Next Navy reports the off-again/on-again business of supplemental funding for the Coast Guard Yard. This post amplifies this significant Forbes article.
It is not certain yet, but it looks like the Coast Guard Yard may be getting some love.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz speaks to Brendon Mendenhall, from the Ship-Based Technical Support in the Arctic (STARC) program, working aboard Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20), during a visit aboard Healy while near Resolute, Nunavut, Canada on Sept. 6, 2021. Healy and its crew are circumnavigating North America to strengthen allied partnerships, in addition to conducting Coast Guard missions and supporting oceanographic research to increase understanding of the changing Arctic environment and associated impacts. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer First Class Michael Underwood.
News about USCGC Healy’s activities that will include transit of the North West Passage and circumnavigation of North America. The Commandant pays a call and ops with Canadian Coast Guard.
U.S., Canadian crews conduct joint training exercise during CGC Healy’s Northwest Passage transit
Editors’ Note: Click on images to download high resolution versions. ALAMEDA — The Coast Guard Cutter Healy’s (WAGB 20) crew conducted a search-and-rescue exercise and professional exchange with members of the Canadian Coast Guard and Canadian Rangers near Resolute Bay in Nunavut, Canada, Sept. 6, 2021, during Healy’s Northwest Passage transit. The search-and-rescue exercise enhanced interoperability and effectiveness of response capabilities amongst the services. U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz, Canadian Coast Guard Commissioner Mario Pelletier and Canadian Coast Guard Assistant Commissioner for the Arctic Region Neil O’Rourke were aboard Healy to meet with the crew and observe the joint training exercise. “Training alongside our Canadian partners while underway in the Arctic during a historic circumnavigation of North America is a great example of enhancing our interoperability and mission capabilities,” said Schultz. “Healy is supporting oceanographic research with the science community during this deployment to the critically important Arctic region.” The U.S. Coast Guard is the nation’s leader in Arctic surface operations and coordinates with international partners to maintain the region as safe, prosperous and cooperative by strengthening international and intergovernmental partnerships in the region through joint exercises and professional exchanges. “Seeing the members of the Canadian Coast Guard work hand in hand with their counterparts from the Healy has been inspiring,” said Pelletier. “The vastness of the Arctic makes this a very difficult environment for emergency response making every opportunity for training valuable. These exercises ensure our two countries’ Coast Guards stand ready and able to assist should we be needed.” Coast Guard icebreaker crews aboard Healy and the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) deploy to conduct statutory Coast Guard missions in the Polar Regions such as search-and-rescue and the protection of marine resources. Additionally, the crews support oceanographic research in the Arctic and Antarctic. The Healy crew is collaborating with the international science community and institutions from the U.S., Canada, Norway and Denmark to perform oceanographic projects throughout the Northwest Passage and within Baffin Bay to inform environmental change research. The Healy, a 420-foot-long medium icebreaker, departed its Seattle homeport July 10 for a months-long Arctic deployment and circumnavigation of North America. Since departing, the crew has been executing Coast Guard missions, supporting oceanographic research and conducting training to develop the Coast Guard’s future Polar security cutter sailors. Additional photos from Healy’s deployment are available here. Subscribe here to receive notifications when new photos are added. |
USCGC Charles Moulthrope (WPC-1141) prior to departure for PATFORSWA
The US Naval Institute News Service has a short post about a system that will reportedly detect and if required jam the radio frequency signals that control small Unmanned Air Systems like the commercially available hobby drones and similar control systems that might be used on larger UAS.
We noted the presence of this or a similar system on the Webber class cutters being transferred to PATFORSWA in February.
While there are autopilots that allow drones to travel considerable distances to reach fixed geographic points, operating drones that lack autonomous targeting, against moving targets, typically require two radio frequencies, one the video link from the drone back to the operator and one to control the drone, from the operator back to the drone. Jamming either of the frequencies would probably disable the drone. Generally these frequencies are UHF or VHF, limited to line of sight.
