The Naval Institute has published their annual Naval Review Issue and their Coast Guard Review, By Joe DiRenzo III and Chris Doane, is available on line. Probably nothing startlingly different if you are a regular reader, but a good summary.
Some great photos of Eagle’s European training cruise are available on Facebook. They have already encountered some nasty weather that blew out some sails and did some minor damage (see #46). Check it out here. Looks like additional photos will be added over the duration of the cruise. Just clicking on the photos allows you to page through them quickly.
The Auxiliary has come up with an online site that supports the often heard recommendation that boaters use a float plan. It looks to be very complete and well thought out. Not only does it provide a format for the float plan, it also provides guidance for the person holding the float plan on what to do if there is an apparent emergency. Access is here: http://floatplancentral.org/
CGBlog may be a little thin for a while. I don’t expect to be able to post new content for the next week or so.
Nice photo of Escanaba in formation with Argentine and Brazilian frigates as part of UNITAS (Thanks Lee).
110504-N-ZI300-376 ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 4, 2011) The U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Escanaba (WMEC 907), Brazlian navy ship BNS Bosisio (F 48) and Argentinian navy ship ANS Almirante Brown (F 10) move into formation for a photo exercise during the Atlantic phase of UNITAS 52. The formation included a total of ten ships from the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. UNITAS Atlantic is a multinational exercise as part of Southern Seas 2011. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Steve Smith)
(Click the links above for info on the other ships in the photo.)
Here is a report of a live firing exercise against a drone, conducted as part of the larger exercise.
The Acquisitions Directorate released their draft specifications for the Offshore Patrol cutter (OPC) Monday, May 2. This is certainly a welcome step, but in some ways it seems the plan ahead has gotten murkier rather than clearer. The description of the ship available to the public has, over time, become more general rather than more specific, and the timing of critical events is now more uncertain.
This release comes five to six months after the previously announced planned release date, as had been published on their website until it was changed this week. Currently the only milestone with a projected date on the Acquisitions Directorate website is “May – June 20, 2011 – Draft Specification Review” everything else is TBD (to be determined). This was the near term plan as it had been previously published: Continue reading
Add another to the list of places where national interests clash over claims to offshore areas. Spain and Britain have had a long running dispute over Gibraltar and the surrounding waters. Despite progress toward “European Unity,” they don’t seem to be getting along very well. 
May 3, a Spanish patrol vessel, the Atalaya (just a bit larger than a 210, photo of a sistership top left), entered waters claimed by Britain and ordered all anchored merchant shipping to leave. The authorities in Gibraltar sent out HMS Scimitar (illustrated to the right by her sister ship) to enforce their position.
None of the merchant ships weighed anchor and after about an hour and a half the Atalaya left. “Strongly worded note to follow.”
Rather sad to see “HMS Scimitar” as a 52 foot boat when in a previous generation it was one of a class of 67 destroyers.
Yes, Osama Ben Laden is dead. Some justice. Heart felt thanks to those who made it possible and undying admiration for those that carried it out.
EagleSpeak has found an interesting article in the Journal of Commerce that seems to confirm the importance of Container Security. It is an old story but Wikileaks makes public, information about Saifullah Paracha, a one time travel agent, business man, and al Qaeda operative who offered to help smuggle in explosives and biological or radiological material. He was arrested in 2003 after his son, now serving 30 years on terrorism related charges turned him.
We already looked at a comparison of the Russian Security Service’s counterpart of the National Security Cutter with the Coast Guard version. Thought some of you might be interested to see what their version of a Fast Response Cutter looks like.
The first of the class Svetlyak class were delivered in 1988 and they are still in production. The little ships comes in three versions. The most numerous is a patrol version for the Security Service (Project 10410–photo), there is a cruise missile equipped version for the Navy (Project 10411), and an export version (Project 10412) apparently with MTU engines in lieu of the Russian diesels. The Russians have 26 of these, the Slovenians one lightly armed version (more here), and the Vietnamese have two with at least two, possibly four, more on order, armed like the Russian Security Service vessels.
Comparing the two classes, the Webber Class, with it’s high bow, certainly looks more sea worthy, and it’s boat appears much more ready to launch quickly in heavy weather.
The Russian design is slightly larger (375 tons vice 353), slightly faster (30 vs 28), and slightly longer (163 ft vs 154). They have three engines and three shafts instead of two and about 88% more power. They also have a bit larger crew with accommodations for 28 (vs 22-24). Again the USCG vessel has the advantage in range (2,500 nmi vs 2,200–some sources say as little as 1,300). Continue reading
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