Lt. John F. String, Jr., USCGR, CO USS PC-545, Silver Star Recipient

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PC545
Photo: USS PC-545, Commanded by Lt. String, At sea during World War II. Probably photographed in 1942-43, while wearing rather weathered pattern camouflage. Donation of Phil Wagner, 2001. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

The “This Day in Coast Guard History” for January 22 included this simple statement,

1944  Coast Guardsmen participated in Operation Shingle – the landings at Anzio-Nettuno, Italy.  Coast Guard units involved were USS PC-545 and LSTs 16, 326, 327, and 381.

The Coast Guard manned only four of these PCs during WWII. I remembered one had performed extremely well. This is the story.

STRING, John F. Jr., LT, USCGR, WWII, Anzio invasion, Silver Star, for conspicuous gallantry in action while serving as commanding officer of the USS PC 545 off Anzio, Italy on March 18, 1944. When an enemy motor torpedo boat was sighted at night. Lt. String immediately ordered the attack. With an expert display of seaman ship, he so skillfully maneuvered the ship that the first shots scored hits on the enemy craft before it was able to maneuver into position to effectively use its torpedoes and the resulting fire caused it to disintegrate in an explosion. This successful action against the enemy contributed materially to the protection of shipping in the Anzio area and to the successful maintenance of forces ashore.

This is a brief summary of USS PC-545 career while Coast Guard manned from NAVSOURCE.

  • Laid down 31 March 1942 by the Defoe Shipbuilding Corp., Bay City, MI
  • Launched 8 May 1942
  • Commissioned USS PC-545, 27 June 1942 with a Coast Guard crew
  • PC-545 participated in the following campaigns: Sicilian occupation, 9 – 15 July, 28 July – 17 August 1943 Salerno landings, 9 – 12 September 1943 Anzio Netturno advanced landings, 28 January – February 1944 and the Invasion of Southern France, 15 August – September 1944
  • Sank a German E-boat 19 March 1944 west of Anzio, Italy
  • Decommissioned 17 October 1944, transferred to France at Toulon, France and named Goumier (W 91). Her Coast Guard crew was removed the same day.

Typical E-Boat. The German Schnellboot (“E-boat”) S 204 flying a white flag of surrender at the coastal forces base HMS Beehive, Felixstowe, Suffolk (UK), on 13 May 1945. The two German E-Boats S 204 and S 205 from the 4th Schnellboot-Flotilla were escorted in by ten British MTBs. On board of S 205 was Rear Admiral Erich Breuning, who had been in charge of E-Boat operations and who signed the instrument of surrender. Note the black panther painted on the side of S 204 which had on board KKpt Kurt Fimmen (CO 4th Schnellboot-Flotilla) and KptLt Bernd Rebensburg (Ia Op/Operations-Officer of the Staff of Führer der Schnellboote/FdS). Lt. J.E. Russell, Royal Navy official photographer

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 22/23

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

January 22

USS PC-545

1944  Coast Guardsmen participated in Operation Shingle – the landings at Anzio-Nettuno, Italy.  Coast Guard units involved were USS PC-545 and LSTs 16, 326, 327, and 381.

1987  The Coast Guard established the Air Interdiction Facility at Norfolk Naval Air Station.  The aircrews flew two loaned Navy E-2C Hawkeye aircraft on narcotics interdiction patrols.

January 23

1909  The schooner Roderick Dhu was discovered in distress on the bar by a Life-Saving Service patrol from the Point Bonita, California station. The schooner had been in tow by a tug, but parted hawsers when 5-1/2 miles SW of a LSS station.  She hoisted a signal, and the keeper reported her condition to the Merchant’s Exchange.  A tug was sent out and the schooner was towed to sea.  The next day she was towed into port, leaking badly, and convoyed by the USRC McCulloch.

Revenue Cutter USCGC McCulloch

“Coast Guard announces immediate action in support of Presidential Executive Orders” –News Release/What Will the CG Do Differently?

