19 October 1984: The Twin Towers dot the Gotham skyline as crackerjack-wearing gunners mates stand at attention on USS Iowa’s (BB 61) No. 1 16″/50 gun turret as the battleship approaches the southern end of Manhattan during a scheduled port visit to New York City shortly after the dreadnought was recommissioned for the third (and final) time. Note the full-color recognition flag on the roof of the gun house.
U.S. Navy photo DNST8505245 by PH1 Jeff Hilton, NARA 330-CFD-DN-ST-85-05245
Two other views from the same photographer that day, including a cameo by the Staten Island Ferry.
Now, with the future USCGC Pickering (WMSM-919) and Icarus (920) under construction, and Active (921) planning to cut steel, Austal was just approved for $314 million in LLM funding for the 4th, 5th, and 6th cutters on their schedule.
“With a range of 10,200 nautical miles at 14 knots and a 60-day endurance period, each OPC will be capable of deploying independently or as part of task groups, serving as a mobile command and control platform for surge operations such as hurricane response, mass migration incidents, and other events. The cutters will also support Arctic objectives by helping regulate and protect emerging commerce and energy exploration in Alaska.”
The program of record for the OPC is an ambitious 25 hulls, the USCG’s largest shipbuilding program in history. Every single hull will be needed to replace the 13-ship 270-foot Bear class cutters and the 16 ships of the now 50+ year old 210-foot Reliance class cutters, as well as the elderly USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39), which entered service with the Navy in 1971 as USS Edenton (ATS-1).
And with that, how about this interesting USNI op-ed from LCDR Keith Blevins, USCG, on how the Navy can best get to its fleet number goal by keeping the Coast Guard’s production lines open for grey hulls.
He has a point in that the Navy is sleeping on the possibility of grey-hulled National Security Cutters with frigate capabilities and 158-foot WPCs becoming a new class of Navy PCs, back-filling the much-used 170-foot Cyclones, which were retired without replacement.
The Canadian Coast Guard already has a good history of joint operations with NATO-allied Arctic CGs and Navies.
Formed in 1962 from a variety of services that date to 1867, the CGC has 119 vessels of varying sizes and 23 helicopters. This includes two large (25,000-ton) polar-class icebreakers under construction, the old 15,000-ton polar icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, eight medium (~5,000-ton) icebreakers, seven 4,700-ton “multi-tasked vessels,” 15 blue water offshore patrol vessels, and a whole catalog of smaller fisheries research vessels, lifeboats, and buoy tenders.
The 15,324-ton icebreaker and flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard, CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent under way in Halifax Harbor, escorted by CFAV Glenside in the foreground. Commissioned in 1969, she carries two helicopters and is slated to be replaced by 2030 by breakers being built in Finland. (Wiki commons)
The 4,737-ton Martha L. Black class “high endurance multi-tasked vessel” CCGS George. R. Pearkes (left) and the 2,080-ton fishery patrol vessel CCGS Leonard J. Cowley (right) in St. John’s Harbour, NL, Canada, August 2008. Wiki commons
The CGC also has 16 light-lift Bell 429 (seen above) and 7 medium-lift Bell 412EPI helicopters, along with several DHC-6/7/8s, King Air 200s owned and operated by Transport Canada or contractors on behalf of CCG.
The service has over 100 bases, stations, and centers, including the Canadian Coast Guard Academy and four-year Canadian Coast Guard College, the latter with about 300 officer cadets enrolled.
The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has some 600 armed green-uniformed officers with Smith & Wesson 5946s, rifles, and shotguns who conduct boardings from CCG ships, but there are no official figures available for how many have been transferred to the DND. The DFO had 1,908 active firearms on its latest audit.
In Canadian fashion, the change in “ownership” to DND (not the Canadian Armed Forces outright) doesn’t (necessarily) mean a more militaristic CGC. As noted by Minister of National Defense David McGuinty:
The CCG will remain a civilian Special Operating Agency. There are no plans to arm CCG personnel or assets, or to incorporate an additional enforcement role in the organization. The CCG will continue to deliver the essential services on which Canadians rely, including search and rescue, icebreaking, environmental conservation and protection, safe navigation, and supporting ocean science.
The superb silver lining for Canada is that the $2.392 billion (for 2024-25) budget for the CCG will now be counted towards the country’s long-lapsed NATO target of 2 percent of GDP in defense, which is currently only at a meager 1.37 percent. Talk about Trudeau-level L party bait and switch…
The Coast Guard, with 2,500 members assigned to USCG Arctic (formerly the 17th Coast Guard District), has been busy bird-dogging Chinese government research vessels in the region.
We’ve already talked about the China-flagged research ship Xue Long 2 (Snow Dragon 2), which, at 14,300 tons, is China’s first domestically built polar research vessel, poking around the Extended Continental Shelf a couple of weeks ago.
Now, four other Chinese red hulls are poking around as well.
The five Chinese Research Vessels are: Xue Long 2, China-flagged; Shen Hai Yi Hao, China-flagged; Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, Liberia-flagged; Ji Di, China-flagged; andTan Suo San Hao, China-flagged.
The Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, a Liberian-flagged research vessel, owned and operated by the Chinese University Sun Yat-Sen, as detected by a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft from Air Station Kodiak. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo) 250805-G-G0200-1001
A C-130J Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak responds to a Chinese research vessel operating in the U.S. Arctic as part of Operation Frontier Sentinel Aug. 13, 2025.