Gunner’s Mate Kyle Mendenhall shows the Drone Restricted Access Using Known Electromagnetic Warfare (DRAKE) system aboard USS Kansas City (LCS-22) on Aug. 16, 2021. USNI News Photo
If you expand the photo of USCGC Charles Moulthrope above, you can see a similar system, with its two vertical antenna of different sizes, on the mast port side, slightly below and behind the port blue flashing light, and above and inboard of the small round fixed air search radar antenna.
Courtesy Photo | USCGC Escanaba (WMEC 907) and USCGC Richard Snyder (WPC 1127) practice maneuvering with the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Goose Bay (MM 707) in the Davis Strait on Aug. 13, 2021. In Operation Nanook, the U.S. Coast Guard seeks to work collaboratively with other international partners to enhance collective abilities to respond to safety and security issues in the High North through the air and maritime presence activities, maritime domain defense, and security exercises. (Photo courtesy Royal Canadian Navy)
Below is an Atlantic Area press release. We discussed Operation Nanook earlier, and it looks like Escanaba is arriving just in time for the triple change of home port ceremony reported earlier today.
USCGC Escanaba (WMEC 907) returns home to Portsmouth after historic 50-day patrol
Editors’ Note: To view more or download high-resolution photos and b-roll video, click on the photos above. PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The crew of USCGC Escanaba (WMEC 907) returned home to Portsmouth on Tuesday following a historic 50-day patrol in support of Operation Nanook in the Arctic region and the Labrador Sea. Operation Nanook supports the Coast Guard Arctic strategy to develop international relations with like-minded Arctic states, enhance maritime domain awareness, and expand service capabilities within the region. Escanaba deployed with the 154-foot Sentinel-class fast response cutter Richard Snyder and an embarked members of the Maritime Security Response Team East. The operation expanded the logistical boundaries of the FRC fleet and further refined the modular capabilities of deployable special forces to enhance a cutter’s organic law enforcement capabilities. Operation Nanook was made up of two phases, Tuugaalik and Tatigiit. The Tuugaalik phase brought the crews of Escanaba, Richard Snyder, and the Royal Canadian navy together to exercise best practices and demonstrate responsive capabilities to potential terrorist or adversarial threats. The training exercises included were a live-fire surface gunnery exercise, close-quarters formation steaming, towing, small boat approaches, and communication drills. In the following phase, Tatigiit, the Escanaba, and Richard Snyder teams participated in a mass casualty and pollution event along the shores of Baffin Island. Both cutters crews seamlessly supported the Royal Canadian navy in rescue and assistance procedures and creating search and rescue patterns. In addition to conducting law enforcement operations, Escanaba’s crew participated in Frontier Sentinel, a training event with the U.S. and Royal Canadian navies. The exercise simulated a multi-national response to a maritime threat and strengthened interoperability between all three services. USCGC Escanaba is a 270-foot Famous-class medium endurance cutter, previously known as “The Pride of Boston, now re-homeported to Portsmouth. |
We have deployed cutters to the Western Pacific for months at a time, and PATFORSWA kept its 110s operating out of Bahrain for years, but the Royal Navy seems to be doing something different and I believe remarkable.
Naval News reports they are sending a pair of River Batch II class ships, HMS Tamar and HMS Spey, well beyond the Suez. It sounds all very 18th Century Star Trek, “Our Five Year Mission, Proceed into the Indian and Pacific Oceans and act in the Queen’s Interests.” (No, not a real quote.)
If these ships were in the US Coast Guard we would see them as MECs. They are slightly larger and faster than the 270s, but are not as well equipped in some respects. They are armed only with a 30mm gun and no helicopter hangar. I don’t believe they have any ESM/ECM. Their crew is also considerably smaller, smaller in fact than that of a 210. (I have seen various numbers for the crew size, 34 in the infographic above, 58 in Wikipedia, 46 as reported below, but all well below the 75 common on a 210 or the 100 typical of a 270.)