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A good Samaritan notified Sector Miami watchstanders of a migrant vessel about 10 miles east of Sunny Isles, Florida, Jan. 8, 2023. The people were repatriated to Cuba on Jan. 16, 2023. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

Below is a CG news release.

The Coast Guard is a military organization. It does as it is told. That is the way it is supposed to be. But these are not new missions. Units are already positioned to carry out these missions. If we devote more assets to these missions, until, if or when, the Coast Guard gets more assets, they will have to come from other missions.

Frankly it seemed Immigration interdiction on the water routes was going well, doing much better than we are doing on the land borders. The New York Post, apparently reporting on this news release was headlined, “After Trump’s orders, US Coast Guard surges near Haiti, Cuba to block ‘mass migration’, but there have been no reports I’ve seen of a large increase in immigration attempts. The New York Post article also includes a video that indicates an avenue of legal immigration, that has been used as an incentive to not attempt illegal immigration, is being closed off.

So, what will be done differently?

NE fisheries might get less attention. Generally, the East coast has had a disproportionate percentage of the fleet, considering that something like 84% of the US EEZ is under PACAREA. It appeared new construction FRCs were already programmed to go to the Pacific and that there might be a new base in American Samoa.

It had appeared that another WMEC270 transfer to the Pacific was in the works, but they could probably use more than one more.

Will Coast Guard Aircraft be moved from the NE to the SE or the Pacific?

The President might choose to stop fisheries patrols with the Compact of Free Association States, but that would leave a vacuum the Chinese might exploit.

I would really love to see the Coast Guard start a program to provide a ship class around 2-3000 tons, with better potential as a warship, to build in greater numbers, in lieu of the as yet uncontracted last 10 OPCs. But that could provide no near-term help.

I would love to see cutters better prepared for a terrorist attack, which would also provide them better potential for use as a naval auxiliary. We could start doing that relatively quickly, but it would not have any effect on immigration.

There is no indication what the Coast Guard will do to interdict fentanyl which was one of the criticisms of Admiral Fagan’s term as Commandant. I don’t see what the Coast Guard could do since, I believe, it primarily comes across the land border or in containers.

If the President wants more assets to interdict drugs in the Eastern Pacific Drug Transit Zone, he could task the Navy to provide more ships to 4th Fleet. The Coast Guard could probably provide more law enforcement detachments relatively quickly if needed.

{I wonder if Customs and Border Protection are doing anything differently?)

Will the Coast Guard get additional billets it would need to operate now very old deactivated WMEC210s and WPB87s?

Or will the Coast Guard once again try to do more with less?

Jan. 22, 2025

Coast Guard announces immediate action in support of Presidential Executive Orders

By Press Release

The Coast Guard announced immediate action on executive orders issued by the White House Tuesday, Jan 21, 2025.

“The U.S. Coast Guard is the world’s premiere maritime law enforcement agency, vital to protecting America’s maritime borders, territorial integrity and sovereignty,” said Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard’s acting commandant. “Per the President’s Executive Orders, I have directed my operational commanders to immediately surge assets — cutters, aircraft, boats and deployable specialized forces — to increase Coast Guard presence and focus starting with the following key areas:

  • The southeast U.S. border approaching Florida to deter and prevent a maritime mass migration from Haiti and/or Cuba;
  • The maritime border around Alaska, Hawai’i, the U.S. territories of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands;
  • The maritime border between the Bahamas and south Florida;
  • The southwest maritime border between the U.S. and Mexico in the Pacific;
  • The maritime border between Texas and Mexico in the Gulf of America; and
  • Support to Customs and Border Protection on maritime portions of the southwest U.S. border.

Together, in coordination with our Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense teammates, we will detect, deter and interdict illegal migration, drug smuggling and other terrorist or hostile activity before it reaches our border.”

Acting Commandant, ADM Kevin E. Lunday

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ADM Kevin E. Lunday, August 19, 2024, US Coast Guard Official Photo

So, who is the Acting Commandant now? Wikipedia tells me Admiral Kevin Eugene Lunday (born October 12, 1965) is a native of South Carolina and 1987 Coast Guard Academy graduate. He has an interesting background.

