Top Coast Guard Stories of 2012

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Hopefully we will soon see the annual summary of Coast Guard Operations for the previous year–lives saved, persons assisted, illegal immigrants repatriated, drugs seized–all the statistics that demonstrate that the Coast Guard has been a good investment. But until then, here are some of the stories that we might remember from 2012.

There were the losses.

28 Feb., CG 6535 an MH-65C crashed in Mobile Bay. All four crewmen were lost.

Dec. 2, BMC Terrell Horne III, 34, was killed in the line of duty when his boat was rammed and run over by suspected smugglers of Southern California.

There was the recrimination.

Negligent homicide charges against Lt. Lance Leone, the co-pilot and lone survivor of the crash of an MH-60 Jayhawk off La Push in 20110 were dismissed, but it is likely that his career is irretrievable damaged.

There were the acquisitions.

The first four of a projected class of 58 new, more capable cutters, the 154 foot, 353 ton, Webber Class Fast Response Cutters,  Bernard C. Webber (WPC 1101), Richard Etheridge (WPC 1102), William Flores (WPC 1103), and Robert Yered (WPC 1104) were delivered. Fourteen additional vessels are either under construction, or contracted.  There are options for an additional twelve under the existing contract.

A Request for Proposal has been issued and the first phase of the design process funded for the Offshore Patrol Cutters, a new class intended to replace the existing medium endurance cutters. The first of these planned 25 ships will not be delivered until at least 2019, at which time the oldest 210s will 55 years old. Because the deliver rate for this new class is expected to be slower than the originally delivery rate for the 210s, if 210s are retained until replaced one for one, the last of the fourteen 210s will not be replaced until 2028 at which time, the last 210 will be at least 59 years old.

The third National Security Cutter, Stratton WMSL 752, was accepted. Units four (Hamilton, WMSL 753) and five (Joshua James, WMSL 754) are under construction and unit six is funded. Units 7 and 8 were deleted from future budget projections, but the Coast Guard hopes to see them reinstated. Meanwhile two more 378s were decommissioned for a total of four of the twelve.

The Polar Star (WAGB 10) completed a long overhaul and is expected to return to service after testing. The intention was to discard Polar Sea, but her status is still in limbo. The first contract for design of a new icebreaker has been funded. Delivery of the new icebreaker is expected “within a decade.”

Contracts have been issued to MetalCraft Marine USA for up to ten 36-foot “Mark II Long-Range Interceptors” over the next five years, and to SAFE Boats for up to 101 “Over-the-Horizon, IV” 26 foot cutter boats over the next seven years.

111 of 166 Response Boat Mediums ordered have been delivered. These 45 foot 42.5 knot boats are being Delivered at a rate of 30 boats per year.

Contract for the first 38 of up to 470 Response Boat Small replacements has been issued. The remainder are options under the existing contract plus up to 30 boats for Customs and the Navy.

Three additional C-130Js have been ordered. This will bring the total number of this newer model to nine.

The Coast Guard took delivery of its 13th and 14th HC-144 search aircraft and exercised an option for numbers 16 and 17. The 15th unit was ordered in 2011. A total of 36 aircraft are planned.

A Scan Eagle Unmanned Air System (UAS) was demonstrated aboard a National Security Cutter, and the Coast Guard is now pursuing procurement of a small UAS as an interim system.

The Coast Guard has implemented Rescue 21 coverage over the entire Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts of the contiguous 48 states. Additional coverage is being extended to the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Guam. Modified systems that will not include direction finding capabilities will cover the Western Rivers and Alaska. These systems have features that will help to take the “search” out of “search and rescue” and help to identify and locate hoax calls.

And there were the operations.

There was the effort to supply fuel to Nome after unusually severe conditions made it impossible for the barge that normally supplied their fuel to reach the isolated community.

During Operation Arctic Shield the Coast Guard moved non-icebreaker assets including the National Security Cutter Bertholf,  into the Arctic to test their operational capabilities in anticipation of increased human activity as the a result of global warming.