“Each ship is crewed by 46 sailors, with half the crew trading places with shipmates from the UK every few weeks.”
The Royal Navy actually has considerable experience keeping OPVs deployed for long periods with austere support.
We might even see one of these helping with drug interdiction in the Eastern Pacific, more likely they will be countering piracy and drug or arms trafficing in the Indian Ocean or capacity building in East Africa or SE Asia. Maybe we could make a multi-national Freedom of Navigation transit of the Taiwan Strait.
Just passing this along.
“Coast Guard Cutter Forward and Coast Guard Cutter Bear, homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia, finish an at-sea transfer while underway on a two-month patrol. Coast Guard Cutter Forward returned to homeport on April 10, 2021.” (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
Below is a news release offering media access to a triple change of homeport ceremony.
USCGC Spencer (WMEC-905), Seneca WMEC-906), and Escanaba (WMEC-907) are changing homeport from Boston to Portsmouth, VA. Seneca has actually been there for about a year, but guess the ceremony makes it official. It means there are now nine 270 foot WMECs homeported in Portsmouth. The other units of the class are homeported in Kittery, ME/Portsmouth, NH–Naval Shipyard (908, 909) and Key West, FL (910, 913).
Why the change? I suspect to move the ships closer to the Eastern Pacific drug transit zones, to consolidate maintenance for the type, and to put the crews in a lower cost area.
There is also the fact that at least some of the 270s will be going through a service life extension program. When that happens, crewmembers will be transferred either individually or as a unit, and if all the units involved share the same homeport it will be much easier on the crew members and their families, and less costly for the service.
We last looked at homeports here.
| Media Advisory |
U.S. Coast Guard 5th District Mid-Atlantic |
Coast Guard to hold joint change-of-homeport ceremony in Portsmouth, Virginia
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard is scheduled to hold a change-of-homeport ceremony at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday at Coast Guard Base Portsmouth.
WHO: Rear Adm. Laura Dickey, Coast Guard Fifth District commander, Capt. John Dewey, commanding officer of Base Portsmouth, Capt. Marc Brandt, master of ceremony, Cmdr. Benjamin Spector, commanding officer of USCGC Escanaba and Cmdr. Corey Kerns, commanding officer of USCGC Spencer.
WHAT: The Coast Guard is holding a joint change-of-homeport ceremony for the U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Escanaba, Spencer, and Seneca.
WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, at 10:30 a.m.
WHERE: Coast Guard Base Portsmouth, 4000 Coast Guard Blvd., Portsmouth, Va., 23703
Media interested in attending this event are asked to contact the Atlantic Area Command Public Affairs Office at (757) 641-0763.
The USCGC Escanaba (WMEC 907) is a medium endurance cutter previously based in Boston. The ship was launched on Feb. 6, 1985, and formally commissioned on Aug. 29, 1987, in Grand Haven, Michigan, its predecessor’s homeport. Its predecessor, the USCGC Escanaba (WPG 77), sank during WWII and was originally named for the Escanaba River in Escanaba, Michigan.
The USCGC Spencer (WMEC 905) is a medium endurance cutter previously based in Boston. On April 17, 1984, the ship was launched and commissioned on June 28, 1986, in Middletown, Rhode Island. It was named after its predecessor, the USCGC Spencer (WPG 36), a Treasury-class cutter named after John Canfield Spencer, United States secretary of the treasury from 1843 to 1844, who served during World War II was first used for search and rescue off Alaska’s fishing grounds.
The USCGC Seneca (WMEC 906) is a medium endurance cutter also previously based in Boston. On June 16, 1984, the ship was launched and commissioned on May 9, 1987, in Middletown, Rhode Island. It was named after its predecessor, the USRC Seneca (CG 17), a derelict destroyer with the mission to locate and destroy abandoned shipwrecks that were still afloat and a hazard to navigation.