A C-130J Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak responds to a Chinese research vessel operating in the U.S. Arctic as part of Operation Frontier Sentinel Aug. 13, 2025.
A C-130J Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak responds to a Chinese research vessel operating in the U.S. Arctic as part of Operation Frontier Sentinel Aug. 13, 2025.
The U.S. Coast Guard detected and responded to two Chinese research vessels operating in the U.S. Arctic and is currently monitoring a total of five similar vessels in or near the U.S Arctic.
On August 5, a C-130J Hercules fixed-wing aircraft from Air Station Kodiak responded to the Chinese research vessels Ji Di and the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di. Both vessels were transiting northeast in the Bering Sea.
On August 6, the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche (WMSL 751) again responded to the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di as it was transiting north in the Chukchi Sea above the Arctic Circle, after passing through the Bering Strait.
The C-130 and USCGC Waesche were patrolling under Operation Frontier Sentinel, an operation that responds to adversaries operating in and around Alaskan and U.S. Arctic waters. The U.S. Coast Guard’s responses are intended to counter malign activities, defend sovereign interests, and promote maritime conduct consistent with international law and norms.
The presence of these vessels is consistent with a three-year trend of increased activity from Chinese research vessels operating in the U.S. Arctic. Last year, three Chinese research vessels conducted research operations north of the Bering Strait.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WAGB 21) remains moored during the Storis commissioning ceremony at Juneau, Alaska, August 10, 2025. Storis is the first polar icebreaker acquired in more than 25 years by the Coast Guard, with its mission to assure access to the polar regions and protect U.S. sovereignty. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Carmen Caver)
Taking the name of the legendary 2,000-ton/230-foot WWII-era icebreaker USCGC Storis (WAGL/WAG/WAGB/WMEC-38), which had a 64-year career, much of it in Alaska waters, the new 12,800-ton 360-foot cutter is much different but at the same time, more capable in many ways.
Sadly, although she was commissioned in Alaska and is to be stationed there, Storis will be shifting back to Seattle, where she is chilling with the USCG’s other icebreakers until a berth can be finished for her in 2026-27.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard’s $4.3 billion Polar Security Cutter (PSC) heavy polar icebreaker program has had all three of its vessels fully funded— although it will probably be half a decade before the class leader is delivered and commissioned.
Going past that class, three to five new medium polar icebreakers called Arctic Security Cutters (ASCs) are on the drawing board, giving the service eight modern icebreakers to replace its current three (the 50-year-old heavy USCGC Polar Star, the 26-year-old medium breaker USCGC Healy, and the ersatz Storis).
$3.5 billion for the first three Arctic Security Cutters has been fully funded under H.R. 1.
The Coast Guard’s future Arctic Security Cutter (ASC), as many as five of which may be built “someday”
New Sentinel clocks in
The fifth of six planned new 154-foot Sentinel (Webber) class Fast Response Cutters is slated to be commissioned at Kodiak’s fuel pier on Monday after self-deploying over 7,000nm from her builder in Louisiana.
The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Earl Cunningham (WPC 1159) arrives at their homeport in Kodiak, Alaska, May 31, 2025. This was the first time the cutter had arrived at its homeport following its construction in Lockport, Louisiana. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Shannon Kearney)
Cunningham will be homeported in Kodiak with USCGC John Witherspoon (WPC 1158), which arrived in January. Meanwhile, they have a trio of Ketchikan-based sisters: USCGC John McCormick (WPC-1121)— the first Sentinel-class stationed in Alaska in 2017– USCGC Anthony Petit, and USCGC Bailey Barco. They all replaced smaller, cramped 110-foot Island-class cutters, which dated back to the Reagan Administration.
The Coast Guard commissioned its newest cutter, Coast Guard Cutter Earl Cunningham (WPC 1159), for official entry into its service fleet during a ceremony held in Kodiak, Alaska, Aug. 11, 2025. The ceremony was presided over by Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the Coast Guard, and members of the Cunningham family were also in attendance, including the cutter’s sponsor, Penney Helmer, who is also the granddaughter of Earl Cunningham. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by PA3 Carmen Caver)
Armament includes a Mk 38 Mod 2 25mm gun forward and four flex mounts for M2 .50 caliber BMGs (or anything else that can be put on those pintles) along with assorted small arms. These vessels have been operating small UAVs as of late.
The sixth FRC headed to Alaska, the future USCGC Frederick Mann (WPC 1160), was delivered by Bollinger last month and should arrive in Alaskan waters in the coming weeks.
With 67 FRCs contracted by the USCG, and six now serving in the Persian Gulf, the service is negotiating with Bollinger for another 10-to-12 of these hardy vessels.
In June 2021, the Navy announced that Naval Station Everett would be the future home of the first 12 of 20 Constellation-class frigates. The new ships, a variant of the proven Franco-Italian FREMM multipurpose frigate, which has almost two dozen hulls in the water, teased a rapid build-up as they were more or less “off the shelf.”
Except that the Navy wanted to change almost everything on the design.
200430-N-NO101-150 WASHINGTON (April 30, 2020) An artist rendering of the guided-missile frigate FFG(X). The new small surface combatant will have multi-mission capability to conduct air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare, and information operations. (U.S. Navy graphic/Released)
Four years later, and the late and over-budget first frigate of the class, the future USS Constellation (FFG-62), is only 10 percent complete— while the design is yet to be finalized by Big Navy and approved!
