On Aug. 18, 2020, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB-20) suffered a fire in the ship’s main propulsion motor while on a deployment to the Arctic. The Healy was taken to a dry dock in Vallejo, California, for repair. A replacement motor was stored at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore. The spare motor was removed from its storage facility, craned onto a barge and sent through the Panama Canal to the dry dock. Installation of the propulsion motor took approximately a month and required removal of the ship’s dual hulls to complete. U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jordan Akiyama and Senior Chief Petty Officer NyxoLyno Cangemi

An interesting video if you have not seen it before. Shows replacement of one of Healy’s main propulsion motors after a fire. Fortunately the Coast Guard had bought a spare when the ship was built. Work was done in Vallejo, CA, in the same yard that has been working on Polar Star.

Thanks to Bill for bringing this to my attention. 

A Coast Guard air crew member helps transport a critically injured child from the helicopter to awaiting emergency medical services at Port au Prince, Haiti, Aug. 15. (Lt. David Steele/Coast Guard)

I don’t remember having an ethos when I was in the Coast Guard. We just tried to do our jobs as best we could, and we were proud to be a part of the service. I am not sure having one published, changes the way we act, but the new Coast Guard Strategy includes a new ethos, which prompted me to compare the old with the new. Have to say, I like the new one better.

The Old Version:

I am a Coast Guardsman.
I serve the people of the United States.
I will protect them.
I will defend them.
I will save them.
I am their shield.
For them I am Semper Paratus.
I live the Coast Guard Core Values.
I am proud to be a Coast Guardsman.
We are the United States Coast Guard.

Ten lines, “I” nine times, “We” once, 57 words.

The New Version:

In Service to our Nation 
With Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty 
We protect 
We defend 
We save 
We are Semper Paratus 
We are the United States Coast Guard  

Seven Lines, no “I”, “We” five times, 29 words.

Short and to the point is always better, and I like the shift from “I” to “we.”

OPC 919, the future USCGC Pickering. Image from Austal USA

A Marine Link story, “Austal USA Cleared to Begin OPC Stage 2 After Eastern Withdraws Protest,” a story already discussed here, included the illustration above. I liked the picture so much I just wanted to share it.

The Drive reports on a new rifle sight that is much more than just a sight. You pick the target and when the weapon is on target, the rifle fires.

Obviously the PATFORSWA patrol craft have a Counter-UAS mission, but we have not seen any hard kill C-UAS system. This might work, though the range is relatively short.

This also looks like it could be useful for Coast Guard special teams as well, for something like a hostage situation, and perhaps for airborne use of force.

Wonder if you could get it to work on a .50 cal.?

All of Birdon’s production activities will take place at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, La. Birdon America photo

One of our readers, Andy, brought this WorkBoat article, which has much more information about the team of organizations that will be building the Waterways Commerce Cutters and where they will be built.

Birdon is building on its experience and expertise in program management, design, manufacture, and support of the USCG and U.S. Army watercraft programs, by teaming with carefully selected partners. Bollinger Shipyards (Bollinger) and Incat Crowther will be key subcontractors to Birdon and share Birdon’s commitment to delivering for the USCG. The entire delivery team will work under Birdon’s integrated, standardized leadership model, which is proven across numerous multiple-site projects in the U.S. and abroad.

Alaska and the Bering Strait

Reuters reports,

Two Russians fleeing military service have claimed asylum in the United States after arriving by boat in Alaska, authorities said on Thursday.

Does this mean we are going to have to start doing Alien Migrant Interdiction in the Bering Straits?

SeaWaves reports,

Sri Lanka Navy officially took delivery of the EX-United States Coast Guard Cutter, USCGC Douglas Munro, provided by the United States, on 26th October 2021. Subsequently, she was designated with the Pennant Number P 627 in SLN Fleet and underwent certain modernization equipped to suit the operational needs of the Sri Lanka Navy. The ship departed for Sri Lanka from the Port of Seattle, United States on 03rd September 2022.

Sri Lanka now has three former US Coast Guard cutters, two 378s, Sherman and Douglas Munro, and a 210, the former USCGC Courageous.

