“Coast Guard Cutter James honored by White House at United States Interdiction Coordinator Awards Ceremony” –CG News

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Coast Guard Cutter James (WMSL 754) personnel pose for a photo with other law enforcement agency officials, July 19, at the White House in Washington, D.C. for the annual United States Interdiction Coordinator Awards. James’ crew was recognized with the top maritime interdiction during the awards ceremony. (Photo courtesy of the White House)

Below is a release from Coast Guard News.

Wanted to highlight this, because it all goes back to one very junior person who took her job seriously and a command that believed in her.

July 26, 2024

Coast Guard Cutter James honored by White House at United States Interdiction Coordinator Awards Ceremony

To view the full event, click here. 

WASHINGTON — The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter James (WMSL 754) was honored at the White House during the United States Interdiction Coordinator Awards Ceremony on July 19.

The annual event, held by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), recognized the exceptional contributions and achievements of various law enforcement entities in drug interdiction efforts. James’ crew was recognized for top maritime interdiction.

Amidst heavy seas on the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2023, a junior watchstander noticed what appeared to be the wake of a go-fast vessel approximately 10 nautical miles off James’ bow. The cutter set its go-fast response bill, spurring the entirety of James’ crew in motion to prepare for a counter-drug pursuit. James used an operational procedure agreed upon with Ecuador that allowed law enforcement teams to embark the foreign-flagged vessel, where they found 73 bales of cocaine. Following the successful seizure of 3,863 pounds of cocaine and the detention of three suspected narcotraffickers, James coordinated an at-sea transfer of the detainees and contraband with Ecuador to enable home country prosecution and strengthen a key partnership.

To successfully spot a target of interest on the high seas without positive identification from aerial assets or radar is known as a cold hit. Within the realm of maritime interdiction, cold hits are the equivalent of finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, a complex difficult task made more challenging by the heavy seas and gray skies that limited visibility on that day. In this case, the cold hit detection of the go-fast vessel was made by the lookout, one of James’ most junior crewmembers, who had been in the Coast Guard for only six months. Her initial cold hit spurred the rest of the crew and teams into action.

During the ceremony, ONDCP Director Dr. Rahul Gupta, commended the crew of James for their outstanding service and unwavering commitment to protecting the nation’s borders and safeguarding the lives of countless Americans. The cutter’s achievements are a testament to the Coast Guard’s enduring legacy of excellence in maritime law enforcement and drug interdiction.

“It was an honor to receive this award on behalf of the entire James crew,” said Capt. Donald Terkanian, commanding officer of James. “Our crew’s exceptional efforts disrupted illicit drug trafficking, deprived transnational criminal organizations of millions of dollars in revenue, apprehended suspected traffickers, strengthened a key partnership, and helped save lives by preventing drugs from reaching the streets.”

James is a 418-foot, Legend-class national security cutter, homeported in North Charleston, South Carolina. The cutter’s primary missions are counter-drug operations and defense readiness. Stone falls under the command of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area in Portsmouth, Virginia. Atlantic Area oversees all Coast Guard operations east of the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf. In addition to surge operations, Atlantic Area also allocates ships to deploy to the Caribbean Sea, Eastern Pacific Ocean, and South Atlantic Ocean to combat transnational organized crime and illicit maritime activity.

For information on how to join the U.S. Coast Guard, visit GoCoastGuard.com to learn about active duty, reserve, officer, and enlisted opportunities. Information on how to apply to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy can be found here.

“B-2 Stealth Bomber Demoes QUICKSINK Low Cost Maritime Strike Capability During RIMPAC 2024” –The Aviationist

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We are starting to hear some stories about what was done during RIMPAC 2024. The Aviationist reports,

The U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit carried out a QUICKSINK demonstration during the second SINKEX (Sinking Exercise) of RIMPAC 2024. This marks the very first time a B-2 Spirit has been publicly reported to test this anti-ship capability… During the drills, two long-planned live-fire sinking exercises (SINKEXs) led to the sinking of two decommissioned ships: USS Dubuque (LPD 8), sunk on July 11, 2024; and the USS Tarawa (LHA 1), sunk on July 19.

The video above is from 2022. Unlike the recent RIMPAC sinking, the weapon was delivered by an F-15 and the target was only a small ship.

We talked about QuickSink earlier and why preparing Coast Guard aircraft to use it on the first day of a war might be a good idea.

Perhaps the threat of an invasion of Taiwan may have influenced the choice of targets for the SINEXes.

USS Dubuque (LPD-8)

Yuzhao (Type 071) Class Amphibious Ship With two Houbei (Type 022) fast attack craft behind. CSR Report RL33153 China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress by Ronald O’Rourke dated February 28, 2014.

020628-N-3228G-001.Pearl Harbor, HI (Jun. 28, 2002) — Amphibious warfare ship USS Tarawa (LHA 1) leaves Pearl Harbor to participate in exercise “Rim of the Pacific” (RIMPAC) 2002.  U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class William R. Goodwin. (RELEASED)

I look forward to seeing the Videos. Would really like to know how many weapons of each type were used. These big ships can be very hard to sink.

