Category Archives: Uncategorized

Force Protection Lesson from the Russo-Ukrainian War

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Business Insider has a post reporting the successes of Ukraine’s kamikaze USV program as evaluated by Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov. It included some information I had not seen in earlier reports.

“Budanov noted one occasion when a sea drone had been destroyed as it approached Russia’s Admiral Essen frigate in Sevastopol Bay…”It seemed unsuccessful. But the blast wave, because it was destroyed about 100 meters from the ship, and the charge was quite powerful, the wreckage completely damaged some of the ship’s electronic equipment, antennas, certain systems, and the hydroacoustic system. And it took 3-and-a-half months to repair,” Budanov said.”

This suggests to me that because kamikaze USVs with large explosive charges can do significant damage at 100 meters, then crew served machine guns on the target vessel are not sufficient protection.

These threats need to be destroyed well before they get within 100 meters (110 yards) of their target.

“Drone Boat Leading Navy Ships In The Strait Of Hormuz A Sign Of Things To Come” –The Drive

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Strait of Hormuz, August 6, USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116), Lewis and Clark class cargo ship USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE-6) and USCGC Charles Moulthrope (WPC-1141) with L3Harris Arabian Fox uncrewed surface vessel (USV) in the foreground.

The Drive has a post discussing 5th Fleet/NAVCENT’s pioneering work with Unmanned surface systems (UAS) and the creation of Task Force 59.

Coast Guard Webber class patrol craft are prominent in the operation as they have been in previous UAS operations. I suspect this is because the WPCs are readily available to the 5th Fleet commander. Their size and maneuverability make them easier to operate in close proximity to the small UAS (and in the vicinity of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) small craft). They are heavily armed enough to prevent the IRGC from stealing the UAS. They have tried to do it in the past. 

Specs on the 13 foot L3 Harris Arabian Fox (40 knot maximum speed and 36 hour endurance) lend credibility to the long-range reported for Ukrainian Kamikaze UAS, up to 450 nautical miles (approximately 833 km).

“Birdon America awards first Waterway Commerce Cutter (WCC) subcontracts” –Marine Log

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Shown above are Coast Guard indicative designs of a river buoy tender, inland construction tender and inland buoy tender.

Marine Log reports,

Denver-based Birdon America, Inc. a subsidiary of Australia’s Birdon Pty Ltd, reports that it has awarded a first round of major subcontracts in support its $1.187 billion contract to design and build 27 Waterways Commerce Cutters (WCC) for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Follow the links to previous reporting.

Thanks to Paul for bringing this to my attention.

“AIS: Harnessing state of the art maritime solutions to uncover hidden fishing vessel movements in the Pacific” –a webinar

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For those who might be interested

I am passing along this announcement. This does not constitute and endorsement. I have no idea who these people are.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing for tuna in the Pacific region is estimated to amount to almost 200,000 tonns annually. Fisheries are of critical importance to the region with many nations working collaboratively to combat IUU fishing and increase traceability.

Learn how Starboard Maritime Intelligence and Spire Maritime have joined forces to help tackle this issue in the Pacific Ocean, using real-time AIS, AIS Position Validation, algorithms, and machine learning. AIS Position Validation is the new and unique data set from Spire Maritime that independently calculates a vessel’s location at the time of AIS transmission, even when AIS messages do not include valid GPS data.

Join our webinar on 9th August 11AM UTC with Iain Goodridge, Senior Director of RFGL at Spire, and Joseph Corbett, Chief Data Scientist at Starboard to find out how you can partner with our solutions to combat this growing concern. Learn how real-time AIS, and AIS Position Validation along with algorithms and machine learning, can be used to:

  • Understand fishing vessel manoeuvres and confirm compliance with measures to combat IUU fishing.
  • Uncover more intel on the location of fishing vessels that have gone dark.

AIS Position Validation:

Uncover vessel behavior anomalies and spoofing, in real time.