His background in Cyber, Law, D14, DOD, and Engineering and numerous notable educational experiences appear promising. I have no information on early command experience before achieving flag rank. Will be interesting to see if he will remain on as Commandant.

This is his official Bio: Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, Vice Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard

“Coast Guard commandant removed from post”–Politico

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Admiral Linda L. Fagan

Politico reports,

Homeland Security officials have removed Adm. Linda Fagan from her role as the Coast Guard’s commandant, according to a note sent to service members — the first firing of a top military officer under the Trump administration.

I have reproduced the linked ALCOAST below.

DHS Secretary did not give a reason for the dismissal but apparently someone gave the reasons to Fox, “Coast Guard commandant terminated over border lapses, recruitment, DEI focus: official.”

I have not always agreed with Admiral Fagan’s positions, but she has had some notable successes. As Pacific Area Commander she pushed out the operating envelop of the Fast Response Cutters to include distant operations in the Eastern Pacific Drug Transit Zone and the Western Pacific. Alien migrant interdiction seems to be working well.

Admiral Fagan seems to have solved our long running recruitment problem. In 2024,

For the first time since 2007, the Coast Guard has achieved all its recruiting missions for enlisted active duty, the Reserve, and Non-Academy Officer Candidate School (OCS) accessions.

Fox sites, “mismanagement in acquiring key acquisitions such as icebreakers and helicopters.” Admiral Fagan has only been Commandant since June 2022. Contracts for icebreakers and helicopters predate her selection as Commandant.The “Fouled Anchor” report was mentioned. It came in January 2020, a year and a half before she became commandant and reported on events that occurred 2006 or earlier.

A parts procurement problem for our now 40 year old H-65s helicopters, was identified in 2021 and the Coast Guard made the decision to go to a uniform fleet of H-60s, but it is a long-term program. (meanwhile, “Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Gets 16 New Helicopters“) The program hit a bump when there was a reduction in pre-SLEP operational life of H-60s from 20,000 to 19,000 hours, but it seems manageable.

As for the difficulties with the Polar Security Cutter, the choice of the shipyard and the decision to accept an unproven design, rather than that of an already operational icebreaker, as was required in the initial request for proposal, happened during the first Trump administration.

On April 23, 2019, the Coast Guard-Navy Integrated Program Office for the PSC program awarded a $745.9 million fixed-price, incentive-firm contract for the detail design and construction (DD&C) of the first PSC to Halter Marine Inc. of Pascagoula, MS, a shipyard that as owned by Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering.

Admiral Fagan has been pointing out shortfalls in support for the Coast Guard.

My own evaluation is that Admiral Fagan has been one of the more effective Coast Guard Commandants we have had in this century. I am sorry to see her go.

I expect the Chief of Naval Operations will be next.

ALCOAST 021/25 – JAN 2025 LEADERSHIP NOTIFICATION TO USCG WORKFORCE

U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 01/21/2025 07:25 AM EST

O 210536Z JAN 25   MID180001563582U
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC
TO ALCOAST
BT
UNCLAS
ALCOAST 021/25
SSIC 1000
SUBJ: LEADERSHIP NOTIFICATION TO USCG WORKFORCE
1.To All Hands:
The following message is forwarded on behalf of Acting Secretary of
Homeland Security Huffman.
Under my statutory authority as the Acting Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security I have relieved Admiral Linda L. Fagan
of her duties as Commandant of the United States Coast Guard.
She served a long and illustrious career, and I thank her for her
service to our nation. Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, by operation of law,
is now the Acting Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and
assumes all the authority and responsibilities of the office.
2. Benjamine C. Huffman, Acting DHS Secretary, sends.
3. Internet release is authorized.