Wikipedia has a listing of where the 378s are now.

Coast Guardsmen from Port Security Unit 307 conduct seaward security for Department of Defense assets and personnel at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, April 25, 2022. During the nine-month deployment, unit operations focused on maritime defense, providing more than 30,000 hours of around-the-clock waterside and shore side anti-terrorism and force protection. U.S. Coast Guard by photo by Lt. Cmdr. Glenn Sanchez.

The Navy League’s on-line magazine, Seapower, reports,

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Members from Coast Guard Port Security Unit (PSU) 307 returned home to Clearwater Oct. 3 following a nine-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a release.

During the deployment, unit operations focused on seaward security, providing more than 30,000 hours of around-the-clock waterside and shore side anti-terrorism and force protection defense security to Department of Defense assets and personnel at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.

Thinking about the drenching Clearwater got during Hurricane Ian, these people may be coming home to a real mess. But welcome home. I am sure you have been missed.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) cuts a channel through the multi-year pack ice and snow as Healy transits the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole, September 27, 2022. This is the third time the icebreaker has traveled to the North Pole since its commissioning in 1999. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Deborah Heldt Cordone, Auxiliary Public Affairs Specialist 1.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy reaches the North Pole

Editor’s note: Click on images to download high resolution version.

NORTH POLE — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) reached the North Pole Friday after traversing the frozen Arctic Ocean, marking only the second time a U.S. ship has reached the location unaccompanied, the first being Healy in 2015.

Healy, a medium icebreaker, and crew departed Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Sept. 4, beginning their journey to reach latitude 90 degrees north. The cutter and crew supported oceanographic research in collaboration with National Science Foundation-funded scientists throughout their transit to the North Pole.

This is the third time Healy’s traveled to the North Pole since its commissioning in 1999.

“The crew of Healy is proud to reach the North Pole,” said Capt. Kenneth Boda, commanding officer of the Healy. “This rare opportunity is a highlight of our Coast Guard careers. We are honored to demonstrate Arctic operational capability and facilitate the study of this strategically important and rapidly changing region.”

Healy is currently on a months-long, multi-mission deployment to conduct oceanographic research at the furthest reaches of the northern latitudes. The 420-foot icebreaker is the largest ship in the Coast Guard and is capable of breaking through four-and-half feet of ice at a continuous speed of three knots.

Healy, which departed its Seattle homeport on July 11, currently has thirty-four scientists and technicians from multiple universities and institutions aboard, and nearly 100 active duty crew members.

During the cutter’s first Arctic leg of the patrol throughout July and August, Healy traveled into the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, going as far north as 78 degrees. As a part of the Office of Naval Research’s Arctic Mobile Observing System program, Healy deployed underwater sensors, sea gliders and acoustic buoys to study Arctic hydrodynamics in the marginal and pack ice zones.

In addition to enabling Arctic science, Healy also supported U.S. national security objectives for the Arctic region by projecting a persistent ice-capable U.S. presence in U.S. Arctic waters, and patrolling our maritime border with Russia.

On their second Arctic mission of the summer, while transiting to the North Pole, Healy embarked a team of researchers as a part of the Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS). SAS is an international collaborative research program focused on using specially equipped research vessels from around the world to gather data throughout the Arctic across multiple scientific disciplines. Dr. Carin Ashjian, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, is currently serving alongside Dr. Jackie Grebmeier as co-chief Scientists onboard Healy with support from the National Science Foundation.

“We are excited to reach the Pole!” said Ashjian speaking on behalf of the embarked science party. “We have little information from the ocean and seafloor at the top of the world so what we collect here is very valuable. It also fills in data from a region, the western Central Arctic, which was not sampled by other ships in the SAS. Our joint efforts with the Healy crew are producing important science results.”

After deploying a series of scientific equipment to collect valuable data at the North Pole, crew members and the science team were granted ice liberty. During this time, they enjoyed taking pictures and posing with a “North Pole” that had been erected on the ice. Healy also used the unique setting to advance two crewmembers and conduct a cutterman ceremony for three crewmembers who each recently achieved the career milestone of five years of sea service.