It is thought that she will only be delivered in 2029 if no other problems arise.
As Fincantieri Marinette Marine, the builder of the FFG-62s, is also the same yard that had massive issues with the Freedom-class littoral combat ships, which are still trying to get right 20 years into that program, the prospects for 2029 do not seem bright.
Meanwhile, the Royal Australian Navy this week announced it has gone for 10 new upgraded Mogami-class frigates from Mitsubishi in Japan.
The proposed RAN Mogami
The proposed RAN Mogami
The proposed RAN Mogami
The ships will carry the same 32-cell VLS and 16 anti-ship missiles as Constellation, and will have a phased array radar and helicopter/UAV facilities as well as an ASW capability. The Mogamis will only have a 10-cell SeaRam, rather than the 21-cell RAM of Constellation.
With longer legs than the 6,000nm ranged Connies, the RAN Mogamis will be able to steam 10,000nm. They also have a much more capable gun, a full 5″/62 Mk 45, rather than the 57mm Bofors of the Connies. Plus, they will have a set of ASW tubes, which Connie will not.
As the agreement could see steel cut as early as 2026, and MHI has a track record of building Mogamis in less than three years per hull, it is feasible that the Aussies could see their first new Japanese-built frigate in 2029.
Today is the 235th anniversary of the circa 1790 founding of Alexander Hamilton’s old Revenue Cutter Service/Revenue Marine, which became today’s U.S. Coast Guard.
It is also the rough 35th anniversary of the beginning of the USCG’s continuing service in the Arabian and Persian Gulfs, which is about 6,700 miles as the crow flies from the continental U.S.
When Saddam crossed the line into Kuwait on 2 August 1990, the resulting Operation Desert Storm build-up in Saudi Arabia soon saw Coast Guard Marine Safety Offices (MSOs) activate personnel to inspect the nearly 80 Ready Reserve Fleet (RRF) vessels preparing for sea duty.
Soon after, four 10-man USCG LEDETs and a 7-man staff liaison team deployed to the Gulf to work from U.S. and allied vessels to inspect shipping.
USCG LEDET on a Turkish ship during Desert Shield
The first Iraqi ship impounded, Zanoobia, was on 4 September by a LEDET team from USS Goldsborough (DDG 20). Once the shooting started as Desert Shield became Desert Storm, LEDET personnel helped clear Iraqi oil platforms, securing 11 such platforms and aiding in the capture of 23 Iraqi prisoners, with one of the busiest being on the OHP-class frigate USS Nicholas (FFG-47).
Something like 60 percent of the 600 boardings carried out by U.S. forces were either led by or supported with the USCG LEDETs– which shows how busy those 40 guys were!
Further, 950 USCGR personnel were activated to support Desert Storm, with over half of those being in Port Security Units.
As noted by the USCG Historian’s Office:
On September 14th, PSU 303 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) became the first Port Security Unit deployed overseas when it was assigned to Al Damman, Saudi Arabia.
On September 22nd, PSU 301 (Buffalo, New York) deployed to Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia, and on November 14th, PSU 302 (Port Clinton, Ohio) deployed to Bahrain.
These PSUs featured the first Coast Guard women to serve in combat roles, including female machine gunners assigned to “Raider” tactical Port Security Unit boats.
The first allied craft into Kuwait’s Mina Ash Shuwaikh Harbor on 21 April 1991 was a Coast Guard Raider tactical port security boat from PSU 301, which gingerly led a procession of multinational vessels into the harbor.
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 302 patrol the harbor aboard a Navy harbor patrol boat during Operation Desert Shield.
Finally, to address the ecological nightmare that occurred once Saddam ordered scorched earth on the Kuwait oilfields during the liberation, on 13 February 1991, two USCG HU-25A Falcon jets, equipped with AIREYE side airborne looking radar (SILAR) and oil detection equipment, flew from Air Station Cape Cod to Saudi Arabia, supported by two Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules cargo aircraft from Air Station Clearwater packed with ground crew, spare aviation parts and support packages.
The Falcons were deployed for 84 days and mapped over 40,000 square miles of the Persian Gulf. They logged 427 flight hours in the region and maintained an aircraft readiness rate of over 96 percent. These flights provided daily updates on the size and direction of the spill.
Post Desert Storm, with LEDETs continuing work with the 5th Fleet Maritime Interception Force adjacent to Operation Southern Watch from 1992 onward, in November 2002, the all-USCG Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) was stood up with what would eventually become six 110-foot Island class cutters (USCGC Adak, Aquidneck, Baranof, Maui, Monomoy, and Wrangell).
Persian Gulf (April 27, 2005) – Coast Guardsmen aboard U.S Coast Guard Cutter Monomoy (WPB 1326) wave goodbye to the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 74) after the first underway fuel replenishment (UNREP) between a U.S. Navy cruiser and a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter. Antietam completed fuel replenishment with the Monomoy in about two hours and saved the 110-foot patrol boat a four-hour trip to the nearest refueling station. Antietam and Monomoy are conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the Persian Gulf as part of Commander, Task Force Five Eight CTF-58). U.S. Navy photo by Journalist Seaman Joseph Ebalo (RELEASED)
7/25/2007. NORTH ARABIAN GULF-Petty Officer 3rd Class William J. Burke performs a security sweep aboard a tanker ship in the North Arabian Gulf. Burke, a machinery technician, is part of Law Enforcement Detachment 106, which is deployed in the NAG to help train Iraqi Navy and Marine personnel in boarding procedures and tactics. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Public Affairs Specialist 2nd Class Nathan Henise.
