Vice News has a nice piece you may find interesting, “‘Hull Envy’, the Looming Crisis of the US Coast Guard.” This is a message we need to spread around.
“Hull Envy,” the Looming Crisis of the US Coast Guard
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LCS/SSC/Frigate and the OPC
DefenseNews is reporting that “Pre-preliminary design and system selection for the frigate will be completed in October 2015,” Chris Johnson, a spokesman with the Naval Sea Systems Command, said May 28.
I don’t think it should be too much of a stretch, that the systems on the OPC should include a subset of those to be used on the frigate, with another subset of the frigate’s systems planned into the ships for inclusion if conditions warrant the upgrade. Design for Wartime, but equip for peacetime.
Motor Surf Boats
gCaptain is featuring some photos of a 48 foot pilot and SAR boat, designed and built by Safehaven Marine of Cork, Irish Republic, in many ways similar to the Coast Guard’s own 47 foot motor lifeboat. A notable difference is that this vessel appears to have a rescue platform on the stern rather than the stepdowns built into the sides of the 47 footers.
The manufacture of the boat has some great photos of this and other boats they make in some very impressive severe weather conditions, along with links to video.
Looks like Cork is Europe’s version of Cape Disappointment.
Interestingly they also make a larger 55/56 foot boat like the one in the video above as well.
Russians Build Three 33,540 ton Nuclear Icebreakers
Russia’s ’50 let Pobedy’ is currently the world’s largest icebreaker, displacing over 25,000 tons. Photo: Creative Commons
gCaptain reports the Russians are building three huge 33,540 ton 173.3 meter (569 foot) nuclear powered icebreakers that are expected to be delivered by 2020, with the first to be completed in 2017.
These ships will be almost two and a half times as large as the Polar Class.
Cutter Boat, AtoN, Medium
Marine Log has some still sketchy info on a new Coast Guard boat, the CB-ATON-M, or cutter boat, aids to navigation, medium. 16 of these 18 foot aluminum workboats, powered by a Mercury inboard-outboard diesel, are to be built by Metal Shark. Apparently they are to equip the 14 Keeper class 175 foot (53.34m) Coastal Buoy Tenders.
Memorial Day
“Waters Deep” by Eileen Mahoney
“In Ocean waves no poppies blow
No crosses stand in ordered row
Their young hearts sleep beneath the wave
The spirited, the good, and the brave,
But stars a …constant vigil keep,
For them who lie beneath the deep,
‘Tis true you cannot kneel in prayer,
On a certain spot and think he’s there
But you can to the ocean go
See whitecaps marching row on row;
Know one for him will always ride,
In and out with every tide,
And when your span of life is passed
He’ll meet you at the ‘Captain’s Mast’
And they who mourn on distant shore,
For sailors who will come home no more,
Can dry their tears and pray for these
Who rest beneath the heaving seas,
For stars that shine and winds that blow
And whitecaps marching row on row
And they can never lonely be,
For when they lived They choose the sea.”
It is Memorial Day. If you are looking for a reminder of Coast Guard history, you might want to check out some of the links on the Heritage page.
Museum Ships
The Naval Institute has posted a guide to museum ships.
They are not all Coast Guard, not even a majority, but there are a number of Coast Guard ships on the list.
Rough Water Trials
US Navy Photo. USS Freedom
Marinelink is reporting that LCS-1, USS Freedom, has completed “Rough Water Trials” (Seakeeping and Structural Loads Trials) off the coast of Oregon. A couple of thoughts.
Did we do these instrumented tests with either the National Security Cutter or a Webber class?
The Navy took quite a while before they got around to doing these and has already made a lot of decisions in the absence of test results.
Commandant Facebook Q&A
May 29, the Commandant will be answering questions posted on his Facebook page. Coast Guard Compass has the details and some background.
President’s Speech at the Graduation of the Academy Class of 2015
The President spoke at the graduation ceremony for the Coast Guard Academy class of 2015. You can read the text of the speech here.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 