The Famous-class cutters are responsible for various Coast Guard missions, including search and rescue, enforcement of laws and treaties, maritime defense, and protection of the environment. The versatility of the cutter makes it a cost-effective platform in carrying out national objectives.
Media planning to participate in the event must arrive no later than 9:45 a.m. Wednesday and must follow proper CDC guidelines for COVID-19.
“marauder2048” included a link to this DOD Ordnance Technology Consortium web page in a comment on my earlier post, “Remember the ALaMO,” noting a contract to conduct a “Demonstration Against Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Targets” using the 57mm ALaMO round. But looking through the web site there were some other contract awards that I found interesting, including indications the 50mm program is still progressing. The list includes contracts for both FY 2020 and FY2021.
The following 50mm contracts, totaling $64.39M, were awarded to ATK (Northrop Grumman) in FY2020.
The following 50mm contracts were awarded to GD-OTS, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, in FY2021:
There are some interesting awards in other categories as well. There are these contracts for 30mm systems that do not appear related to the 30mm Mk46 currently in the USN inventory. These sales, late in FY2020, could be for foreign military sales:
Then there is this:
This is apparently in reference to the 40mm Mk19 Grenade machine gun, which is, I believe, on the PATFORSWA Webber class WPCs. This could mean it is to be used as a hard kill system against small Unmanned Air Systems, though the Mk19, with its very low muzzle velocity, seems a strange choice for an anti-air weapon.
40 mm Mark 19 on USS Hopper DDG-70 in September 2006. Note the 25 mm Mark 38 in the background. U.S. Navy Photograph 060906-N-9851B-002.
August 26, JS OUMI conducted joint training with USCGC Munro in the East China Sea.
The US Naval Institute’s News Service reports on recent Coast Guard activity in the Western Pacific, apparently based primarily on a conversation with Vice Admiral Michael McAllister, Commander Pacific Area and Commander, Coast Guard Defense Force West.
They talk primarily about USCGC Munro’s operations with Japanese and Philippine forces. These included first time underway logistics support provided by the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, but there was more. They also discussed cooperation with the China Coast, but the Pacific Area Commander made one particular statement that may portend a new base in the Western Pacific,
“McAllister also provided an update on Coast Guard operations in the Pacific Islands since the July commissioning in Guam of Coast Guard Fast Response Cutters Myrtle Hazard (WPC 1139), Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) and Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143), and the re-designation of Coast Guard Sector Guam to Coast Guard Forces Micronesia Sector Guam.” (emphasis applied–Chuck)
There would not seem to be a reason to apply the designation “Coast Guard Forces Micronesia Sector Guam” unless there were Coast Guard forces in Micronesia somewhere beside Guam. Right now there are none that I am aware of.
I hope to publish something soon to discuss there those forces might be based.
Photo of a model of Halter Marine’s Polar Security Cutter seen at Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exhibition have surfaced. Photo credit Chris Cavas.
The Congressional Research Service has once again updated their look at the Polar Security Cutter (heavy icebreaker) program. (See the latest version here.) My last look at this evolving document was in regard to the August 17, 2021 revision.
It appears this new edition was prompted by an update to the projected cost for the program. The following is a note attached to Table 1 (page 6), which I have also reproduced below.
Source: U.S. Navy information paper on PSC program, August 18, 2021, received from Navy Office of Legislative Affairs, August 31, 2021, which states that costs shown are from the PSC program 2020 Life Cycle Cost Estimate.
Table 1. Estimated PSC Procurement Costs
(In millions of then-year dollars)
Cost element 1st PSC 2nd PSC 3rd PSC Total
Target contract price 746 544 535 1,825
Program costs (including GFE) 218 175 228 621
Post-delivery costs 46 47 49 142
Costs for Navy-Type, Navy- 28 28 29 85 Owned (NTNO) equipment
TOTAL 1,038 794 841 2,673
There was also this additional note attached to Table 1.
