USRC/USS/USCGC Manning –Story from laststandonzombieIisland

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May 12, 1898, USS Manning in engaged off Cabanas, Cuba By Lieut. G. L. Carden, R.C.S. This is the only known photo of a Revenue Cutter in action during the Spanish-American War. (At the time, upon transfer to Navy control, apparently it was common for the USS designation to be substituted.)

Ran across an excellent history of the Cutter Manning and its career from 1898 to 1930 on a site with the unlikely name of laststandonzombieisland. It seems the site looks at a different vintage warship every Wednesday, and there are other cutters featured as well. I will try to cover them as well. The articles are relatively long and well illustrated with photos.

The post talks about the entire generation of cutters, SRC Gresham, USRC McCulloch, USRC Algonquin, and USRC Onondaga as well as USRC Manning.

The Propeller class was emblematic of the Revenue Cutter Service– the forerunner of the USCG– at the cusp of the 20th Century. The USRCS decided in the 1890s to build five near-sisterships that would be classified in peacetime as cutters but would be capable modern naval auxiliary gunboats.

These vessels, to the same overall concept but each slightly different in design, were built to carry a bow-mounted torpedo tube for 15-inch Bliss-Whitehead type torpedoes (although they appeared to have not been fitted with the weapons) and as many as four modern quick-firing 3-inch guns (though they typically used just two 6-pounder, 57mm popguns in peacetime). They would be the first modern cutters equipped with electric generators, triple-expansion steam engines (with auxiliary sail rigs), steel (well, mostly steel) hulls with a navy-style plow bow, and able to cut the very fast (for the time) speed of 18-ish knots.

It talks about how Coast Guard forces were deployed for the Spanish American War and how the vessels were armed.

It reproduces reports from Manning regarding her actions during the war. The ship did a lot of naval gun fire support.

After the Spanish American War she was assigned to the West coast and performed Bering Sea Patrol.

In 1912 she was in port in when the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century happened on Alaska peninsula to the NW. Manning sheltered over 400 people and provided fresh water from her evaporators (an innovation at the time).

U.S. Revenue Service cutter Manning, crowded with Kodiak residents seeking safety during the 1912 eruption of Novarupta, which resulted in about a foot of ashfall on Kodiak over nearly three days. The photograph was published in Griggs, 1922, and was taken by J.F. Hahn, U.S.R.S.

“Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and the 1912 Novarupta-Katmai Eruption,” National Park Service:

At Kodiak, 100 miles (160 km) southeast of the eruption center, the air became thick with ash and, for 60 hours, darkness was so complete that a lantern held at arm’s length could scarcely be seen. The terrified townspeople, some temporarily blinded by the sulfurous gas, crowded onto the U.S. Revenue Cutter Manning docked in Kodiak harbor, while one foot of ash (30 cm) smothered their town with three closely spaced periods of ash fall. The weight of the ash collapsed roofs in Kodiak; buildings were wrecked by ash avalanches that rushed down from nearby hill slopes; other structures burned after being struck by lightning from the ash cloud; and water became undrinkable.

In World War I she was one of six cutters assigned to Gibraltar (Tampa, Algonquin, Seneca, Manning, Ossipee, and Yamacraw) tasked with escorting convoys between there and the British Isles.

Then USS Manning, probably 1918, as outfitted for convoy duty. She and sister Algonquin were armed with four 4-inch guns with 1,500 shells stored in two magazines fore and aft, two racks capable of carrying 16 300-pound depth charges, and four 30.06 Colt “potato digger” machine guns. A small arms locker would be filled with a pair of .30-06 Lewis guns, 18 .45 caliber Colt pistols, and 15 Springfield rifles. Photo from U.S. Warships of World War I, by P.H. Silverstone

Reverting back to the Treasury Department on 28 August 1919, Manning would remain on the East Coast, spending the next 11 years operating out of Norfolk with her traditional white hull. During this period, she would participate in the reestablished International Ice Patrol, and take part in the “Rum War” against bootleggers, and other traditional USCG taskings.