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 21

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

January 21

Chase as Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury. Library of Congress

1863 Appended to Circular to Collectors, January 21, 1863: “Sir: The question submitted by you [J. Lawrence Boggs, Collector at Perth Amboy, N.J.], whether free colored men are citizens of the United States, and competent therefore to command vessels engaged in our coasting trade, has been submitted to the Attorney General for his opinion, of which the concluding sentence is as follows: ‘And now, upon the whole matter, I give it as my opinion, that the free man of color mentioned in your letter, if born in the United States, is a citizen of the United States, and, if otherwise qualified, is competent, according to acts of Congress, to be a master of a vessel engaged in the coasting trade.’ You will advise the Commander of the Revenue Cutter ‘Tiger’ of this decision of the Attorney General, and direct him to conform to it in all future examinations of vessels engaged in the coasting trade. With great respect, Salmon P. Chase, Secretary.”

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. An abandoned lighthouse near Tillamook Rock, Oregon, USA.

1881 The light was first shown at Tillamook Lighthouse, located 19 miles south of the Columbia River entrance.

USCGC Point Banks 14 foot Boston Whaler.

1969 CGC Point Banks, while on patrol south of Cam Rahn Bay, received a call for assistance from a nine-man South Vietnamese (ARVN) detachment trapped by two Vietcong platoons.  Petty Officers Willis Goff and Larry Villareal took a 14-foot Boston whaler ashore to rescue the ARVN troops.  In the face of heavy automatic weapons fire all nine men were evacuated in two trips. For their actions Goff and Villareal were each awarded the Silver Star. The citation stated, “The nine men would have met almost certain death or capture without the assistance of the two Coast Guardsmen.”

1982 “Streamlining” plans were put into place when the Commandant, ADM John B. Hayes, announced in ALCOAST 002/82 his plans to consolidate some operations and streamline others to comply with President Ronald Reagan’s goals of “greater efficiency in federal spending” and in accordance with Congressional appropriation levels.  The service eliminated 35 units, including the West Coast Training Center at Alameda, and consolidated all recruit training to TRACEN Cape May.

1984 The tanker Cepheus ran aground near Anchorage, Alaska, on the morning of January 21, 1984, spilling 180,000 gallons of jet fuel into Cook Inlet.  MSO Anchorage and the Pacific Strike Team responded to the incident and monitored the offloading of the damaged tanker and cleared its passage out of Alaska.  The light jet fuel evaporated with little environmental impact.

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 20

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

The USCGC Champlain on the International Ice Patrol, circa mid-1930s. USCG photo.

1914  The International Ice Patrol Convention was signed.

Library of Congress description: Death on economy. U.S. “I suppose I must spend a little on life-saving service, life-boat stations, life-boats, surf-boats, etc.; but it is too bad to be obliged to waste so much money” / Th. Nast. Harper’s Weekly, 1877 Dec. 29, p. 1024.

1915  Congress passed the “Act to Create the Coast Guard” on this date in 1915 (38 Stat. L., 800).  The act combined the Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service to form the Coast Guard.  President Woodrow Wilson signed the act on January 28, 1915.

1961  During his inaugural parade, President John F. Kennedy noticed that there were no African-Americans in the Coast Guard Academy cadet unit marching in the parade.  He told his speechwriter, Richard Goodwin, “That’s not acceptable. Something ought to be done about it.  Goodwin called Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon the next day and Dillon ordered the Academy “to scrutinize the Academy’s recruitment policy to make sure it did not discriminate against blacks.”

1984  Coast Guard units responded to a six-alarm fire along Boston’s waterfront.  The fire began early on the morning of January 20th on the Boston and Maine Railroad Bridge directly behind Boston Garden and North Station.  The Boston Fire Department requested Coast Guard assistance and MSO Boston coordinated the response.  Small boats from Station Boston responded while personnel from ATON Team Boston, Support Center Boston, Point Allerton Station, and CGCs Pendant, Chase, White Heath, Nantucket I, and Nantucket II also assisted.

The former USCGC Active, Museum Ship

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A friend sent me the link to the video above. Thought you might enjoy it. A good visual tour, but there seem to be errors in the narration–I don’t think it ever served in the Navy, although it did go to war. Also, I don’t think it was ever equipped a 3″/50. During WWII they were armed with the 3″/23 and after WWII with a single Bofors 40mm.

