NavyRecognition is reporting that two 60 meter (197 foot) 21 knot French Navy patrol vessels are being built for operation in French waters in the Western Hemisphere including the French West Indies and Guiana on the North Atlantic Coast of South America.

They are expected to have a crew of 24, support two RHIBs, and have an endurance of 12 days.

Among their duties will be policing waters in the vicinity of the Guiana Space Centre, now the European Space Agency’s primary launch site near the equator.

The Coast Guard may have an opportunity to work with these vessels.

Photo: USS Kauffman (FFG-59) Defense Visual Information Gallery photo ID DN-SC-90-04968

The Navy Times is reporting that USS Kauffmann (FFG-59) is departing for what is expected to be the last deployment for a US Navy Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate, and it will be a “Counter Transnational Organized Crime/Counter Illicit Trafficking mission” meaning it will almost certainly have a Coast Guard team aboard.

The 51 ships of this class have frequently supported USCG Coast Guard Law Detachments and operated under Coast Guard authority. Ultimately Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) and Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) will replace them in these missions, but right now, the decommissionings seem to be coming much faster than the replacements. Meanwhile far fewer assets are available than required to move on actionable intelligence despite of the fact that this is the most efficient method of interdicting drug traffic.

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BAHRAIN (Dec. 19, 2014) Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 26, Det. 1, conducts a vertical onboard delivery with the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Maui (WPB 1304). HSC-26 is a forward deployed naval force asset attached to Commander, Task Force 53 to provide combat logistics and search and rescue capability throughout the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Joan E. Jennings/Released)

Just an unusual photo–and a reminder of where some of our people are.

Indian Government Photo: Pakistani F/V self-destructs after intercept by Indian Coast Guard

gCaptain has a report of an odd incident during which an Indian Coast Guard cutter, the RajRatan (similar in concept to the Webber class WPCs), acting on intelligence, approached a Pakistani fishing vessel and after attempting to stop it, including an hour long chase and warning shots, the crew of the F/V set it afire resulting in an explosion and apparently the deaths of all aboard. Other reports suggest this may in some way have been connected to the expected visit of President Obama to India on Jan. 26.

Just as I did last year, I would like to thank the readership for another successful year.

We had 202,688 views in 2014, up from 155,432 last year. The daily average has gone from 322 in 2012 and 426 in 2013, to 555 in 2014. I don’t have a readout on this, but that is a daily average of about 220 individual visitors.

There were 208 new posts this year, some of the most viewed were published in previous years.The most viewed posts in 2014 were:

1. OPV to OPC (2012)
2. The Navy’s New Patrol Boat (2012)
3.  What Does It Take to Sink a Ship? (2011)
4.  Preliminary and Contract Design Contract Winners for OPC Announced (2014)
5.  Offshore Patrol Cutter Concepts (2013)

I am told we had visitors from 169 countries. Some of these could have been spammers, but 35 Countries had more than 200 views. Top five following the US were the UK, Philippines, Canada, Netherlands, and Australia.

The busiest day of the year was November 4th with 2,037 views. The most popular post that day was Philippine CG to Get an “MEC” and Four “PBs” from France.

Frequently the site will get a bump from a mention on another blog or source. I would like to give a tip of the hat to these. Top sources for referrals were:

1. http://www.timawa.net/
2.  http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/
3. Facebook, which might be from my own page, https://www.facebook.com/chuckhhill, or from either Warships of the World or Historic Ship Geek where I probably spend too much time.
4. http://cimsec.org/
5. http://www.eaglespeak.us/

We had over 8,300 comments. Top Commenters (other than myself) were Bill Smith, James WF, x, Bill Wells, and Nicky.

I would also like to thank Lee for his many leads and suggestions. Unfortunately Tim Colton has terminated his blog, his commentary will be missed.

Again, thanks for the interest, contributions, and comments.

Coast Guard Compass is holding their annual video of the year competition for 2014 and all ten videos have now been posted. Go by and take a look and vote for your favorite.

We have had two airlines disappear this year, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March and another this month. Both hit the water and sank. The most recent incident at least left debris on the surface that marked the crash site, but even so it took a substantial search to locate the wreckage. MH370 resulted in a huge search effort that was to my knowledge fruitless.

Our friend, Ken White had a very reasonable question, Why don’t airliners have hydrostatically released EPIRBs? Good question. Having two would not be unreasonable. The devices might also be activated by sudden high g-forces.

Friend and frequent contributor, retired Master Chief Bill Wells has a historical piece about living conditions aboard 19th century revenue cutters in “Prologue,” a magazine published quarterly by the National Archives and Records Administration.

It is the cover article of the Fall 2014 issue and is entitled “Wet, Cold, and Thoroughly Miserable.” You can access it as a pdf at the magazine’s web site here.

You have probably heard about the fire on the Ferry Norman Atlantic in the Adriatic between Greece and Italy, but there were a couple of particularly interesting notes in this CNN report that suggest a failure of marine inspection authorities.

In the first three hours of the fire, around 150 people were able to escape via the vessel’s lifeboats. But when the ferry lost power, the electronic arms were unable to function, leaving the rest of the boats dangling uselessly by its side.

It’s not known how the fire started, but it’s believed to have originated in the parking bay. A truck driver told the Greek news media that trucks filled with oil were “packed like sardines,” their cargo scraping the ceiling, which could have set off sparks in rough seas to start a fire, he surmised.