As it had in Operation Desert Storm, the Coast Guard deployed port security units, law enforcement detachments, and patrol boats to the Middle East to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism. Adak captured the first Iraqi maritime prisoners of the war, whose patrol boat had been destroyed upstream by an AC-130 gunship.
USCG small boat team conducting operations in the Gulf – 31 August 2022
In OIF, LEDETs deployed on Coast Guard and Navy patrol craft continued to board and inspect vessels in the Northern Arabian Gulf. As a member of one of these LEDETs, DC3 Nathan B. “Nate” Bruckenthal died when boarding an explosives-laden dhow that detonated near USS Firebolt (PC-10).
Today, PATFORSWA is still very much in business with six new 154-foot Fast Response Cutters (USCGC Charles Moulthrope, Robert Goldman, Glen Harris, Emlen Tunnell, John Scheuerman, and Clarence Sutphin Jr) replacing the old 110s in 2021-22.
220822-A-KS490-1182 STRAIT OF HORMUZ (Aug. 22, 2022) From the left, U.S. Coast Guard fast response cutters USCGC Glen Harris (WPC 1144), USCGC John Scheuerman (WPC 1146), USCGC Emlen Tunnell (WPC 1145) and USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr. (WPC 1147) transit the Strait of Hormuz, Aug. 22. The cutters are forward-deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet to help ensure maritime security and stability across the Middle East. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Noah Martin)
With some 300 personnel assigned, it is the largest Coast Guard command outside of the U.S.
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Warship Wednesday, July 30, 2025: Ocean Station Savior
Above we see the 255-foot Owasco-class gunboat, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Pontchartrain (WPG-70) during rough weather while slogging along in the Pacific, 8 January 1950.
Commissioned during the last days of WWII, some 80 years ago this week, “Ponch” had a lengthy career that included lots of dreary service on Ocean Stations (13 of those shifts during Korea), a Vietnam Market Time deployment, and numerous rescues at sea– including one that was spectacular.
The 255s
The Coast Guard got seriously ripped off by the White House in early 1941 when 10 of its best (and newest) blue water cutters, the entire 250-foot Lake (Chelan) class, were transferred to the Royal Navy as part of FDR’s “Bases for Destroyers” deal. These hardy 2,000-ton turbine-powered low-mileage cutters became Banff-class sloops in RN service and saw lots of service, with three lost during the war and a fourth damaged so badly she was scrapped in the Philippines.
A splendid example of the 250-foot Lake class cutters, USCGC Pontchartrain (WPG-46) and USCGC Chelan (WPG-45), seen on 30 September 1937. Under the canvas awnings are a 5″/51 forward, a 3″/50 aft, and two 6-pounders.
By 1942, with it apparent that the old Lakes would likely never return from overseas (at least not for years) and the U.S. firmly in the war, the USCG moved to build a replacement class of ten ships. To this number was added another three hulls, to finally replace the ancient cutters Ossipee(165 ft, circa 1915), Tallapoosa(165 ft, circa 1915), and Unalaga(190 ft, circa 1912).
Originally a 312-foot design that was a simplified follow-on to the service’s seven well-liked turbine-powered 327-foot Treasury (Campbell) class cutters, which had a provision to carry a JF-2/SOC-4 floatplane as well as two 5″/51s and ASW gear, this soon morphed into a much more compact 255-foot hull with an even heavier armament. The 255-foot oal guideline (245 at the waterline) conceivably allowed them to pass through the then 251-foot third lock of the Welland Canal in Ontario if needed, so they could operate on the Great Lakes at some future date.
The 1945 outfit for the class was twin 5″/38 DP mounts fore and aft, backed up by two quad 40mm Bofors, a Hedgehog ASWRL, two depth charge racks, and six K-guns. Overloaded already in such an arrangement, there was never a floatplane fitted, although the superstructure was divided into two islands to allow a midship location on deck for such a contraption.
While most carried SR and SU radar sets, Mendota and Pontchartrain carried more updated SC-4 and SF-1 radar sets. They all carried a QJA sonar set and Mk 26 FCS.
255 class leader CGC Owasco (WPG-39) off San Pedro, California. 18 July 1945. Note the short hull, packed with twin 5″/38s fore and aft as well as ASW gear and Bofors mounts.
Powered by twin Foster-Wheeler 2 drum top-fired Express boilers and a 3,200 kVa Westinghouse electric motor driven by a turbine, these cutters were good for 19 knots but could sail 10,000nm at 10 knots economically on 141,755 gallons of fuel oil, giving them extremely long legs. Able to navigate in three fathoms of sea water, they could get into tight spaces.
As detailed by the USCG Historian’s Office:
The 255-foot class was an ice-going design. Ice operations had been assigned to the Coast Guard early in the war, and almost all new construction was either ice-going or icebreaking.
The hull was designed with constant flare at the waterline for ice-going. The structure was longitudinally framed with heavy web frames and an ice belt of heavy plating, and it had extra transverse framing above and below the design water line. Enormous amounts of weight were removed using electric welding. The 250-foot cutters’ weights were used for estimating purposes. Tapered bulkhead stiffeners cut from 12” I-beams went from the main deck (4’ depth of web) to the bottom (8” depth of web). As weight was cut out of the hull structure, electronics and ordnance were increased, but at much greater heights. This top weight required ballasting the fuel tanks with seawater to maintain stability both for wind and damaged conditions.