While perhaps not as demanding as Katrina, Hurricane Sandy again demonstrated the Coast Guard’s flexibility and resilience in spite of its damage to many of the Coast Guard’s own facilities and trashing the homes of many of its members. Like the residents of the effected communities the Coast Guard came back strong. Before the Hurricane made landfall, there was also the high profile rescue of 14 members of the crew of the HMS Bounty which gained national attention.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Coming Unmanned Surface Vessels

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Dangerroom reports on a new technology being developed for the Navy, the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vehicle, or ACTUV,. This unmanned surface vessel is intended to dog potentially hostile subs during that awkward period when tensions are high, but before the first shots are fired. The idea is that once the sub is located, one of these unmanned (and at least for now, unarmed) surface vessels will be assigned to trail it using active sonar and other sensors. This should cost less than maintaining a continuous track using Maritime Patrol Aircraft, and would allow manned vessels to avoid coming within range of the sub. If shots are fired, presumably the ACTUV would be the first to go, but it would be a minor loss, and allow the manned vessels to avoid being surprised.

The technology may also have some implications for the Coast Guard. We might see a smaller version of this launched from a cutter to augment the cutter’s radar picture. The technology for this requires developing an artificial intelligence capable of applying the  rules of the road–essentially a computer OOD. Some day the Coast Guard may be asked to approve fully autonomous merchant vessels plying the trade routes with no one aboard.

Crew Longest Held by Pirates Released

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Some good pre-Christmas news. gCaptain is reporting the crew longest held by Somali pirates has finally been released. The Iceburg I was seized on March 29, 2010. Its crew of 24 was promptly abandoned by the owners who went out of buisness. Since then the crew has endured abuse, torture, and starvation. One man was reported murdered by the pirates and a second committed suicide.

About two weeks ago Puntland authorities made an unsuccessful attempt to rescue them. Why they have been released now is unclear.

Coast Guard recruits get a home for the Holidays

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I would not normally post this sort of thing, but it is close to Christmas and the Red Cross and families around Cape May are doing a wonderful thing. I’m reproducing the press release in its entirety.

CAPE MAY, N.J. – The Coast Guard and American Red Cross will place more than 200 Coast Guard recruits with approximately 80 South Jersey families for Christmas as part of Operation Fireside Tuesday at 11:45 a.m.

Coast Guard Training Center Cape May has approximately 200 recruits in training from more than 39 states, U.S. territories and countries. Operation Fireside has placed recruits with South Jersey families during the holiday season since 1981. It allows recruits to celebrate the holiday with a host family while they’re separated from their loved ones during the rigorous basic training program.

“Our new Coast Guardsmen will be conducting dangerous frontline Coast Guard missions in the U.S. and abroad within days of graduation, and we make them Coast Guardsmen by pushing them to new levels of physical, mental and emotional toughness,” said Capt. Bill Kelly, the  commanding officer of Training Center Cape May. “The volunteers of Operation Fireside make them feel at home, which is probably one of the greatest gifts for a service member separated from their family during the Holiday season.”

Operation Fireside has been coordinated annually by the American Red Cross Southern Shore Chapter in Cape May Court House, N.J., since the program started three decades ago.  The Red Cross solicits and tracks volunteers and host families, while Training Center Cape May pairs each recruit with a family Christmas Day.

The families and the recruits will meet at Training Center Cape May’s Guardian Chapel, and the recruits will be with the families until 8 p.m. While the recruits are off base, they will be allowed to eat as much as they want, call home, and relax before beginning training again that same day.

“We’re proud to say supporting military members is just one of our many Red Cross missions, and the families who host these men and women are also honored to have them in their homes,” said Donna Croskey, the Operation Fireside coordinator for the Red Cross.  “Even after the Holidays, many of the host families attend the recruits’ graduation ceremony and stay in touch long after boot camp.”

Training Center Cape May is the Coast Guard’s only enlisted basic training program, and more than 83 percent of the Service’s workforce receive basic instruction here to become Coast Guardsmen. The recruits are trained in everything from fire arms familiarization to basic water survival.