The 940-page One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R.1, has something in it for everyone to like, and everyone to hate, making it a universal adapter of sorts.
What may be missed by others is that it also has a record $25 billion windfall for the USCG (“the largest single commitment of funding in Service history”), a welcome sight for one of the most shoestring of uniformed services. Keep in mind that the Coast Guard’s annual FY26 budget is just $14.5 billion.
As noted by the service, “this funding will allow the Coast Guard to procure an estimated 17 new icebreakers, 21 new cutters, over 40 helicopters, and six C-130J aircraft while modernizing shore infrastructure and maritime surveillance systems.”
Investment highlights include:
$4.4 billion for shore infrastructure, training facilities, and homeports
$4.3 billion for Polar Security Cutters, extending U.S. reach in the Arctic
$4.3 billion for nine new Offshore Patrol Cutters
$3.5 billion for three Arctic Security Cutters
$2.3 billion for more than 40 MH-60 helicopters
$2.2 billion for depot-level maintenance to sustain readiness
$1.1 billion for six new HC-130J aircraft and simulators
$1 billion for Fast Response Cutters
$816 million for light and medium Icebreaking Cutters
$266 million for long-range unmanned aircraft systems
$170 million for maritime domain awareness, including next-generation sensors
$162 million for three Waterways Commerce Cutters
The future 360-foot Offshore Patrol Cutter Argus in launch position. Nine sisterships are funded under the OBBB, at about $478 million a pop. Photo: Eastern Shipbuilding Group.
“The sun reflected on the ocean’s surface as two MH-60R (Romeo) Sea Hawk helicopters carrying a duo of Navy photographers flew toward a metal behemoth steaming quietly on the horizon. As the helicopters approached the vessel, they were joined by two U.S. Army AH-64 Apaches—their wasp-like appearance befitting the attack helicopter’s mission and armament.
Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ryan Riley, a U.S. Navy Sailor assigned to Submarine Group (SUBGRU) 9, raised the viewfinder of his camera, adjusted the settings, and snapped a photo of the first-of-its-kind armed air escort (AAE) exercise led by U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM).”
250424-N-DK460-1015 PACIFIC OCEAN (April 24, 2025)—U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters, attached to the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, attached to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 37, and Military Sealift Command submarine support vessel MV Malama escort the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Kentucky (SSBN 737) during a routine armed air escort exercise, April 24, 2025. Commander, Submarine Group (SUBGRU) 9 exercises administrative control authority for assigned submarine commands and units in the Pacific Northwest, providing oversight for shipboard training, personnel, supply, and material readiness of submarines and their crews. SUBGRU-9 is also responsible for nuclear submarines undergoing conversion or overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gwendelyn Ohrazda)
U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters and a submarine support vessel escort the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Kentucky (SSBN 737) during a routine armed air escort (AAE) exercise, April 24, 2025. AAEs are designed to improve interoperability between our services, increasing lethality through multi-domain integration. Commander, Submarine Group (SUBGRU) 9, exercises administrative control authority for assigned submarine commands and units in the Pacific Northwest, providing oversight for shipboard training, personnel, supply, and material readiness of submarines and their crews. SUBGRU-9 is also responsible for nuclear submarines undergoing conversion or overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gwendelyn Ohrazda)
How about this great recent set of image of the 87-foot Marine Protector-class patrol boat, USCGC Bonito (WPB-87341), as she leads a formation of Coast Guard units from Station Kings Point, Station Sandy Hook, and Station New York on a transverse of the the Hudson River with New York City in the background.
As for Bonito, commissioned in 2002, she was formerly stationed in Pensacola until she had her mid-life overhaul at the Coast Guard Yard. She was then moved first to Montauk and then, last year, to Sandy Hook.
She was one of the first assets on scene during the high-profile loss of a tourist helicopter in the Hudson River near the Holland Tunnel in New York City.
An isolated coral atoll of 22 islands inhabited by about 1,000 locals, Woleai is 35nm away from the nearest other inhabited island (which has a population of about 500) and is 400 miles away from the nearest serious airport in Guam.
The current civil airfield, an overgrown 1,200-foot strip that hasn’t been used in two decades, is listed as “closed for repairs.” The most reliable physical connection to the outside world these days is a semi-regular four-day boat service with Yap, some 350 miles away.
Considered part of the Caroline Islands under the Spanish from 1686 on, and briefly under the Germans from 1899, the Japanese navy scooped up the chain in 1914 as part of the Emperor’s contribution to the Great War. Post-Versailles, the Japanese retained Woleai under the South Seas Mandate and during WWII transformed it into a fortress, complete with a 3,300-foot airstrip (Falalap Airfield), seaplane base, and port facilities, protected by a 6,000-strong garrison.