Good to see this former cutter, the former USCGC Active, being well taken care of. It is owned by the Vietnam war flight museum in Houston, Texas.

Another of the class, the former USCGC McLane, is at the USS Silversides Submarine Museum (formerly the Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum), 1346 Bluff Street, Muskegon, MI 49441.

These were members of the Active class. 35 of them were built in a big hurry to enforce Prohibition, with all 35 commissioned between 30 November 1926 and May 1927.

85 years separate them, but they make an interesting comparison with the Webber class (Sentinel) Fast Response Cutters. In 1966, the remaining Active class were redesignated WMECs, but originally, like the new cutters, they were designed WPCs.

The old cutter is smaller (232 tons vs 353) but for much of its life, it had a larger crew, up to at least 38, though I seem to remember 44. I went aboard one as a cadet and the crowded berthing area, well forward, made a lasting impression. I could imagine what it would have been like pitching in a heavy sea.

While the new cutters have 11,600 HP for 28 knots, the old cutters started life with only 600HP for 10 knots and were upgraded to 1200 HP for a blistering 13. Range really wasn’t that different, with the old cutters good for 2,500 miles at 13 knots after the upgrade–2,500 miles at 14 knots for the newer cutters. The old cutters were probably more comfortable sustaining an eight knot cruise speed.

There is definitely a huge difference in ship’s boats and boat handling as you may note in the video.

Having seen how much wiring goes into the new cutters, they come from totally different worlds.

Thanks to Lee for bringing this to my attention.

This Day in Coast Guard History, January 19

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Based on the Coast Guard Historian’s timeline, https://www.history.uscg.mil/research/chronology/
With inspiration from Mike Kelso

1935  Chief Warrant Gunner and Naval Aviation Pilot (CWO-GUN; NAP) Charles T. Thrun, USCG, Coast Guard Aviator Number 3, was killed when his Grumman JF-2 Duck crashed at Cape May.  CWO Thrun was the first Coast Guard aviator to die in the line of duty.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo of Fourth Avenue in Huntington, WV 25 January 1937

1937  Coast Guard units began flood relief operations in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.  These operations lasted until March 11th and resulted in the rescue of hundreds of victims and thousands of farm animals.

1946  Staged jointly by the Coast Guard and the Navy, the first public demonstration of LORAN was held at Floyd Bennett Field in New York.

The U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Eastwind (WAGB-279) was one of three icebreakers used by Operation Deep Freeze in the Ross Sea area, December 1955. US Navy photo.

1949  The tanker Gulfstream collided with icebreaker CGC Eastwind. The collision and resulting fire killed 13 of Eastwind’s crew, nine of whom were chief petty officers.

Haley, Alex. “Tragedy Stalks the Sea: An Account of the Eastwind Disaster.” –

“It was half-past four the morning of January 19th. Off Cape May, New Jersey, long, shapeless tendrils of fog converged to shroud in a vast milkiness the Gulf Oil tanker SS Gulfstream, travelling light from Philadelphia to the Persian Gulf, and the U.S. Coast Guard’s super-icebreaker Eastwind, Boston to Baltimore. At 4:35 they came together with a rasping snarl of steel on steel. Men catapulted from their bunks fought back terror. There came a second jolt when the Gulfstream bucked clear, her bow a huge, snaggled tooth that had left a gaping wound in the Eastwind’s starboard midsection. Almost immediately a fire broke out, filling compartments with stifling, acrid smoke. Through it more than a hundred bewildered Coast Guardsmen groped their way topside. Among them were ambulatory cases, men in varying stages of undress, men suffering from shock, guided more by instinct than reason….

“The United Fruit Company’s new, sleek SS Junior arrived as the Eastwind fire began to get the upper hand. Faced squarely with the possibility of even more appalling disaster should the magazines be set off, Captain John A. Glynn of the Eastwind ordered 83 of his men to board the Junior which would carry them to New York….