QuickSink, a modified 2,000-pound GBU-31 JDAM that blows up under the keel, is the only non-nuclear weapon that may be more deadly to ships than a torpedo, and the B-2 can carry 16 of them. Employing the Rapid Dragon system, C-17s and C-130s could bring many more.

Below is video of the USS Denver SINKEX in 2022. She was a sister ship of USS Debuque.

Large Marine Diesel, Big and Tough

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Wärtsilä 14RT-flex96C engine. This is the smaller six cylinder engine version of the 14 cylinder engine described in the article.

MSN/SlashGear has a post about what they report as the largest marine diesel engine, “How Big Is The World’s Largest Piston Engine? And How Much Power Can It Deliver?”

There is a large element of “Gee Whiz” here, but it may be something more Coast Guard members should know about. Marine Inspectors are certainly aware. The post is a five-minute read and there is a short video of “Top Gear” presenter Richard Hammond getting a literal inside look at a smaller, but still very large, marine diesel.

In addition, since the Coast Guard has an implicit requirement to be able to forcibly stop any ship, regardless of size, think about how hard it will be to hurt one of these massive engines. Large explosions are going off inside 1400 times a minute. A 25 or 57mm projectile exploding in the engine room may not have much effect.

Fixed Wing Aircraft for Oil Spill Dispersal

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Coast Guard C130J

This from Defense Industry Daily,

Lockheed Martin has delivered the first of eight C-130J-30 Super Hercules aircraft to the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Ohio as part of a project to modernize the installation’s aging military transport fleet. The plane incorporates a new configuration of aerial spray capability to secure large areas from disease-carrying insects and other pests as well as to disperse oil spills in water surface domains. Lockheed wrote that this function marks the 19th unique mission feature of the C-130J product line. (Emphasis Applied–Chuck)

Usually, we try to recover oil at spills, but using fixed wing aircraft to disperse oil spills might be a capability the Coast Guard could use, either organically or by tapping other service resources.

“Inside the U.S. Coast Guard’s Aleutian encounter with China’s military — and what it means” –Alaska Beacon

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The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball, right, and a Japanese naval training vessel travel near the island of Unalaska in 2021. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

The Alaska Beacon reports on the local reaction to the presence of Chinese ships in the Bering Sea, July 6 and 7.

The reaction clearly favored a more powerful and more visible response than a Coast Guard cutter and C-130.

So why use a cutter? Wouldn’t a destroyer or frigate be more appropriate?

A destroyer would have been faster, but the cutter is actually faster than the frigates the Navy is currently building.

The immediate answer is that there probably were no US Navy surface combatants in the vicinity, but would that have even been desirable?

What if they had suddenly become hostile?

Well, the cutter would probably have been sunk. That is a fact, but that is probably equally true of a destroyer outnumbered and taken by surprise at close range. Losing a cutter would be less of a loss and a prompt response from the Air Force would follow, probably quickly sinking the Chinese warships that have no fighter protection. That’s assuming they had not already been sunk by a US Navy submarine that may or may not have also been following them.

The US Navy just does not routinely keep surface vessels in the area of the Aleutians. Apparently, the Chinese were only there for two days. It would probably take longer than that for a USN combatant to make a transit, putting it out of position for its normal duties.

They were probably only doing this because the US does Freedom of Navigation Exercises in their backyard. But their response just plays into our narrative that we have every right to transit the Taiwan Straits–Look, they are transiting a narrow passage between US islands, and we didn’t object.

Would I like to see the cutters better equipped to defend themselves, sure, but it probably would not make any difference if they came to blows. Meanwhile the cutter makes a pretty good AGI. 

The Chinese are unlikely to start a war in the Aleutians unless they simultaneously also start it somewhere else, like Taiwan, but we still want to keep an eye on them, to discourage mischief.

Thanks to David for bringing this to my attention.

I Think We’re Going to Need More Lawyers — “Maritime Implications of Recent US Supreme Court Rulings” –Marine Link

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Marine Link reports on, “Maritime Implications of Recent US Supreme Court Rulings.”

The impacts for regulatory agencies such as the FMC, USCG, and EPA could be widespread. As an initial matter, the Loper Bright ruling may open up the opportunity for regulated entities to challenge agency interpretations of ambiguous statutory provisions. The result of such potential increased litigation – and the lack of deference for an agency’s interpretation – is that maritime stakeholders will be increasingly reliant upon, and subject to, court interpretations of law. There is also an associated risk that, without deferring to agency interpretations, differing jurisdictions can more easily reach differing results when interpreting ambiguous statutes. As such, entities operating in multistate operations, such as maritime operators, may encounter greater difficulty in complying with the law when moving between jurisdictions.

There are also changes to the Statute of Limitations.

This is all well outside my wheelhouse, but feel free to comment and discuss the implications.

“Every Coast Guard Aircraft Type Pictured Together In Rare ‘Family Photo’” –The War Zone

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Every Coast Guard Aircraft Type Pictured Together in Rare ‘Family Photo’. Pictured: HC-130J, C-27J, HC-144, C-37B, MH-60T, MH-65E.

