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Historical Photo – Dockside
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Apparently, the former USCGC Ewing is up for sale, only $69,000. Considering how the Coast Guard’s budget has been cut, and shipbuilding has been slowed, perhaps the Coast Guard should get her back. It is only 86 years old.
An interesting development in the Philippines and in part credited to the transfer of former Coast Guard WHECs to the Philippine Navy.
Manila plans air, naval bases at Subic with access for U.S.
Fiercehomelandsecurity.com is reporting (small extract below),
“A proposed substitute amendment for the comprehensive immigration bill under consideration in the Senate that would increase border security funding by $38 billion and deploy an additional 20,000 Border Patrol agents to the southwestern border has livened prospects for bill passage in the Senate–although critics from left and right have been quick to criticize it.”
When border security gets tight on land, where do you think illegal immigration will spike?
An additional 20,000 agents is equal to half the size of the Coast Guard to perform only one mission, Alien Migrant Interdiction Operations (AMIO).
If no attempt is made to tighten the maritime borders, it is not to difficult to foresee what will happen.
FRANCE: Defence minister indicates plans for long-term replacement of FLOREAL class patrol frigates with a new class of light (3,000 – 4,000 tons) frigates (Frégates de Taille Intermédiaire – FTI) … contract decision by end of decade with first ship arriving around 2025.
The lightly armed Floreal Class Frigates essentially serve as cruising cutters for the French Navy since they do not have an American style Coast Guard. Perhaps DCNS’s participation in the Offshore Patrol Cutter competition will serve them well in developing a contender.
DefenseNews reports the Brits have seen the need for a shipboard machine gun simulator. Considering how many 7.62mm and .50 cal machinegun mounts the Coast Guard uses–certainly more than the Royal Navy, it might be worth considering.
The Navy’s experimental Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo launches from the fantail of USS George HW Bush in May. US Navy Photo
In an age where missiles can shoot down ICBMs, the only surprise is that this has not happened sooner.
The US Naval Institute News is reporting that the Navy is developing a small torpedo to intercept Russian/Soviet designed torpedoes that are immune to normal acoustic torpedo countermeasures, because they follow the target’s wake rather than passively homing on the ship’s noise. I would expect it to work against other types of torpedoes as well.
The existence of wake homing torpedoes has been known for decades. Not mentioned in the article, but the Germans were working on these in WWII and the British unsuccessfully attempted to make a wake homer before the first World War.
Initial Operational Capability (IOC) of this hard kill system is expected in 2019 with fleet wide adoption by 2035. What are the implications for the Coast Guard, other than perhaps having the countermeasure on our largest ships?
This anti-torpedo torpedo (ATT) might be adapted to become the “ship stopper” I believe the Coast Guard needs to ensure the ability to stop determined terrorists in control of a medium to large ship. With its relatively small charge it might even be usable in more typical law enforcement situations. The Navy might also find it useful if they are engaged in a blockade operation. I wonder if it might also be useful against swarming small boats.
The ATT is only 6.75 inches in diameter, only slightly more than half the diameter of existing light weight ASW torpedoes. It probably weighs on the order of 100 pounds and the warhead is almost certainly less than 25 pounds, but it would likely suffice to destroy propellers and possibly the rudder of even a large vessel. The fact that it would likely stop a vessel without sinking it, might be seen as an advantage. It is also less likely to create collateral damage, and it would be less dangerous to own ship than the carriage of larger torpedoes. It would have a very small footprint and could be carried on even the smallest cutters.
Slide from a Naval Sea Systems Command presentation on the Surface Ship Torpedo Defense system. NAVSEA Image
MarineLog is reporting tests of a 99 meter catamaran ferry, built by Australian shipbuilder Incat Tasmania, that reportedly made 58.1 knots while fueled with Liquefied Natural Gas. It is claimed to be “…the world’s first dual fuel high speed ferry to operate on LNG as its primary fuel, and the fastest, environmentally cleanest, most efficient, high speed ferry in the world.”
“The vessel’s high speed can be attributed to the combination of Incat wave piercing catamaran design, the use of lightweight, strong marine grade aluminum, and the power produced by the two 22MW GE LM2500 gas turbines driving Wartsila LJX 1720 SR waterjets.”