Starting in late March 1944 and continuing for the next 18 months, the U.S. military turned the airfield and harbor at Woleai into a smoking ruin as extensively detailed in NARA reports.
Woleai under attack, 1 April 1944, by Navy carrier-based aircraft. US Air Force Reference Number: 60226AC
Japanese airfield on the Island of Woleai Atoll under attack by Task Force 58 planes, probably on 1 April 1944. 80-G-45318
The first large raids, by TF 58 F6Fs, SBDs, and TBFs from USS Lexington (CV 16), USS Bunker Hill (CV 19), and USS Hornet (CV 12), were followed after August 1944 by Army tactical air (P-47s, etc) flying from recently occupied Saipan. Then came regular airstrikes by land-based Navy bombers and flying boats (PB4Y-1s, PV-1s, and PBY-5s) of VD-5, VPB-133, VP-33, VP-52, VB-150, and VPB-151.
Left to wither on the vine, the garrison had constricted to just over 1,600 when USS Sloat (DE-245) arrived two weeks after VJ Day with the unarmed 9,300-ton Japanese hospital Takasago Maru to accept the island’s surrender. It was all very unceremonial.
Unlike other islands in the Pacific, there were no documented holdouts on Woleai. The Japanese there just wanted to go home.
Members of the Japanese garrison on Woleai Island in the Caroline Islands about to be evacuated by a waiting ship. Japanese prisoners are searched by US Marine Corps enlisted men. The Japanese appeared to be in good physical shape, in direct contrast to those found on other islands. 80-G-495722
Japanese rifles and samurai swords are neatly stacked by members of the Japanese garrison on tiny Woleai, an island in the Carolines just west of Truk, preparatory to being evacuated by US Pacific Units cleaning up by-passed islands in the Pacific, September 1945. 80-G-485723
Three days later, with the garrison loaded on Takasago Maru and the garrison’s weapons and interesting equipment stowed aboard Sloat, the two vessels went their separate ways.
Administered by the Navy (U.S. Naval Base Woleai for a time) as a Trust Territory until 1979, the Carolines became the Federated States of Micronesia, and Woleai soon after the Cold War became a backwater for real. I can’t find where a U.S. warship has visited the island since Johnson was in office (USS Brister (DER-327) in February 1965).
So it should not be surprising that the Chinese government just recently broke ground on a new airport project in Wolei.
Did we mention this is just 400 miles from Guam?
As noted by The Island Times, “The FSM maintains diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China, while Palau and the Marshall Islands, which also have Compacts of Free Association with the United States, recognize Taiwan.”
Of course, they won’t be yellow when they get operational, but the Navy quietly marked a milestone in undersea warfare: the successful forward-deployed launch and recovery of the HHI Yellow Moray uncrewed underwater vehicle, a variant of the company’s REMUS 600 series UUV, from the USS Delaware (SSN 791), a Block III Virginia-class submarine. In a further note, Delaware was the first American warship commissioned while underwater, making her the ideal historical testbed for such devices.
250501-N-N0736-1001 NORFOLK (May 01, 2025) – Sailors attached to the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Delaware (SSN 791) lower a Yellow Moray (REMUS 600) unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) into the water during a UUV exercise in Haakosnsvern Naval Base in Haakonsvern, Norway, and then swim it to the sub. (Courtesy Photo)
The Yellow Moray UUV executed a pre-programmed mission profile showcasing the potential to greatly enhance the Navy’s subsea and seabed warfare (SSW) capabilities. The successful completion of this mission demonstrates the feasibility of deploying robotic and autonomous systems from submarines, opening new possibilities for clandestine operations and battlespace preparation. As part of this operation, Delaware executed three Yellow Moray UUV sorties of about 6-10 hours each using the same vehicle, validating the reliability of the system and the ability to execute multiple missions without the need for divers to launch and recover the vehicle.
But wait, there is more:
This deployment also highlighted the ability of the Submarine Force and UUV Group 1 to learn fast and overcome barriers. During the first attempts to launch and recover in a Norwegian Fjord in February, the vehicle failed to recover to the torpedo tube after multiple attempts. After recovering the UUV to a surface support vessel, technicians discovered damage to a critical part. To avoid impacts to the ship’s deployment schedule and operations, the Submarine Force (SUBFOR) shipped the UUV back to the U.S. and replaced the failed component. Knowing there was another opportunity to operate the system later in the deployment, SUBFOR returned the UUV to the theater where Delaware completed an expeditionary reload, and multiple successful UUV torpedo tube launch and recovery operations. As part of the expeditionary load, the team also executed a first-ever pierside diver torpedo tube load of the UUV in Norway, providing the operational commander with flexible options.