If you are interested to learn more about all the capabilities of AIS Position Validation, and how this unique data set allows you to independently validate a vessel’s reported position, detect vessels not reporting a validated GPS position or detect vessels reporting an incoherent position, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Best regards,

Spire Maritime team

“First US deep water port for the Arctic to host military, cruise ships” –Navy Times

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This rendering provided by the City of Nome shows how the Port of Nome, Alaska, will appear following an expansion project that will cost more than $600 million. Shipping lanes that were once clogged with ice for much of the year along Alaska’s western and northern coasts have relented thanks to global warming, and the nation’s first deep water Arctic port should be operational in Nome by the end of the decade. (PND Engineers Inc./City of Nome via AP)

Navy Times reports,

Workers will dredge a new basin 40 feet (12.2 meters) deep, allowing large cruises ships, cargo vessels, and every U.S. military ship except aircraft carriers to dock, Port Director Joy Baker said.

Nome in red. Adapted from Wikipedia’s AK borough maps by en:User:Seth Ilys.

We have been talking about a deepwater port in the area for some time,

Alaska and the Bering Strait

Nome isn’t actually in the Arctic, despite the fact that the US government defines the Arctic to include the Bering Sea. The Arctic Circle runs just a little North of Nome, essentially at the Bering Strait. The Bering Strait connects the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean and is about 44 nautical miles (82 kilometers) wide at its narrowest point. Whoever controls the Bering Strait can regulate traffic between the Pacific and the Arctic Oceans. Having a nearby deepwater port would certainly help, if it were desirable to regulate that traffic. Nome is within 160 nautical miles of the Russian side of the Strait.

Traffic through the Strait has increased and the possibility of a cruise ship disaster in the Arctic is probably a District 17 nightmare, but I think the probability is low that large numbers of CG units will be based at Nome. As noted earlier, I don’t think we will see either large patrol cutters (unless it is the Alex Haley) or FRCs based there but moving one of the Juniper class seagoing buoy tenders there, with its light icebreaking capability might make sense. A medium icebreaker might be a possibility, but that is a very long shot.

As I have noted before, the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet surface ships have not really shown much interest in operating in the Arctic. Their “Arctic” exercises have been in the Gulf of Alaska or little, if at all, North of the Aleutians.

We might see Air Force and Marines in the area in time of War. Airpower and/or shore based anti-ship missiles could control surface traffic through the Strait. Those forces would have to be supplied, which would mean logistics shipping to what we now know will be the deepwater port at Nome. The shipping would presumably require naval protection, air and/or surface.

 

Coast Guard in Oceania in the News

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The USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) crew arrives in Manus, Papua New Guinea, on Aug. 14, 2022, from Guam as part of a patrol headed south to assist partner nations in upholding and asserting their sovereignty while protecting U.S. national interests. The U.S. Coast Guard is participating with partners to support the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency-led Operation Island Chief and the larger Operation Blue Pacific through patrols in the Western Pacific in August and September 2022. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by SW3 Victor Villanueva, NMCB-FOUR)

A couple of recent articles about the US relations with Palau and Papua New Guinea.

Map of the exclusive economic zones in the Pacific.

There has long been interest in a US base on Manus, Papua New Guinea, but this is politically sensitive. Basing cutters there that protect an important economic resource and occasionally rescue the locals when they get in trouble, would probably be most welcome.

On the map above, Manus and Guam do not look that far apart, but Manus is 1,737.88 km (938 nautical miles) SSE of Guam. That is about the distance from Miami to New York City. 

Cutters based in Manus would be closer to parts Freely Associated States (FAS) of Palau and Federated States of Micronesia than cutters based in Guam and much closer to most non-FAS Micronesian nations. It might also be a good place to site a fixed wing forward operating base (CGAS Honolulu DET).

I am beginning to think we will see two new bases in the Western Pacific, one in American Samoa and one in Manus.

If we do end up with additional Webber class based outside Hawaii and Guam, we might need a squadron support organization similar to, and perhaps even larger than, PATFORSWA, to support all FRCs based in the Pacific South and West of Hawaii, e.g. a PATFORSWPAC.