Eleven of the class were to be built on the West Coast at the Western Pipe and Steel Company in San Pedro, California, with the first, Sebago, laid down on 7 June 1943.
Cost per hull was $4,239,702 in 1945 dollars.
Meet “Raunchy Paunchy”
Our subject is the second USCGC Pontchartrain, following in the footsteps of a circa 1928 Lake-class cutter which, transferred to Royal Navy 30 April 1941 as part of the Bases for Destroyers deal, entered service as HMS Hartland (Y00) and, 17 convoys later, was sunk by the French during Operation Reservist, the effort to seize the port of Oran as part of the Torch landings 19 months later.
While there was one CSS Pontchartrain on the Mississippi (for obvious reasons) during the Civil War, the U.S. Navy has never used the name.
One of only two 255s built on the East Coast at the USCG Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland (alongside sister USCGC Mendota, WPG-69), WPG-70 was the final Owasco-class cutter laid down by hull number, but far from the last completed. They were part of the initial six ships laid down in 1943, while the other eight all had their keels laid down in 1944. Both WPG-69 and WPG-70 were laid down on 5 July 1943.
Launched as Okeechobee on 29 February 1944, our subject was commissioned as USCGC Pontchartrain on 28 July 1945. Had the war not ended six weeks later, she surely would have made for the Panama Canal by Halloween and seen service in the Pacific with her sisters.
Eight of her 12 sisters were completed after VJ Day.
USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) Aug 1945
USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) Sep 1945. Note the split superstructure
Not destined to join Halsey for the push on Tokyo, Pontchartrain instead clocked in on a series of more than a dozen Ocean Stations, mid-way navigation, weather, and SAR points set up post-war to help trans-oceanic flights stay on path. Usually a three-week deployment, it was thankless and, on the very beamy 255s, sometimes one heck of a ride punctuated by regular twice-daily weather balloon launches, 450-foot bathythermograph drops every four hours, and an unceasing radio check.
The cutters steamed an average of 4,000 miles per patrol, and, with transit time included, staffed the station for an average of 700 non-stop hours.
One crew member noted: “After twenty-one days of being slammed around by rough, cold sea swells 20 to 50 feet high, and wild winds hitting gale force at times, within an ocean grid the size of a postage stamp, you can stand any kind of duty.”
Pontchartrain sister, the 255-ft. U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, takes a salty shower bath in rough North Atlantic weather on ocean station ‘Delta’, 650 miles southeast of Newfoundland and east of Nova Scotia
For the record, as noted by Scheina, Pontchartrain stood the lonely guard on 61 occasions:
Atlantic, while stationed at Boston and Norfolk:
20 Oct-10 Nov 46 served on OS C
6-11 Nov 48 served on OS Easy
23 Jan-12 Feb 49 served on OS B
18 Mar-8 Apr 49 served on OS Fox
17 May-7 Jun 49 served on OS Easy
17 Jul-6 Aug 49 served on OS Dog
Pacific, while stationed at Long Beach:
*During the Korean War:
Feb-13 Mar 50 served on OS Oboe
14 May-5 Jun 50 served on OS Peter
4-27 Aug 50 served on OS Nan*
6-26 Mar 51 served on OS Sugar*
13 Apr-5 May 51 served on OS Nan*
8-29 Jul 51 served on OS Nan*
21-29 Oct 51 served on OS Nan*
Nov-2 Dec 51 served on OS Nan*
23 Dec 51-13 Jan 52 served on OS Uncle*
23 Feb-16 Mar 52 served on OS Sugar*
5-25 Apr 52 served on OS Sugar*
29 Jun-20 Jul 52 served on OS Nan*
22 Sep-12 Oct 52 served on OS Nan*
28 Jan-18 Feb 53 served on OS Victor*
30 Mar-20 Apr 53 served on OS Sugar*
2-23 Jul 53 served on OS Uncle*
25 Oct-15 Nov 53 served on OS Uncle
28 Feb-10 Mar 54 served on OS Nan
25 Jul-15 Aug 54 served on OS Nan
17 Oct-7 Nov 54 served on OS Nan
19 Dec 54-10 Jan 55 served on OS Nan
15 May-5 Jun 55 served on OS Nan
18 Sep-8 Oct 55 served on OS Nan
12 Feb-4 Mar 5 served on OS November
8-28 Jul 56 served on OS November
30 Sep-16 Oct 56 served on OS November
21 Dec 56-13 Jan 57 served on OS November
13 May-9 Jun 57 served on OS November
22 Sep-13 Oct 57 served on OS November
17 Feb-8 Mar 58 served on OS November
13 Jul-3 Aug 58 served on OS November
14 Oct-4 Nov 58 served on OS Romeo
7-28 Dec 58 served on OS November
18 Jan-7 Feb 59 served on OS November
27 Sep-17 Oct 59 served on OS November
20 Feb-12 Mar 60 served on OS November
1 16 Jul-6 Aug 60 served on OS November
11-31 Dec 60 served on OS November
7-27 May 61 served on OS November
10-31 Mar 68 served on OS November
12 May-2 Jun 68 served on OS November
14 Jul-4 Aug 68 served on OS November
25 Aug-15 Sep 68 served on OS November
19 Jan-9 Feb 69 served on OS Victor
2-23 Mar 69 served on OS Victor
25 May-14 Jun 69 served on OS November
17 Aug-7 Sep 69 served on OS November
30 Nov- 18 Dec 69 served on OS November
22 Aug-12 Sep 71 served on OS Victor
3-24 Oct 71 served on OS Victor
8-28 Jun 72 served on OS Charlie
15 Aug-8 Sep 72 served on OS Delta
29 Jan-23 Feb 73 served on OS Echo
24 Apr-17 May 73 served on OS Delta
6-26 Sep 73 served on OS Charlie
During this service, her appearance changed significantly.