Photo by J. B. Weed from the collection of Arthur Heinickle

Important dates from NavSource:

  • The first Manning was built in 1898 by the Atlantic Works, East Boston, MA
  • Commissioned USRC Manning 8 January 1898
  • Acquired by the Navy 24 March 1898
  • Returned to the Revenue Cutter Service 17 August 1898
  • Acquired by the Navy again 6 April 1917
  • Returned to the Coast Guard 28 August 1919
  • Decommissioned 22 May 1930
  • Sold in December 1930 to Charles L. Jording of Baltimore, MD

This Day in Coast Guard History, March 17

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

March 17

1863  Revenue cutter Agassiz helped defend the Union-held Fort Anderson at New Bern, North Carolina, from a Confederate attack.

1902  All but one of the members of the crew of the Monomoy Life-Saving Station perished during the attempted rescue of the crew of the wrecked coal barge Wadena during a terrible winter gale.  The dead included the keeper of the station, Marshall N. Eldridge, and six of his surfmen.  Eldridge told his crew before they departed on the rescue that: “We must go, there is a distress flag in the rigging.”  The crew of five from the barge also perished.  The sole survivor, Seth L. Ellis, was the number one surfman of the Monomoy station.  He was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal as was the man who rescued him, Captain Elmer Mayo of the barge Fitzpatrick.

USCGC Cayuga, circa 1936. USCG photo.

1941  CGC Cayuga left Boston with the South Greenland Survey Expedition on board to locate airfields, seaplane bases, radio and meteorological stations, and aids to navigation in Greenland.  This was the beginning of the Coast Guard’s preeminent role in Greenland during World War II.

1962  After requesting the evacuation of a seriously injured crewman, the Russian merchant vessel Dbitelny transferred the patient to the Coast Guard LORAN station on St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea.  Meanwhile, a Coast Guard aircraft flew a U.S. Navy doctor and a hospital corpsman there to perform an emergency operation.  Afterwards, the injured man was flown to Elmendorf Air Force Base, where he was admitted to the U.S. Air Force hospital.

John Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy. (He came to Naval War College when I was there. Very impressive.)

1982  Navy Secretary John Lehman testified before Congress on behalf of the Coast Guard.   He characterized the relationship between the Navy and the Coast Guard as being “close and warm.”  He also praised the new NAVGARD Board, created in November 1980, to formalize the relationship between the two services.

USCGC Thunder Bay (WTGB-108)

2015  Following a 61-day deployment on the Hudson River, CGC Thunder Bay returned to its homeport of Rockland, Maine after conducting icebreaking operations in support of Operation Reliable Energy for Northeast Winters.  Thunder Bay deployed mid-January 2015 to coordinate daily ice breaking operations with CGCs Sturgeon Bay, Willow, Elm, and Wire on the Hudson River.  In order to keep the channel open to commercial shipping traffic, Thunder Bay conducted operations seven days a week, with only occasional days off.  The cutter navigated more than 100 river miles daily and by the end of the season Thunder Bay had sailed nearly 3000 nautical miles, conducted 554 hours of icebreaking, and made 70 vessel and facility break outs, requiring them to operate an additional 13 days beyond their original assignment.

This Day in Coast Guard History, March 16

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

March 16

Assateague Island life-saving station

1909  At Assateague Beach, Virginia, the schooner Charley C. Weaver began taking on water.  One of the crew notified the keeper that the schooner was leaking.  The life-saving station’s surfboat proceeded to the scene, 1-5/8 miles south of the station.  The schooner’s crew was nearly exhausted from a long spell at the pump.  Surfmen shifted her cargo of oysters.  They also tried to locate the leak, but were unsuccessful.  They then went ashore and returned with the power lifeboat which towed the schooner safely over the bar.

Light Weight, Long Range, Hard Hitting, Affordable Weapon for Small Craft

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The Whiskey Project Group, Whiskey Bravo with Rafael Spike NLOS

Shortly after publishing “Is the Coast Guard Going to Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight? A Gun to a Missile Fight?” I ran across this post from Interesting Engineering, “US Marines get next-gen missile-launching boats with helicopter-like striking power” which reported,

In a significant milestone for Australian defense manufacturer The Whiskey Project Group, the company has successfully delivered its first batch of four multi-mission reconnaissance boats to the U.S. Marine Corps…These boats are equipped with cutting-edge capabilities and technology to increase their operational adaptability for the Navy and Marine Corps use.

The Whiskey Bravo’s integration with Rafael’s Spike NLOS (Non-Line of Sight) missile system is one of its primary characteristics.