While the Yellow Moray itself doesn’t have much information, check out this backgrounder on the REMUS 620, its developmental “daddy”:
For better or worse, the third-hand 360-foot oilfield support vessel M/V Aiviq, acquired in December 2024 from an Edison Chouest Offshore subsidiary, was renamed the future USCGC Storis (WAGB 21) and has spent the past six months in a series of shipyard availabilities along the Gulf Coast.
This week, “following modifications to enhance communications and self-defense capabilities,” the country’s newest “polar icebreaker” departed Bollinger’s yard in Escatawpa (formerly VT Halter) on its “maiden voyage to safeguard U.S. sovereign interests in the Arctic and conduct Coast Guard missions.”
Photos courtesy of Edison Chouest Offshore.
While scheduled to be commissioned in Juneau this August, where she will eventually be based once the service has built the necessary infrastructure for her, in the meantime, Storis will be homeported in Seattle with the agency’s other icebreakers. The cutter’s new skipper is the former captain of the USCGC Polar Star (WAGB 10), so at least he is used to working with a mixed bill of goods.
To be clear, Storis will be used as a bridging strategy to “expand U.S. operational presence in the Arctic and support Coast Guard missions.”
At the same time, the service awaits the delivery of the delayed, and much more capable (potentially to include anti-ship missiles) 460-foot, 19,000-ton (launch weight) icebreaking multi-mission Polar Security Cutter class.
You have to be under a rock to have not seen the news that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) recently hit the button on an operation– dubbed “Pavutyna” (Spideweb)– some 18 months in the making.
The complex logistics involved smuggling nearly 200 FPV drones and their mobile storage hangars into Russia.
The drones, likely fiber-optic controlled (hence “Spider Web”) so as to counteract EW defenses, were hidden inside 20-foot ISO shipping containers with roofs rigged to slide open via remote control to allow their UAV cargoes to lift off toward their targets– Russian strategic aircraft, often nuclear-capable.
The trucks were staged very near bases and controlled via datalink back in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the drivers were already well on their way to exfiltrating.
Check this out for a great nuts and bolts on how the raid happened.
While one strike– on the Ukrainka air base near Seryshevo in far-off Amur oblast– failed when the truck exploded, four other strikes, using 117 drones, were more successful.
The strikes hit:
Belaya Air Base in the Irkutsk Region of the Russian Far East, some 2,600 miles from Ukraine, damaging at least one Tu-95MS Bear and two Tu-22M3 Blackjacks. TASS reports it is the first strike into Siberia during the war.
Near Murmansk, the Ukrainians hit Olenya Air Base, some 1,100 miles north of their border, damaging at least 4 Tu-95s, allegedly a Tu-160 Swan, and an An-12.
At Ivanono Air Base, some 620 miles north of Ukraine and only 150 miles from Moscow, they hit an A-50 Mainstay (Russki AWACS).
Closest to home, at Dyaglievo near Ryazan, some 320 miles north of Ukraine and some 120 miles from Moscow, they hit “more than 10” aircraft.
The damage assessments and claims are all over the place. Whereas Ukraine says they damaged/destroyed 41 strategic Russian airframes, according to the OSINT project AviVector, only 13 were hit on camera.
The Russians themselves are tight-lipped as to any losses.
It was dramatic, for sure, but it took 18 months to set up, and surely benefited from Western intelligence as to targeting packages.
Did it reallyaccomplish a lot?
Probably not on a strategic scale, other than the fact that it will now stress the Russians into sanitizing their bases, far from the front lines, for random trucks and curious buildings anywhere within a few kilometers of their flight lines, as the fiber-optic controlled battery-powered drones have a very short range. This ties down troops. Lots of them. All for the cost of some cheap drones, some converted trucks, and the risk to some drivers who were already headed home before the button was pressed.
The big thing is the precedent.
‘Taranto Harbour, Swordfish from Illustrious Cripple the Italian Fleet, 11 November 1940′ by Charles David Cobb. Painting in the collection of the National Museum
Much how the nighttime raid on the Italian port of Taranto by 21 Fleet Air Arm Fairly Swordfish on 11/12 November 1940 left three Italian battleships and a heavy cruiser damaged, but paved the way for a much more successful and much larger strike by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor 13 months later, Pavutyna could be the rough blueprint for a first strike in the next big war.