Notes: Target contract price includes detail design, construction, and long lead-time materials (LLTM), and does not reflect potential costs rising to the contract ceiling price. GFE is government-furnished equipment— equipment that the government procures and then provides to the shipbuilder for installation on the ship. NTNO equipment is GFE that the Navy provides—such as combat weapons systems, sensors and communications equipment and supplies—for meeting Coast Guard/Navy naval operational capabilities wartime readiness requirements. (For additional discussion, see Coast Guard Commandant Instruction (COMDTINST) 7100.2G, May 16, 2013, accessed August 31, 2021, at https://media.defense.gov/2017/Mar/15/2001716816/-1/-1/0/ CI_7100_2G.PDF.)
Below is the one page summary:
Summary
The Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter (PSC) program is a program to acquire three new PSCs (i.e., heavy polar icebreakers), to be followed years from now by the acquisition of up to three new Arctic Security Cutters (ASCs) (i.e., medium polar icebreakers). The PSC program has received a total of $1,754.6 million (i.e., about $1.8 billion) in procurement funding through FY2021, including $300 million that was provided through the Navy’s shipbuilding account in FY2017 and FY2018. With the funding the program has received through FY2021, the first two PSCs are now fully funded.
The Coast Guard’s proposed FY2022 budget requests $170.0 million in procurement funding for the PSC program, which would be used for, among other things, procuring long leadtime materials (LLTM) for the third PSC.
The Navy and Coast Guard in 2020 estimated the total procurement costs of the PSCs in then year dollars as $1,038 million (i.e., about $1.0 billion) for the first ship, $794 million for the second ship, and $841 million for the third ship, for a combined estimated cost of $2,673 million (i.e., about $2.7 billion). Within those figures, the shipbuilder’s portion of the total procurement cost is $746 million for the first ship, $544 million for the second ship, and $535 million for the third ship, for a combined estimated shipbuilder’s cost of $1,825 million (i.e., about $1.8 billion).
On April 23, 2019, the Coast Guard-Navy Integrated Program Office for the PSC program awarded a $745.9 million fixed-price, incentive-firm contract for the detail design and construction (DD&C) of the first PSC to VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, MS, a shipyard owned by Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering. VT Halter was the leader of one of three industry teams that competed for the DD&C contract. The first PSC is scheduled to begin construction in 2021 and be delivered in 2024, though the DD&C contract includes financial incentives for earlier delivery.
The DD&C contract includes options for building the second and third PSCs. If these options are exercised, the total value of the contract would increase to $1,942.8 million (i.e., about $1.9 billion). The figures of $745.9 million and $1,942.8 million cover only the shipbuilder’s costs; they do not include the cost of government-furnished equipment (GFE), which is equipment for the ships that the government purchases and then provides to the shipbuilder for incorporation into the ship, post-delivery costs, costs for Navy-specific equipment, or government program management costs.
The operational U.S. polar icebreaking fleet currently consists of one heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Star, and one medium polar icebreaker, Healy. In addition to Polar Star, the Coast Guard has a second heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Sea. Polar Sea, however, suffered an engine casualty in June 2010 and has been nonoperational since then. Polar Star and Polar Sea entered service in 1976 and 1978, respectively, and are now well beyond their originally intended 30-year service lives. The Coast Guard plans to extend the service life of Polar Star until the delivery of at least the second PSC. The Coast Guard is using Polar Sea as a source of spare parts for keeping Polar Star operational.
On August 18, 2020, an electrical fire occurred in one of Healy’s main propulsion motors as the ship was 60 miles off Seward, AK, en route to the Arctic. As a result of the fire, the ship’s starboard propulsion motor and shaft became nonoperational. The ship canceled its deployment to the Arctic and returned to its homeport in Seattle for inspection and repairs.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 