Interesting Hull Form from China–Missile Boat to Patrol Boat

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The Chinese have built a large number of 140 foot long, 225 ton vessels (perhaps 100) using a relatively exotic hull form, and there is a suggestion that they may start offering export derivatives of the hull for maritime policing.

You can see the type in motion here. Click on “Type 022 (Houbei Class).”  The video is 2m 11s long. (What is the device at the stern seen at  1:51 in the video? dipping sonar?)

There is more information describing the technology and the origin of the design here.

There is an interesting, but unconventional, view of how these ships may be used here.

There are some still pictures here.

For those of you who may be US Naval Institute members, there is an article on the class here. Unfortunately, it is only accessible to members.

Taiwan Coast Guard Adds Two New Ships

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The Taiwan Coast Guard, has just accepted two new major ships, the “Tainan” a 2,462 tons “frigate” and “Patrol Boat No. 7,” 1,845 tons. Both appear similar in configuration and capability to Japanese and Chinese Cutters–they appear to be made to merchant standards, and their armament is modest.

The Taiwanese President, Ma Ying-jeou, presided over the commissioning of the larger vessel. The “feel good” statements are here. A more forthright statement of their purpose is here.

The Taiwan (Republic of China) Coast Guard is a relatively recent addition, having been formed in 2000. They seems to have followed the USCG model in many respects.

The Taiwanese Coast Guard is charged with policing a total area of 540,000 square kilometers, which is 15 times larger than the island of Taiwan.

Taiwan is the third party in the dispute with China and Japan over the islands variously known as Senkaku, Diaoyu, Diaoyutai, or the Pinnacle Islands.

(This photo, found on the first link, shows a Taiwan Coast Guard ship that looks an awful lot like a 270.)

Surface Navy Association National Symposium–CG Update

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A number of presentations made at the Surface Navy Association’s National Symposium are available on line. One of these is the Commandant’s own presentation. It is about 45 minutes long.

I haven’t watched all the presentations yet, but you might also be interested in watching the “Updating the Surface Navy Vision” presentation by RADM Frank C. Pandolfe, Director, Surface Warfare, N86, OPNAV, it’s a fine bit of salesmanship, including a lot of information about the Littoral Combat Ship.

Other presentations were:

  • “CNO Speech, Annual Banquet and Awards,” ADM Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations
  • “U.S. Fleet Forces Update,” ADM John C. Harvey, Jr., Commander, Fleet Forces Command
  • “Keynote Address,” ADM Jonathan W. Greenert, Vice Chief of Naval Operations
  • “The Surface Navy Today – A View from the Bridge,” VADM D.C. Curtis, Commander, Naval Surface Forces
  • “Exclusive Interview,”VADM D.C. Curtis, Commander, Naval Surface Forces
  • “Programmatic Update,” VADM John T. Blake, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations
  • “Capitol Hill Perspectives on the Navy’s Future Force,”Congressman Todd Akin, U.S. House of Representatives, Missouri
  • “Marine Corps Update,” GEN James F. Amos, Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
  • “Expeditionary Warfare’s Role in the Hybrid War,” MGEN Timothy, C. Hanifen, USMC, Director, Expeditionary Warfare Division

The Philippine Coast Guard

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Looking a little further into the proposal for the Philippine Navy to take over one or more of our 378s, I got curious about the Philippine Coast Guard. In some ways they are in much better shape than the Philippine Navy, on average their vessels are newer. Like the Philippine Navy, their air arm is very weak, but they actually seem to have more flight decks (at least four) than their Navy.

Wikipedia has a description of the Philippine Coast Guard but was a bit short on pictures and descriptions of the vessels. I found photos here, just click on the names in blue, in most, but not all cases, they links to pictures.  There are also some additional pictures further down the thread.

Philippines to Acquire Decom 378(s)?

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A report the Philippines would like to acquire one of the Hamilton Class; that they are in talks now; and that the ship “might arrive in the country within the first semester of this year.”

Sounds like the Philippine Navy is one of the few out there with a fleet older than the Coast Guard’s.

The Philippines has ongoing struggles with at least two insurgent groups, one Maoist, one Islamic radical, and is perhaps militarily the weakest of several countries, including the Peoples’ Republic of China, with competing claims to the Spratly Islands. A 378 will be a major increase in their capabilities. There is some indication they may want more than one.