U.S. Coast Guard participates in Exercise Argus 2023

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The USCGC Sycamore (WLB 209) crew participates in a navigation exercise with HDMS Knud Rasmussen (P570), a Royal Danish Navy Knud Rasmussen-class patrol vessel and the FNS Fulmar (P740), a French Navy patrol vessel, off the coast of Southern Greenland, June 13, 2023. Deployed forces demonstrated U.S. Coast Guard capabilities to build partner capacity and expertise in search and rescue, navigation, and damage control. These efforts solidify key strategic relationships while achieving mutual Danish, Greenlandic, and U.S. goals in the North American Atlantic Arctic and Northwest Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Cmdr. Katherine Blue)

Just passing along this very nice photo and caption from the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS). I have added links to describe the vessels involved.

“US Coast Guard Ready to Move New Anti-SASH Policy” (SASH=Sexual Assault Sexual Harassment) –Marine Link

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Marine Link reports,

In May, the U.S. Coast Guard will start a strengthened and pointedly direct anti-SASH campaign that will extend across the maritime industry. SASH is an acronym for sexual assault/sexual harassment, and this new effort adds muscle to Marine Safety Information Bulletin (MSIB Number: 1-23) “Reporting Sexual Misconduct on U.S. Vessels” released in February. The new bulletin supersedes a previous one from late 2021.

I don’t normally report on Marine Safety topics. Never really had any experience in that area, but this could affect every boarding officer.

“Support Pay Parity for our Coast Guard servicemembers!” –Navy League

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USCGC Northland (WMEC 904) approaches the pier, March 30, 2023 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Northland conducted a 62-day maritime safety and security deployment in the Florida Straits and Windward Passage while patrolling in support of Homeland Security Task Force – Southeast and Operation Vigilant Sentry. (U.S. Coast Guard video by Senior Chief Petty Officer Melissa Leake)

Just passing this along. Remember what happened last time we had a delay in approval of an increase in the debt ceiling?

Hello everyone,

Please take a moment to join our Rapid Response email campaign in support of Congresswoman Scholten’s “Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act of 2023”.

The Coast Guard is vital to America’s national and economic security, yet they are not covered by the same paycheck protections as other members of the armed forces. With the very real possibility of a government shutdown in the near future, it is imperative that we provide the men and women of the Coast Guard with the financial security that they and their families have earned!

Please use the link below to learn more about this issue and to send a letter directly to your Members of Congress by just clicking send! Let’s get to work!

Thank you,

Luke Lorenz, Senior Director, Legislative Affairs, Navy League of the United States

“U.S. to Increase International Coordination, Presence in Strait of Hormuz” –NAVCENT

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A U.S. Navy L3 Harris Arabian Fox MAST-13 drone boat and the U.S. Coast Guard cutters USCGC John Scheuerman and USCGC Charles Moulthrope transit the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (Information Systems Technician 1st Class Vincent Aguirre/U.S. Coast Guard)

Below the break, I have reproduced a U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) news release. 

Meanwhile, Defense One reports the remarks of a Pentagon spokesman on the subject,

In the meantime, Ryder said, the U.S. military will be increasing the “rotation of in-theater assets patrolling the Strait of Hormuz with the intent of bolstering our vigilance and our presence at this location.” Those assets include “manned and unmanned aerial platforms, as well as surface naval vessels from the Navy, [and] the Coast Guard, to help enhance our maritime surveillance.”

Would love to know the rules of engage for both NAVCENT and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. Move, counter-move, counter-counter-move.

PATFORSWA is sure to be front and center.

NEWS | May 12, 2023

U.S. to Increase International Coordination, Presence in Strait of Hormuz

By U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs

MANAMA, Bahrain   –  U.S. 5th Fleet is working with regional allies and partners to increase the rotation of ships and aircraft patrolling in and around the Strait of Hormuz following Iran’s recent unlawful merchant vessel seizures.

The increased force presence supports multinational efforts to deter threats to commercial shipping and reassure regional mariners. In addition to heightened patrols, U.S. 5th Fleet is bolstering international maritime security collaboration among the International Maritime Security Construct and European Maritime Awareness in the Strait of Hormuz.

“Iran’s unwarranted, irresponsible and unlawful seizure and harassment of merchant vessels must stop,” said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces. “U.S. 5th Fleet and our partners are committed to protecting navigational rights in these critical waters.”

Iran has harassed, attacked or interfered with the navigational rights of 15 internationally flagged merchant vessels over the past two years. This pattern of destabilizing behavior is contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security.