This might lead you to believe the boats delivered to the Marines are equipped with the Spike NLOS (non-line of sight), but that is unlikely. I have seen no indication the Marines are adopting Spike NLOS, although it is currently being used as an interim solution by the US Army from AH-64 attack helicopters.

Still, it does seem like the type of weapon the Coast Guard could use on its Patrol Craft since two four cell launchers can be mounted on an 11.9 meter boat. This illustrates how adaptable such weapons can be. Less capable systems like Hellfire or JASM are smaller and lighter and the APKWS is far smaller still.

The Navy has no combatants close to the size of Coast Guard patrol craft. It is not surprising that they have shown little interest in lighter weapons, sized for vessels smaller than frigates. When the Coast Guard considers how to arm their smaller ships and negotiates with the Navy, perhaps they should look at weapons used on Marine Corps helicopters, boats, and vehicles, they should all be light enough to fit on patrol craft. That the Navy has begun to look at unmanned surface vessels suggests there might be growing shared interest in weapons for smaller vessels.

The Marines are probably not interested in Spike NLOS because the US is developing a comparable or better similar sized missile. Spike NLOS is the Army’s “interim Long Range Precision munition.” so presumably something else is being developed.

“US MARINE CORPS AND L3HARRIS LAUNCH FIRST LONG-RANGE PRECISION FIRE IN TRAINING RANGE DEMONSTRATION”

NAVAIR reports tests of a “longe range precision fire capability.”

The event was successfully executed at Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG) in Yuma, AZ where an AH-1Z conducted single launch by way of a wireless application via Marine Air-Ground Tablet (MAGTAB).

(That the Marines are looking for an RHIB of this size, is interesting. Wonder if they would fit in the Bertholf class NSCs stern ramp. The Whiskey Project Group (TWPG) is setting up a manufacturing facility in North Carolina.)

The Whiskey Project Group, Whiskey Bravo with twin quad launchers for Rafael Spike NLOS

Though I doubt we will see wide spread use of the Spike NLOS by the US, I will pass along some information I’ve learned about the system and some videos of it in operation,

Spike NLOS is marketed through Lockheed Martin.

Rafael has a US branch.

There is a specific Naval version of Spike NLOS and a four cell rotating launcher.

It is really pretty small:

Bulgarian Army Land Cruiser 70 with Spike NLOS Mk. 5 at HEMUS 2022. Photo credit: Petrovbg via Wikipedia

“At a weight of 1,350 kg, the launcher and eight missiles are mounted on the small vehicle, enabling the small crew to attack ground targets with pinpoint precision from 30 km away.”

 

This Day in Coast Guard History, March 15

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

March 15

US AMP (Army Mine Planter) GEN. JOHN P. STORY was built in 1919 for the Army Corps of Engineers, and was transferred to the USLHS in 1922 and renamed USLHT ACACIA (pic.5). With twin screws, a length-over-all of 172 ½ ft., she displaced 1130 tons. She was further renamed USCGC ACACIA (WAGL 200) after the USLHS was merged into the USCG on September 1, 1939. Also as part of the merger, the 9th LHD became part of the 7th CG District. The unarmed ACACIA was the only buoy tender sunk by a U-boat during WWII, on March 15, 1942.

1942  The 172-foot tender CGC Acacia was en route from Curacao, Netherlands West Indies to Antigua, British West Indies, when she was sunk by shellfire from the German submarine U-161.  The entire crew of Acacia was rescued.  She was the only Coast Guard buoy tender sunk by enemy action during the war.

Map of Manus and Los Negros during World War II. Source: Building the Navy’s Bases in World War II, Volume II.

1944  Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasions of Manus in the Admiralties and Emirau (St. Mathias Islands).

iceberg patrol

PB-1G, CG-77249, on runway in Argentia, Newfoundland, running up engines, International Ice Patrol, 15 February 1954. Photo No. 021554-01. Original caption states: “U.S. Coast Guard plane, PB-1G (B-17), taking off on a 9-hour patrol.”

1946  For the first time, Coast Guard aircraft supplemented the work of the Coast Guard patrol vessels of the International Ice Patrol, scouting for ice and determining the limits of the ice fields from the air.