The War Zone offers a series of photos of a rare gathering of every current type of Coast Guard crewed aircraft at CGAS Elizabeth City, NC, along with a brief description of the Coast Guard air fleet.

“Groningen Makes Sixth Catch Since April” –Sea Waves / USCG Helo and LEDET Attached

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Netherlands OPV Groningen, 19 April 2017.

Sea Waves reports the Netherlands Navy offshore patrol vessel Groningen has made its sixth drug interdiction since April, when she relieved sistership Holland as Caribbean station ship.

Netherlands Antilles – Coast Guard (now Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard) Bombardier Dash 8-102. Sept. 7, 2014. Photo by Nito

The latest interception was initially spotted by a Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard Dash-8 maritime patrol aircraft. A USCG Helo assisted, and seizure was made by USCG law enforcement detachment personnel and Dutch Fleet Marines.

“Navy To Explore Arming Other Ships With Missiles Amid Constellation Frigate Woes” –Coast Guard, Raise Your Hand

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USS Savannah (LCS 28) conducts a live-fire demonstration in the Eastern Pacific Ocean utilizing a containerized launching system that fired an SM-6 missile from the ship at a designated target. 

The War Zone reports,

“Congress has demanded the U.S. Navy look into buying a new class of small warships loaded with missiles or adding bolt-on launchers to existing vessels…to help increase its combat capacity. Lawmakers ordered the study in response to major delays in work on the Navy’s future Constellation class frigates…”

The problem is simple. The Navy has been shrinking. Without a replacement in sight, they are rapidly decommissioning cruisers, each of which has 122 Vertical Launch Missile (VLS) tubes and eight Harpoon missile launch tubes. New DDGs, equipped with 96 VLS cells are coming online slowly and the new class of frigates, each of which has 32 VLS and 16 launchers for Naval Strike Missiles are long delayed and will also come out slowly.

Put simply, too few ships, with too few launch tubes.

It has been frequently proposed that missiles be mounted on Navy auxiliary ships. This is not likely to happen. These ships are not even armed for self-defense, beyond occasional crew served machinegun mounts. Most are limited to 20 knots, and they are busy scuttling supplies.

Few of the Navy’s MSC civilian manned auxiliary ships, are as well equipped for fitting into a Surface Action Group as the ten (soon to be eleven) National Security Cutters, with their higher speed, secure communication systems, data links, and Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). The Offshore Patrol Cutters will be only slightly less appropriate for the role.

The Coast Guard alone can’t fix this problem, but the Coast Guard can certainly help. It may not be necessary to mount missile launchers all the time. The Navy could build kits that could be quickly mounted on cutters. There are at least two options already available:

The Navy has already demonstrated use of the Mk70 containerized missile launcher on the flight deck of a Littoral Combat Ship.

The cutters would probably need a cooperative engagement capability (CEC), but that is probably also true of other platforms that might be used.

Each cutter could carry three or four containerized systems providing 12 or 16 launch tubes. Mk41 VLS mounted forward of the bridge, either conventionally or as Adaptable Deck Launchers could add eight more. Upon mobilization, there is potential for Navy or Marine Reservist to augment the cutter crews and operate the missile systems.

USS Savannah (LCS 28) Independence-variant littoral combat ship leaving San Diego with a U.S. Army MK 70 missile launcher on its deck – September 18, 2023. Photo Credit: WarshipCam.

Chile’s New Icebreaker

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Chilian Icebreaker “Almirante Viel”.

Andrés Tavolari, a lawyer and Chilean Marine Reserve Officer, who wrote one of our most popular posts, Three Nations Share German OPV Design has stayed in touch and tells me, on July 3rd the Chilean Navy commissioned their new Icebreaker/Antarctic supply ship, “Almirante Viel”. This is how he described it.

The ship is a PC-5 icebreaker equipped with a flight deck and has a hangar for two medium helicopters of the Super Puma or Cougar type. The crew is 86 people + 32 scientists. It can transport 19 containers of 20 feet, 2,202 m³ of fuel, 153 m³ of fresh water, and 86 m³ of aviation fuel for the helicopters. Its maximum speed is 15 knots and 3 knots in ice 1 meter thick. Its range is 14,000 miles and it has an autonomy of 60 days. Its length is 111 meters, it has a beam of 21 meters, and a draft of 7.2 meters. Its propulsion plant is composed of 2 main engines of 6,303 hp and a bow thruster of 670 hp.
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With Andrés’ help we did a 2016 post on the ship when it was in the planning stages that, with the attached comments, has a lot of discussion about the ship’s mission, Chile’s coast guard counterpart, the Chilean Navy and Marines.
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Andrés sent along a link to the YouTube video of the commissioning ceremony I have posted below. It is off course in Spanish. He suggested that “…it is most interesting from minute 31 to minute 34 and from minute 57 up to the end.”
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We see the crew board the ship beginning about 31:30. Something I have not seen at a USCG commissioning, the entire crew was singing beginning about 37:00 to 39:30. They sing again 57:50 to 1:00:00 during which the video shows some drone footage of the ship’s exterior and photos of interior compartments.
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The Chilean Navy has a long association with the British Royal Navy. I think you can see it in their uniforms.