USS SHAW exploding at Pearl Harbor. NARA 80-G-16871
What if China had 2,000 such drones set to attack 50 strategic bases and communication nodes in the U.S. on D1? What if they had another 2,000 set to go after infrastructure such as nuclear power plants, dams, and the like?
At the same time, the five Marine Corps bases will host drone competitions to test Marine teams from across the fleet on “hunter-killer” drone employment, speed, and agility, with the first event occurring at Quantico, Virginia, in November.
Lots of interesting stories from the USCG that have likely slipped through under the radar for most in the past couple of weeks.
M4 profile, just the essentials
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Calhoun (WMSL 759)recently offloaded more than 19,055 pounds of cocaine and marijuana valued at approximately $140.9 million in Port Everglades, Florida, the result of five interdictions in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea by interagency partners under JIATF-S.
Check out this GM2’s carbine (and holstered Glock), from Calhoun.
Petty Officer 2nd Class David Hopkins, a gunner’s mate aboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Calhoun (WMSL 759), watches illegal narcotics in Port Everglades, May 16, 2025. (Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jessica Walker)
The no-frills setup runs an Aimpoint Patrol Rifle Optic (PRO) red dot reflex sight on a QRP2 mount rather than an ACOG or Elcan. His short quad rail has an inexpensive ($125 if you shop around) Streamlight TLR RM2 1,000 lumen white light. Note the KAC 300M flip-up rear sight in case the Aimpoint takes a nap. Magpul PMAG and Mechanix gloves for the win.
USCG Hero remembered on DDG
The keel for the future USS Quentin Walsh (DDG 132), an Arleigh Burke-class Flight III guided missile destroyer, was laid down during a ceremony on 20 May at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine.
The ship’s sponsor is Madison Ann Zolper, great-granddaughter of the ship’s namesake, Coast Guard Capt. Quentin R. Walsh (USCGA 1933), who earned the Navy Cross for his heroic actions during the liberation of the strategic French port of Cherbourg in World War II.
Future USS Quentin Walsh’s (DDG 132) sponsor, Madison Ann Zolper, welded her initials into the ship’s keel plate for authentication during a keel laying ceremony at Bath Iron Works, Maine. (NAVSEA photos)
Cmdr. Quentin R. Walsh in his dress blues bearing his recently awarded Navy Cross Medal. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
Armed with bazookas, hand grenades, rifles, and submachine guns, he and his party overcame sniper fire and blew open steel doors of underground bunkers. About 400 of the Germans in the arsenal area surrendered. Walsh’s command went on to capture Fort Du Homet and its garrison of 350 men. In all, his 53-man special force was credited with taking about 750 German prisoners and liberating 52 captured American paratroopers.
For his actions in and around Cherbourg beginning June 9, he received the Navy Cross. The citation for the award noted:
“Heroism as Commanding Officer of a U.S. Naval party reconnoitering the naval facilities and naval arsenal at Cherbourg June 26 and 27, 1944. While in command of a reconnaissance party, Commander Walsh entered the port of Cherbourg and penetrated the eastern half of the city, engaging in street fighting with the enemy. He accepted the surrender and disarmed 400 of the enemy force at the naval arsenal and later received the unconditional surrender of 350 enemy troops and, at the same time, released 52 captured U.S. Army paratroopers. His determination and devotion to duty were instrumental in the surrender of the last inner fortress of the Arsenal.”
First visit to Nuku Hiva in over 150 years
The Bear-class 270-foot cutter USCG Cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC 903), the first of her class to be moved to the Pacific, has been roaming around recently. Last week, she called on Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. In doing so, she is the first American warship to dock there since the sloop-of-war USS Vandalia in 1858.
USCG Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) at Nuku Hiva, CWO2 Michael Deaton & BM3 Joseph Curran
The windswept island has hosted Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson in the past, along with the famed 46-gun frigate USS Essex in 1813, putting Harriet Lane in good company.
CG SF in the PI
While the USCGC Stratton was in the Philippines, forward deployed as part of DESRON 15, a det from the Coast Guard’s San Diego-based Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) West has been working with the Philippine Coast Guard Special Operations Force in a dynamic training exercise in Puerto Princesa, leaving the question of what is better camo for sea ops, the green-based Scorpion OCP or the grey-based Camopat.
Photos by Petty Officer 3rd Class William Kirk:
Last Islands sent to Colombia
We’ve recently covered the recent decommissioning of the final three 110-foot Island class cutters on the beat in the U.S.– USCGC Liberty (WPB-1334),Mustang (WPB-1310), and Naushon (WPB-1311)-– long-serving in Alaska for the past 30 years. It seems they are headed south for continued service alongside each other, sisters to the end.