1983  The Coast Guard retired its last HC-131A Samaritan.

1991  F/V Alaskan Monarch became trapped in the ice-encrusted Bering Sea near St. Paul, Alaska and was in danger of being swept onto the breakwater rocks outside St. Paul Harbor.  CGC Storis and an HH-3 from AIRSTA Kodiak, under the command of LT Laura H. Guth, responded.  After a flight of 600 miles, including a winter crossing of the Alaska Peninsula and 400 miles of open water, Guth and her crew rescued four of the six-man crew before waves crashed over the vessel and swept the two remaining crewmen into the frigid water.  They both were quickly pulled from the water safely.

1997  Operation Gulf Shield began. This operation was a counterpart to the counter-narcotics Operation Frontier Shield.

“Security changes coming to Direct Access (DA) March 17” –MyCG

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Figured I should pass this along since it affects retirees too and they might not see it otherwise.
March 14, 2025

Security changes coming to Direct Access (DA) March 17

By Kathy Murray, Senior Writer, MyCG

The Coast Guard will implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for Direct Access (DA) on Mar. 17 to improve DA’s overall cybersecurity posture.

This will change how you log into DA in the following ways:

  • Coast Guard members with Common Access Cards (CAC) will now use CAC credentials and follow the prompts to access DA.
  • Non-CAC users (retirees, annuitants, beneficiaries, and CAC users who work for other government agencies and don’t have a CGOne Network Account) will be required to perform a one-time password reset once MFA has been implemented on Mar. 17. At a later date, you will be required to log in using one-time passcodes (OTP) validated through a mobile phone authenticator application, phone call or text (SMS) message. Information will be posted on the DA login screen when this feature becomes available.

Attention Non-CAC Users: The Coast Guard is sending you guidance with pre-generated passwords via email addresses on file within DA. But the Pay and Personnel Center (PPC) estimates that there are more than 25,000 retirees and annuitants that have not saved email contact information or security questions and will not receive this guidance. If you are a non-CAC user in receipt of this article, you are encouraged to log into DA now to ensure your contact information is current. In addition, with tax filing season coming up, it’s worth downloading tax forms as soon as possible. System-wide password resets could cause delays in receiving help desk assistance after Mar. 17.

On Mar. 17, a notice with brief instructions on how to obtain a pre-generated password and perform a password reset will be located on the DA homepage for those who have not received an email. But please be aware that you will need manual assistance to reset your password, which will put you in a in line with all the DA users in a similar position.

Please note, all technical issues with DA (such as password resets) will now be completed by Product Support Service Desk. They can be contacted at 800-821-7081, Monday – Friday (6:30AM-6:30PM, EST). All other requests will continue to be handled by the PPC Customer Care Help Desk who can reached via email at PPC-DG-CustomerCare@uscg.mil or by phone at 866-772-8724.

Additional Security: As an added layer of security, you will receive email notifications any time your bank account information changes or is modified in any way. This is done to keep you informed and alert you to take any action necessary for any unauthorized changes.

Please review ALCOAST 105/25 for the complete details on the implementation of MFA here.

For additional help check out the user guides and self-service options for DA at the PPC website.

We need your help! Are you in contact with a retiree, annuitant, or beneficiary (non-CAC user)? If so, send them a link to this article to help maximize awareness.

 

This Day in Coast Guard History, March 14

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

March 14

1819  The March 23, 1819 edition of the New York Evening Post reported: “The Artegan Privateer GENERAL ARTIGAS was yesterday brought into this port.  The ARTIGAS sailed from Baltimore about 5 months ago, commanded by Captain Ford, with a complement of 60 men and 10 guns.  They took no prizes, though they boarded a number of Portuguese vessels but permitted them to proceed unmolested.  She touched at St. Domingo, there parted her cable in a gale, then proceeded on her cruise.  She sprung a leak and then put into the Chesapeake, the crew then mutinied and nearly the whole of them left the vessel and went on shore.  She was taken possession of by the Cutter MONROE, March 14, 1819.”

1909  At Gloucester, Massachusetts, a launch became disabled 3/4-mile southeast of the life-saving station.  Surfmen manned the power lifeboat and started to assist.  On the trip out a schooner was discovered anchored in a dangerous berth 1-3/4 miles southeast of the station.  Surfmen put a towline on the schooner, and, with her sails drawing, she was towed into a safe anchorage.