S. Koreans Retake Pirate Mothership, Free Hostages, Kill 8, Capture 5

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Some refreshing news on the piracy front. In what must be seen as a unique operation, S. Korean forces stormed a ship, the Samho Jewelry, that had been in the control of pirates for six days, and in a five hour firefight, which included supporting fire from a helicopter and a destroyer, the Choi Young, retook the ship, freed the hostages, killed eight pirates and captured five. Three South Korean military were wounded and one of the hostages wounded, shot in the stomach by a pirate. The ship was also being used as a mothership. So take it, also protects other shipping.

The intensity of the five hour firefight is evident in pictures of the ship in this video. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds were fired, many appear to be heavier than small arms, perhaps 30 mm from the destroyer’s Goalkeeper CIWS which uses the same gun installed on the A-10. The superstructure is riddled with bullet holes. (Photos in this AP article)

This case illustrates the complexity, globalization has brought to the shipping industry. This ship was Maltese flagged, Norwegian owned, S. Korean operated, with a crew of 11 Burmese, eight South Koreans and two Indonesians. Is it any wonder it is hard to figure out who is responsible. I think the old concept that piracy is a universal crime against all flags, has to be applied. We all have a dog in this fight.

In a more familiar scenario, Malaysian commandos retook a vessel under attack by pirates after the crew had taken refuge in a citadel.

Meanwhile the AP reports, “On Thursday, pirates seized the MV Hoang Son Sun, a Vietnamese-owned bulk carrier with a crew of 24, the European Union Naval Force said. The Mongolian-flagged ship…was boarded about 520 miles (840 kilometers) southeast of the port of Muscat, Oman…There are now 29 vessels and 703 hostages being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia.”

A Tale of Two Harbor Defense Organizations–Part One

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This is the start of a three part series, the story of two harbor defense organizations, how one, already at war, well trained and well armed, failed to stop a small force, while another, ostensibly at peace, facing a vastly stronger force, and in many ways poorly prepared, managed to stop their enemy.

I’ll put both stories in context, but what I found most interesting and most relevant to current Coast Guard missions was the means employed and the relative success of each in stopping a hostile ship from reaching its objective inside a port. The third part will talk about implications for the Coast Guard.

File:Saint Nazaire Harbour 1942.png
First, the St Nazaire raid. This is normally told from the prospective of the heroic British sailors and commandos who successfully ran a small ship (about the size of a 210) into the gates of the only dry dock on the Atlantic coast of occupied Europe where major German warships, including the Battleship Tirpitz, could be serviced. There the four and a half tons of explosive packed into the bow of the ship, exploded, wrecking the dry dock gates and disabling it for the remainder of the war. Continue reading →

First time ever–helicopter to the rescue

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On January 18th the Navy celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Naval Aviation. On the Commander, Naval Air Forces, official web site, among all the pictures of sleek and powerful jets, there is a photo of a crude machine that is nevertheless immediately recognizable as a helicopter sitting on two bulbous pontoons.  This was the Sikorsky HNS-1, it’s pilot was a pioneering Coast Guard aviator named Frank Erickson. He and the HNS-1 made the first helo rescue in history, Jan. 3, 1944. Flying the strange bird through a true “howling gale,” then LCdr., later Captain Erickson, delivered two cases of urgently needed plasma after a series of explosions on the destroyer USS Turner (DD-648) resulted in her capsizing and sinking while anchored off Ambrose Light, taking 138 crewman, about half the crew, with her. The plasma was credited with saving many of the survivors.

Erickson went on to invent many of the devices and techniques we now take for granted.

To all the Coast Guard aviators, thanks for what you do.

Real Narco Subs?

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Of course we know there have been attempts to use true submersibles to transport cocaine, but this is the first I’ve heard of an effort to find them at sea. From http://defensetech.org/:

“Calling them “third-generation” Narco-subs, Adm. James Stavridis, supreme NATO commander said during a speech this week in Arlington, Va., that the U.S. and its allies in Latin America are using P-3s to hunt these actual submarines which have communications suites that rival some modern military subs.”

https://i0.wp.com/images.defensetech.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/P-3.jpg

The article goes on to raise a good question, “All this begs the question, even if you can find a submarine from the sky, how do you know 100 percent who it belongs without getting it to surface? How do you get the vessel to surface for inspection during peacetime without serious kinetic action? Do authorities simply track the vessel and wait for it to arrive at its destination before moving into arrest the smugglers?”

(Thanks again to Lee for the topic)