If we ever get in a situation like MarketTime again, there is a good possibility that even insurgent groups might have ASCMs.

The C-802 is similar in size and capabilities to the US build Harpoon. There is at least one report that the former Swift deployed Mk36 SRBOC.

Thanks to Peter for bringing this to my attention. 

Addendum: 

A photo of the vessel, severely damaged but still afloat here: http://www.marinelog.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=23324:video-hsv-swift-hit-by-missile-attack&Itemid=231

They are also saying the damage was done by multiple shoulder launched missile (presumably anti-tank guided missiles) rather than a single ASCM.

Philippine Coast Guard Upgrades

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The Philippines is in the process of a substantial upgrade of its Coast Guard and it is getting a lot of help form Japan. They already have a contract for the delivery of ten 44 meter patrol craft, that fill a role similar to our own Webber class WPCs. The first of these can be seen on sea trials in the video above.

Now we have reports that the Japanese will be building two new much larger, 295 foot (90 meter) cutters for the Philippines. These may be an entirely new design, but it is more likely it will be closely related to a existing Japan Coast Guard design.

Which class seems likely? They will almost certainly be Kunigami class like the ships in the videos below.

Japan Coast Guard Kunigami class large patrol vessel TARAMA (PL-85) 

PL11 RISHIRI, Yard: MHI SHIMONOSEKI SHIPYARD & MACHINERY WORKS
Filmed date: 2016/7/27

I haven’t been able to find a speed for the class, but apparently they are 1,700 tons full load, 96.6 m x 11.5 m (length 317 feet, beam 38 feet). They have a helo deck, but no hangar. They appear to have three boats, two smaller ones on davits, and a larger boat launched by crane. The gun is probably a 20 mm Sea Vulcan Gatling gun.

None of the Philippine CG vessels have a weapon larger than an old 20 mm and almost all have .50 cal. (12.7 mm) M2 crew served machine guns and/or lighter weapons. If they wanted to mount something larger, the Mk38 mod2 (or 3) 25 mm is likely, since it recently entered service with the Philippine Navy.

Perhaps more importantly, the Japan Coast Guard ships also have a water cannon that might come in handy. 

12PL09kunigamiPL10motobu

Elbit’s Unmanned Surface Vessel for ASW and MCM

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DefenseNews reports the Israeli company Elbit has been working on developing an unmanned surface vessel system, and they have gone beyond simply patrolling the surface and employing remotely controlled machine guns.  They are attempting to use it for Anti-Submarine Warfare and mine countermeasures.

In a separate post, Navy recognition reports that this system has successfully test launched a light weight torpedo.

Seagull_torpedo_trial_1

If you compare the vessel in the video and the one in the photo above, it is apparent that the equipment has been changed and that the craft probably could not carry both the sonar sensor and the light weight torpedoes, but it is possible multiple units might operate in groups.

Using small vessels for ASW and MCM has a long history, although not always particularly successful. As ASW assets they do offer the advantage that they are too small to be good targets for a submarine’s torpedoes. On the other hand their ability to support sensors and weapons is severely limited, and the crews’ limited ability to deal with adverse weather has always been problematic. Making them unmanned will at least help with that.

Thanks to Jim for suggesting the topic.

Happy Endings–Close Call

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USCGC Polar Sea

USCGC Polar Sea

We send our only Heavy Icebreaker almost 20,000 miles, to the end of the earth with no back-up.

Take a look at this news release regarding an upcoming award ceremony where the Commandant will recognize Petty Officer 1st Class Kevin Oakes, Petty Officer 3rd Class Augustin Foguet, and Seaman Manon Mullen.

They had to repair a thrust bearing bracket. This is a really strong fitting designed to absorb the push of 25,000 HP and it broke.

EM1 Oakes fixed a generator, apparently a main propulsion generator, that had developed  a short that resulted in loss of with a surfboard repair kit.

They had ” three fires and one major lube oil leak, which can quickly ignite into fire.”

We are blessed with excellent enlisted people, who do extraordinary things, but we cannot keep doing this. It is only a matter of time until one of our two icebreakers suffers a catastrophic failure far from any assistance.

We are still close to ten years from a new heavy icebreaker, but while it will hopefully give us a more reliable replacement for the Polar Star, it will not fix the problem.

We have a acknowledged need for medium icebreakers. The Congress seems to recognize our lack of icebreakers as a problem, and there are relatively near term alternatives available in the shape of an icebreaker now excess to Shell’s requirements and another begun and well advanced in construction, which is now stopped.

Wouldn’t it be better to send two ships south?

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