“Incat has built 25 High Speed Craft over 5,000 gross tonnes with a top speed in excess of 45 knots.”
The similarities to the Navy’s new JHSV and China’s much smaller type 022 missile boat are apparent.
Incidentally, in spite of the advanced hull form, this still takes a lot of power, two 22MW GE LM2500 turbines equates to over 59,000 shaft horsepower, so its going to use a lot of fuel.
USCG photo, USCGC Mohawk (WPG-78) in her war paint
Some beautiful photography taken aboard the 165 foot cutter Mohawk. See the CNN report.
“The World War II ship has a rich history. Sixty-nine years ago this month, the USS Mohawk was the last vessel to radio General Dwight D. Eisenhower, later President of the U.S., informing him the weather was clearing for the D-Day invasion of Normandy.
“In May last year the USS Mohawk was blown up and sunk off the coast of Sanibel Island, to be used as an artificial reef attracting exotic marine life — including a mammoth whale shark.
“But before she was an underwater gallery, the grand old ship was an important part of the U.S. naval force, launching 14 attacks against enemy submarines in the Atlantic between 1942 and 1945.
“The 1,000 ton ship survived 14 Nazi attacks and rescued more than 300 survivors from torpedoed ships during the war.”
Thanks to Patrick for bringing this to my attention.
Marine Log has used the occasion of a reported contract for long Lead Time items for NSC#7, to give us a status report on the entire National Security Cutter Project.
This is in response to Bill Smith’s suggestion, ” I’d love to see 1 page with each of the design’s made public so far shown. It would make a great comparison of the concepts.”
No new information here, but it will, hopefully, make it easier to find some of the information already presented, including some that might have been given only in the comments.
Unfortunately the information is very limited. There have been almost no specifics provided for any of the designs. Only Vigor has chosen to discuss the details of their design, with its Ulstein X-bow. It is reported to have a length of 328 feet, a beam of 54 feet, a draft of 16.5 feet, and a max speed of 22knots. That is a relatively large ship. I do like its volume and the reconfigurable space they included. Their concept is discussed here: “Unconventional Contender for the Offshore Patrol Cutter”
VT Halter has partnered with DCNS. A concept that accompanied their announcement is discussed here: “VT Halter Marine and DCNS to Partner for OPC Bid.” Their proposal appears to be similar to the ships DCNS has designed to fulfill a Malaysian requirement for six “Littoral combat Ships.” Those ships are reported to be 107 meters long, a 16 meter beam, and 2,750 ton displacement.
The only information we have from Huntington Ingalls is this photo from a DefenseNews.Com report.
Bollinger seems likely to use a Damen design, as they did for the 87foot WPBs and the 154 foot WPCs. We have seen artists renderings of the Netherlands Navy’s Holland Class OPV in Coast Guard colors, and we have also seen a rendering of an upgraded Bollinger shipyard with a Holland Class under construction, but so far I have seen no announcement of what design they will actually build. I have always felt the Holland class was a bit more ship than the Coast Guard could afford for a class that emphasizes “affordability,” and is expected to cost about half of what the NSC costs. Damen has a large portfolio of designs that they discuss here: http://offshore-patrol-security.com/cms-assets/documents/59716-108335.damen-opv-presentation-portsmouth-2012.pdf Of the designs presented the 2400 and 2600 tons designs appear closest to Coast Guard specifications but even they would likely have to be modified. There is a rendering of a cutter in Coast Guard colors on the last page.
Marinette Marine‘s concept is reported here: http://www.marinettemarine.com/opc.html As part of the Fincantieri Group it appears they may be offering a modified version of the Italian Navy’s Commandante Class patrol vessel. An obvious difference is that the Marinette Marine concept has the bow raised a deck. No specs were provided for OPC concept. Below are the specs for the Italian vessels which would almost certainly have to be enlarged to meet the range and seakeeping requirements of the OPC program.
Eastern has published a conceptual rendering as a single page pdf discussed here: https://chuckhillscgblog.net/2013/06/11/easterns-opc-concept/ It is limited to some drawings depicting the interior and one exterior viewed as if the observer was in an elevated position off the ship’s starboard bow.
So far I have seen no information about the proposals from NASSCO or Bath Iron Works.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 