The decommissioned and disarmed USCGCs Naushon (WPB 1311), Mustang (WPB 1310), and Liberty (WPB 1334) transit through Seymour Narrows in British Columbia, Canada, in May 2025, heading from their longtime home in Alaska to San Diego and warmer climes. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of USCGC Mustang)
On 19 May, representatives from the Colombian Navy received the trio in a ceremony held at the port of San Diego through the Excess Defense Articles program. They will receive a refit in the States before the official handover.
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.
While patrolling international waters off the Pacific coasts of Mexico, Central, and South America, Kimball’s crew interdicted five suspected drug smuggling vessels, seizing $191 million worth of cocaine and apprehending 18 suspected drug smugglers.
Maritime enforcement specialists from Tactical Law Enforcement Team South and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (WMSL 756) crewmembers interdict a suspected drug smuggling vessel while patrolling the Eastern Pacific Ocean, March 4, 2025. The U.S. Coast Guard is increasing its presence in key areas to secure the U.S. maritime border against the flow of cocaine, fentanyl, and other illegal drugs. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Max Hanfland)
Note her embarked crew included at least two NWU III camo-wearing USN enlisted (left) balanced against the ship’s crew in blue, the TACLET team in OCP, and the HITRON guys in Nomex flight suits. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Austin Wiley)
A video of one of the intercepts showing TACLET at work. Note the Gen 5 G19s. The USCG notably uses them rather than the M17/M18.
Kimball also released a very well-done 90-second moto video of the patrol, leaning into not only the seizure operations but also showing some rare footage of the cutter’s CIWS and Mk 110 in live-fire action along with small arms and HITRON clips.
There is no secret that the Navy has often used undersea surveillance sonar such as the German-made Cerberus anti-diver set for years in sensitive areas such as strategic ports, NSYs, and homeports.
For instance, more than 20 years ago:
050815-N-1722M-026 Pascagoula, Miss. (Aug 15, 2005) – Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit One Two (EODMU-12) Det 10 prepare to guide the Cerberus Swimmer Detection System into the water at Naval Station Pascagoula during the Gulf Coast Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative 2005. The initiative is being held at the Port of Pascagoula in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, along with federal, state, and local agencies working together to enhance homeland security. U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Michael Moriatis (RELEASED)
Plus, there are regular harbor inspections and exercises by USCGR PSUs and USNR MIUWUs, not to mention state and local dive teams and UXO/EOD dets.
Now the ante has been quietly upped in the form of full-time AUSVs.
I’ve covered the Ocean Aero Triton, which is capable of sailing autonomously for 3 months on solar and wind power at speeds of up to 5 knots, several times in the past couple of years. I see them a lot as the company is based here in Gulfport.
Up she comes.
It seems the Triton is now also “on the job” in the port, basically making a baseline scan of the bottom and then repeating the grid to look for new items which would be interesting to take a closer look at to see if they are, well, an old refrigerator, or a sea mine.
Some 85 years ago this week, on 7 May 1940, the Swiss Federal Council authorized General Guisan to set up Local Guards (Ortswehren, gardes locales, guardie locali), a home guard organization outside the regular Swiss Army and reserves.
Whereas regular service with the Army ran to age 60, with most active requirements stopping at age 50, the Local Guard was able to enlist those young men who were not old enough to be conscripted yet, and those who had aged out at age 70. Finally, those medically unfit for service or, for one reason or another, can not serve in the Army were rolled into the Local Guard.
They typically wore civilian clothes, mixed with old uniforms from prior service, and used personal or donated rifles, with a few old Eidgenössische Waffenfabrik Modell 1889/96 rifles eventually taken from storage for the force.
As with the British Home Guard (Dad’s Army), there was a dedicated partisan in waiting vibe to the Ortswehr, especially in bicycle-equipped units.
The role of the Local Guards during the last mobilization was mentioned in the Final Report of the Chief of the General Staff of the Army as follows:
“The Local Guards contribute by their presence to reassure the population of the hinterland that no longer feels completely at the mercy of saboteurs, the 5th column, paratroopers or motorized detachments that would have pierced the front.”
The force reached 127,563 men in 2,835 units by January 1941 and then stabilized at around 155,000 for the rest of the war. Keep in mind that at the time, the country only had a population of about 4 million, of which 850,000 were on the rolls of the Swiss Army, albeit only about half of those were on active orders. Between the Army and the Ortswehr, you are looking at a full quarter of the Swiss population under arms.
A Schweizer Réduit indeed.
The Swiss thought the Ortswehr important enough to keep around until 1967, and the word is still in use in the cantons today for local fire fighter organizations.