Laid up from 17 October 1947 to 5 September 1948 as the service ran into post-war budget cuts, she emerged from Curtis Bay with most of her armament removed. Gone were the twin 5-inchers, replaced by a single mount forward. Also deleted were her aft Bofors and all her ASW weapons save for Hedgehog. This nearly halved her complement from over 250 to 130.
USCGC Pontchartrain circa 1958. Note her single 5″/38 DP, with her open Hedgehog and last 40mm Bofors quad mount behind
The clipper, under the command of Pan Am Capt. Richard N. Ogg, with 31 souls aboard, was quickly running out of fuel with a windmilling No. 1 prop and a shutdown No. 4 engine, while still some 250nm out from the California coast.
Nearing OS November, Ogg radioed Pontchartrain, under CDR William K. Earle (USCGA 1940), who provided sea state and weather data to bring the clipper down easily.
The cutter then made ready for SAR and laid a trail of foam to mark the best course, a wet “runway” on the Pacific.
Coast Guard sailors aboard the United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Pontchartrain use foam from firehoses to lay down a “runway” for Flight 6
The clipper ditched less than 2,000 yards away, just after sunrise.
At 6:15 a.m., at approximately 90 knots air speed, the Boeing 377 landed on the water. A wing hit a swell, spinning the airplane to the left. The tail broke off, and the airplane began to settle.
Injuries were minor, and all passengers and crew evacuated the airliner. They were immediately picked up by Pontchartrain.
Captain Ogg and Purser Reynolds were the last to leave the airplane.
Twenty minutes after touching down, at 6:35 a.m., Sovereign of the Skies sank beneath the ocean’s surface.
A USCG film about the incident, including original footage.
Besides Pan Am Flight 6, Pontchartrain escorted the disabled American M/V John C (1950), assisted the disabled F/V Nina Ann (1955), assisted USS LSM-455 aground on San Clemente Island, the disabled yacht Gosling, and the disabled F/V Modeoday (1957), aided the disabled yacht Intrepid (1958), the F/V Carolyn Dee (1959), went to the assistance of M/V Mamie and rescued three from the ketch Alpha (1960), medevaced a patient from USNS Richfield (1961), and assisted the disabled F/V Gaga (1963).
She was a lifesaver.
She was also a fighter.
War!
A quarter-century after joining the fleet, Pontchartrain was finally sent to combat.
USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) Jan 1970. Note she has her “racing stripe.”
She was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three, working in the Vietnam littoral, from 31 March to 31 July 1970. While her 13 stints on wartime Ocean Stations during the Korean War allowed her crew to earn Korean Service Medals, Vietnam was going to be a deployment of naval gunfire support in the littoral, rather than one of quiet radio and weather watches.
USCGC Wachusett (WHEC-44), a 255-foot Owasco-class cutter, providing some blistering NGFS off Vietnam
By this time, the 255s sported SPS-29 and SPS-51 radars, and some had provision for ASW torpedo tubes abeam of the superstructures, the latter aided by SQS-1 sonars. As such, they had been changed from gunboats to the more friendly “high endurance cutters,” or WHECs.
Jane’s 1965 entry for the 255s
Joining CGRON3’s fifth deployment to Southeast Asia, Pontchartrain was the “old man” teamed up with four brand-new 378-foot gas turbine-powered cutters, USCGC Hamilton, Chase, Dallas, and Mellon. Whereas nine of her sisters had been sent to Vietnam previously, Pontchartrain was the last Owasco to pull the duty.
Pontchartrain NGFS Vietnam 1970 Photo by LeRoy Reinburg
While the individual figures for Pontchartrain aren’t available, the large cutters of CGRON3 conducted no less than 1,368 combined NGFS missions during Vietnam, firing a staggering 77,036 5-inch shells ashore. Keep in mind that most of these cutters only carried about 300 rounds in their magazines, so you can look at that amount of ordnance expended as being something like 250 shiploads.
Check out this deck log for one day in July 1970, with Pontchartrain firing 175 rounds by early afternoon against a mix of targets.
Powder and shell consumption was so high that some cutters would have to underway replenish or VERTREP 2-3 times a week while doing gun ops.
At sea off Vietnam. Australian destroyer HMAS Hobart approaching a Mispillion class replenishment oiler USS Passumpsic (AO-107) as it is tanking a Coast Guard 311-foot HEC, likely CGC Pontchartrain. AWM Photo P01904.005 by Peter Michael Oleson.
Returning to Long Beach, Pontchartrain settled back into her normal routine and continued Ocean Station, LE, and SAR work, along with the occasional reservist cruise.
In April 1973, the Coast Guard announced that, in conjunction with the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and the increased use of satellites, the OS program would be discontinued and 10 aging cutters retired– nine of them 255s. Sisters Sebago and Iroquois had already been put out to pasture.
Pontchartrain decommissioned on 19 October 1973, and by the following May, all her sisters had joined her. They would be sold for scrap before the end of 1974.