“As this is written the death toll has risen to 13. They were:

  • William E. Barnett, CSC
  • Ewell Busby, ENC
  • Harry F. Brown, HMC
  • Donald W. Bryson, BMC
  • Stanislaus Coindreau, SA       [Died in Marine Hospital, Staten Island, from injuries.]
  • Robert E. Connors, EN3
  • Louis Cywinski, DCC
  • Peter A. Everett, QMC
  • Kenneth S. King, SKC
  • Anthony G. Machansky, RMC
  • Rupert D. Midgette, ENC
  • John V. Kerr; FA
  • Albert P. Williams, SA…       [Died in Marine Hospital, Staten Island, from injuries.]

1969  CGC Absecon, while on ocean station duty, was directed to assist the sinking M/V Ocean Sprinter.  Absecon launched a small boat and rescued all of the merchant vessel’s crew.  The five Coast Guardsmen manning the small boat received the Coast Guard Medal for their actions.

USCGC Polar Sea

1977  The Coast Guard accepted delivery of CGC Polar Sea from Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company, Seattle, Washington.  Polar Sea was placed “In Commission, Special” on January 31, 1977 under the command of CAPT Richard Cueroni.

The tug Scandia and barge North Cape that ran aground on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island

1996  The tug Scandia and its barge, the North Cape, ran aground on the shore of Rhode Island, spilling 828,000 gallons of oil.  This was the worst spill in that state’s history.  The Coast Guard rescued the entire crew, pumped off 1.5 million gallons of oil and conducted skimming operations.

The North Cape oil spill took place on January 19, 1996, when the tank barge North Cape and the tug Scandia grounded on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, after the tug caught fire in its engine room during a winter storm. An estimated 828,000 US gallons (3,130 m3) of home heating oil was spilled. Oil spread throughout a large area of Block Island Sound, including Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, resulting in the closure of a 250-square-mile (650 km2) area of the sound for fishing.

Hundreds of oiled birds and large numbers of dead lobsters, surf clams, and starfish were recovered in the weeks following the spill. US federal and Rhode Island state governments undertook considerable work to clean up the spill and restore lost fishery stocks and coastal marine habitat. The North Cape oil spill is considered a significant legal precedent in that it was the first major oil spill in the continental U.S. after the passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, resulting from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska on March 24, 1989.

Hellfire the Drone Killer

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Enlisted technicians from the Navy Munitions Command (NMC) Bahrain Detachment support the delivery of hardware and software upgrades aboard USS Indianapolis (LCS 17) in September 2024 while the ship was forward deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility. USN

The War Zone reports, “Littoral Combat Ship Can Now Rapidly Shoot Down Aerial Drones with Hellfire Missile.”

The Coast Guard needs a counter drone capability if Coast Guard ships are going to do force protection and the “Ports, Waterways, and Coastal Security” and “Defense Readiness” missions.

Hellfire, and its form factor twin replacement JAGM, are emerging as primary candidates for this role. Compared to gun systems, they do not throw multiple rounds well beyond the target that might cause collateral damage. They also have the advantage of being useful in other roles as well, including as an anti-aircraft weapon against low flying sub-sonic threats and as an effective surface to surface weapon against a range of naval threats from small fast highly maneuverable threats like kamikaze USVs to ships.

Included in the report was the photo below that depicts a proposed deck mounted vertical launcher for Hellfire/JAGM. It probably weighs about the same as a 30mm Mk38 Mod4 and would not require the same deck foundation strength since there is no recoil.

A close-up of the Hellfire/JAGM launchers on the Arleigh Burke model on display at the 2025 Surface Navy Association symposium. Joseph Trevithick

I cropped the photo to get a better look at the launchers. It appears the mount is being loaded in the horizontal position and would return to the vertical for firing. This means reloading would be relatively easy and the location of the mount could be very flexible.

It appears that each of the three sets of tubes (above) are much the same as the “Patrol Boat Compatible” above deck launchers pictured below, which would mean each mount could house twelve missiles. A pair of these would provide up to 24 rounds ready to launch–same as the number in the LCS mission module.

For smaller cutters Hellfire has been adapted to USVs as small as 12 meters.