Typical North Vietnamese Trawler photographed from an operation Market Time patrol plane, 20 June 1966. This trawler was later forced aground by the USCGC POINT LEAGUE and an estimated 250 tons of weapons were taken.

1967  CGC Point Ellis destroyed an enemy trawler in Vietnam.

1987  Coast Guard helicopters rescued the crew of the sinking Soviet freighter Komsomolets Kirgizii  220 miles off the coast of New Jersey during a gale.  A HC-130 was first on the scene and stood by the listing freighter until HH-3s from Air Station Cape Cod arrived and saved the freighter’s entire 37-person crew.  As a result of their efforts, President Ronald Reagan presented the Coast Guardsmen with awards at a ceremony at the White House.

This Day in Coast Guard History, March 12

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

March 12

1955  Effective this date, all foreign and domestic ships were required to give 24-hour advance notice to the local U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port before entering U.S. ports.  This order was designed to improve the U.S. Coast Guard’s port security program without “material inconvenience” to shipping.

The 82-foot patrol boats of Squadron One (RONONE) deploying from Subic Bay in the Philippines to the theater of operations in Vietnam. (U.S. Coast Guard)

1965  This date marked the beginning of the U.S. Navy’s Operation Market Time.  The operation was designed to interdict the river and coastal water supply lines of Communist forces in South Vietnam.  The initiation of this campaign led to the Navy’s request for Coast Guard vessels and crews to participate in river and coastal patrols during the Vietnam War.

The first three fast response cutters—the USCGC Richard Etheridge (WPC-1102), Bernard C. Webber (WPC-1101), and William Flores (WPC-1103).
U.S. COAST GUARD

2012  Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Robert Papp participated in a ceremony at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, to dedicate the new Fast Response Cutter fleet.

“U.S. Coast Guard cutter arrives in Papua New Guinea, embarks law enforcement officers to conduct joint maritime patrol” –News Release

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Officials from multiple agencies stand in the engine control room of the Coast Guard Cutter Midgett (WMSL 757) in Papua New Guinea Mar. 6, 2025. Papua New Guinea lies in the heart of key shipping routes, where freedom of navigation for the transport of global goods and fisheries and deep-sea resources abounds. The Coast Guard and Papua New Guinea collaborate to mitigate shared maritime challenges and threats, promoting regional security and stability within Oceania. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jennifer Nilson)

Below is a Coast Guard news release.

For those with an interest in World War II history. The Battle of the Coral Sea turned back a Japanese force that had planned to attack Port Moresby on the East end of New Guinea.

Battle of Coral Sea. United States Army Center of Military History. The Campaigns of MacArthur in the Pacific, Volume I. Reports of General MacArthur., p. 48, Plate 14. Port Moresby, NewGuinea is in the upper left; Guadalcanal, Tulagi and other Solomon Islands in the upper right; Australia to the South and West

March 12, 2025

U.S. Coast Guard cutter arrives in Papua New Guinea, embarks law enforcement officers to conduct joint maritime patrol

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — At the invitation of the Papua New Guinea government, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Midgett (WMSL 757) arrived in Port Moresby, Thursday, to embark Papua New Guinean law enforcement officers. This visit directly supports Papua New Guinea’s leadership in the Pacific Islands and its commitment to maritime security, specifically in combatting illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.

Midgett’s presence reinforces the U.S. Coast Guard’s commitment to deeper relations with Pacific Island nations and regional stability. This collaborative effort marks the first time a national security cutter, the U.S. Coast Guard’s most capable law enforcement cutter, will conduct bilateral maritime law enforcement operations in Papua New Guinea’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), under the existing bilateral agreement that was singed in May 2023.

This joint patrol will represent a tangible demonstration of the bilateral agreement between the United States and Papua New Guinea, strengthening maritime governance within the Pacific and deterring illegal activities within Papua New Guinea’s EEZ to promote the sustainable use of marine resources.

Midgett, commissioned in 2019 and homeported in Honolulu, is the eighth Legend-class national security cutter. These 418-foot vessels are equipped with advanced technology and a range of capabilities, making them ideally suited to support a wide range of missions, including maritime security, law enforcement, and search and rescue operations. Midgett’s deployment to Oceania highlights the United States’ enduring commitment to promoting a peaceful, secure, prosperous, and resilient Pacific Islands region.