As for her skipper during the Pan Am Flight 6 rescue, CDR William K. Earle would go on to command the tall ship Eagle during Operation Sail—staged in concert with the 1964 World’s Fair—when 23 such ships assembled in New York Harbor. Retiring as a captain, he penned several articles for Proceedings, was executive director of the USGCA Alumni Association, and editor of the group’s journal. The Association maintains the annual Captain Bill Earle Creative Writing Contest in his honor. Captain Earle passed away in March of 2006.
Sadly, there has not been a third USCGC Pontchartrain.
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
***
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Each summer, I like to run a veggie garden. Just a small manually tended plot with cucumbers, beans, peppers, squash, tomatoes, etc. I love it and often have more than enough for personal use, passing on bags of surplus to grateful friends and neighbors.
(It’s always interesting how much produce you can get from a plot as small as a 1/16 acre)
I can’t recommend it enough.
The only bad part is that (generally) non-GMO, non-irradiated veggies grown without enhancers and pesticides turn south pretty fast. Sometimes faster than you can use them.
One cool thing is that the old ways seem to be growing more popular.
The U.S. has long been trying to establish an Extended Continental Shelf in seven offshore areas: the Arctic off Alaska, the Atlantic (east coast), the Bering Sea, the Pacific (west coast), the Mariana Islands, and two areas in the Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico).
While past the 200nm EEZ, the U.S. ECS seabed stretches as much as 400 miles offshore, protecting exclusive drilling and mining rights in those waters. It’s a real thing under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the U.S. has been actively mapping these ECS areas since 2003.
And inside our claimed area was recently found the China-flagged research ship Xue Long 2 (Snow Dragon 2), which, at 14,300 tons, is China’s first domestically-built polar research vessel, and only entered service in 2019.
The advanced Finnish-designed vessel, operated by the state-owned Polar Research Institute of China, can accommodate 90 crew and scientists and has helicopter/UAV facilities as well as extensive survey capabilities.
A Coast Guard C-130J Hercules aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak detects and responds to the China-flagged research ship Xue Long 2 on the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) in the U.S. Arctic, approximately 290 NM north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, July 25, 2025. The C-130J aircraft was operating under the Coast Guard Arctic District’s Operation Frontier Sentinel, which is designed to meet presence with presence in response to adversary activity in or near Alaskan waters. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Air Station Kodiak)
The U.S. Coast Guard detected and responded to the China-flagged research ship Xue Long 2 on the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) in the U.S. Arctic, approximately 290 NM north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, on Friday.
A Coast Guard C-130J Hercules fixed-wing aircraft from Air Station Kodiak responded to the Xue Long 2, an icebreaker operated by the Polar Research Institute of China, and 130 NM inside the ECS boundary.
The U.S. has exclusive rights to conserve and manage the living and non-living resources of its ECS.
“The U.S. Coast Guard, alongside partners and other agencies, vigilantly monitors and responds to foreign government vessel activity in and near U.S. waters to secure territorial integrity and defend sovereign interests against malign state activity,” said Rear Adm. Bob Little, Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Arctic District.
The C-130J aircraft was operating under the Coast Guard Arctic District’s Operation Frontier Sentinel, which is designed to meet presence with presence in response to adversary activity in or near Alaskan waters.
There has been a lot of quiet yet noteworthy news concerning the Coast Guard in the past couple of weeks.
Blue Water ops abound
First, it should be noted that things are definitely in motion in the Pacific.
The 49-year-old 210-foot USCGC Resolute (WMEC-620) just arrived back in CONUS yesterday, following a 59-day patrol in the Eastern Pacific under JIATF-South, and offloaded over six tons of coke, showing she is still capable of interdiction duty in blue water.
The crew of USCGC Resolute (WMEC 620) poses for a group photo during a drug offload at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, July 17, 2025. Resolute deployed in support of Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-South), an interagency and international task force that conducts counter-illicit trafficking and security cooperation operations in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Riley Perkofski)
The aging 270-foot Bear-class USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC 903), the only member of her class stationed on that side of the globe, just wrapped a 73-day 15,000 nm patrol of Oceania around the Hawaiian Islands, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, and American Samoa.
U.S. Coast Guardsmen assigned to medium endurance cutter USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) prepare to moor the cutter on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii, July 9, 2025. The crew returned from a 73-day patrol during which they exercised partnerships with the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, and New Zealand through bilateral maritime law enforcement agreements. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jennifer Nilson)
They did a lot of “hearts and minds” outreach stuff with allied militaries as well as “interagency and Pacific Island partners to reinforce the rules-based international maritime order in the region.”
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) approaches the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands during a passenger transfer and ship resupply on June 13, 2025. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Austin Wiley)
Next, the frigate-sized USCGC Stratton (WMSL 752) has been busy on a Westpac cruise under the control of 7th Fleet’s DESRON 15. With an embarked ScanEagle UAV detachment and Navy/Marine ship riders, she has been conducting in-port and at-sea engagements with Japan Coast Guard (JCG), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and other “racing stripe” forces in the region.
The Legend-class U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) steams alongside the Japan Coast Guard Patrol Vessel Asanagi (PLH-43) and the Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701) during a trilateral search and rescue exercise in Kagoshima, Japan, June 20, 2025. Stratton is deployed and assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force. Stratton is deployed to the Indo-Pacific to advance relationships with ally and partner nations to build a more secure and prosperous region with unrestricted, lawful access to the maritime commons. (Japan Coast Guard courtesy photo)
Philippine and Japan Coast Guard members observe a ScanEagle long-endurance unmanned aerial system aboard the Legend-class U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) during a trilateral search and rescue exercise in Kagoshima, Japan, June 20, 2025. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kate Kilroy)
She just arrived in Guam with ship riders of the maritime forces from Australia, India, and Japan aboard, and you can spot a few USN Bluejackets among the crew.
Quad partners from the U.S. Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard, Australian Border Force, Indian Coast Guard, and the command and crew of the Legend-class U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) take a photo on the flight deck during the first Quad at-sea mission while Stratton patrols the Pacific Ocean, July 1, 2025. Stratton is deployed and assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force. Stratton is deployed to the Indo-Pacific to advance relationships with ally and partner nations to build a more secure and prosperous region with unrestricted, lawful access to the maritime commons. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kate Kilroy)
Meanwhile, in Alaska, where the USCG counts more than 2,500 active duty, reserve, civilian, and auxiliary personnel, a new (to them) face on the beat has arrived.
The 87-foot USCGC Blacktip (WPB 87326)just reported for duty in her new homeport of Valdez, replacing the recently retired 110-foot Island-class WPB, USCGC Liberty. A key takeaway on that is that she self-deployed there after transiting approximately 2,800 miles.
On an 87-foot boat.
You learn to sail in the Coast Guard, dammit.
Blacktip in Valdez, her new home. A big change from Oxnard. 250708-G-GM914-0001
Speaking of Liberty, the 39-year-old cutter and her two sisters, ex-Mustang (WPB-1310), and Naushon (WPB-1311), completed their final sail, arriving in San Diego from Alaska under USCG crews to be handed over to the Colombian Navy. Other members of the 49-member class have been transferred to Costa Rica, Georgia, Greece, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Ukraine. Only 14 have been scrapped. Not a bad run considering the last unit was delivered from Bollinger in 1992, and they had a 15-year planned lifespan.
A Ukrainian Island-class patrol boat in dazzle camouflage. 2024, with a bit of up-arming from when she was in USCG service. Photo credits: Ukrainian Navy
Also headed to Alaska, eventually, is the recently commissioned “icebreaker” USCGC Storis (WAGB 21), which arrived last week at her temporary homeport in Seattle alongside the service’s other ice crunchers. The service says that “The arrival of Storis marks a milestone in the Coast Guard’s Force Design 2028 initiative and broader Arctic strategy.” She is slated to move to Juneau once a facility is constructed there to berth her.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WAGB 21) transits through Puget Sound en route to Coast Guard Base Seattle, July 11, 2025. The newly acquired polar icebreaker will conduct missions in the Arctic and aims to strengthen the U.S. presence in the region. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Annika Hirschler)
Large Cutter Program Blues
And in “whomp-whomp” news to cheer you on down, the Coast Guard recently did what it probably should have done two years ago and canceled the planned Heritage-class offshore patrol cutters (OPCs) number three and four from Panama City’s Eastern Shipbuilding Group.
Still not here: the Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter/Maritime Security Cutter.
The Florida shipyard won a contract for what should have been the first eight of 25 OPCs in 2016, and, almost a decade later, just two are nearing completion. ESG’s delivery of the first OPC, the future USCGC Argus (WMSM-915), was initially due in June 2023 but will now be completed by the end of 2026 (!) at the earliest. The second OPC, the future USCGC Chase (WMSM-916), was supposed to be delivered in April 2024, and no one really knows when that will actually happen.
Odds are that the future USCGC Ingham (WMSM-917) and Rush (WMSM-918) will likely be re-awarded to Austal in Mobile, which is already working on a second flight of eight OPCs itself. The service needs a second yard on board for these.
I would say that nearby Ingalls had the bandwidth to crank out some of these white hulls, but the USCG last month terminated their contract for the 11th and final National Security Cutter last month, clawing back $260 million in long-lead funds already awarded for that long-overdue vessel. The service will use the parts and materials to keep its 10 other Ingalls-built NSCs running.
It’s a shame as the NSCs are the most functional cutters ever to sail under Coast Guard tasking, and, like Stratton above, are a favorite in the Westpac to fill frigate missions that the Navy has few other assets to accomplish.
South Dakota-based Black Hills just picked up a $42 million, five-year contract (below) from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane for 5.56mm Long Range, Special Ball, MK 262 MOD 1 Ammunition, with the first bite being for the USCG, likely for its MSSF or HITRON guys. This tracks as Black Hills last year got a $30 million contract for 9mm barrier blind cartridges from NSWC Corona.
Introduced in 1999, Black Hills guarantees its 77-grain MK 262 MOD 1, which has a velo of 2750 fps, with sub 2″ groups (.64 MOA maximum/10-shot groups). Commercially packed BH MK 262 rounds “good price” at about $1.42 a round, translating the Crane award to being worth at least 30 million rounds, hopefully more.
The award:
Black Hills Ammunition Inc.,* Rapid City, South Dakota, is awarded a $42,480,300 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for 5.56mm Long Range, Special Ball, MK 262 MOD 1 Ammunition. This contract does not include options. Work will be performed in Rapid City, South Dakota, and is expected to be completed by July 2030. Fiscal 2025 Ammo Procurement (Coast Guard) funding in the amount of $292,644 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured on the basis of 100% Small Business Set-Aside and two offers were received via the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment Solicitation Module. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contract activity (N0016425DJN13).
