Category Archives: USCG

Decisively Samudravijaya, or, Starting a New Career at 58

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The ex-USCGC Decisive (WMEC 629), a B-Type Reliance-class 210-foot gunboat/cutter, is now in active service as SLNS Samudravijaya (SLS P 628) in the Sri Lankan Navy. I guess SLS P 629 was already taken or something.

Note she now carries a twin Bofors 40mm L70 mount forward, an upgrade from the MK 38 25mm chain gun she carried for the past 30 years with the USCG, while, arguably, still short of the 3″/50 MK 22 Decisive, which she was commissioned with in 1968.

A simple ship with twin diesel engines and almost zero automation, she joins class member SLNS Samudura (P261)/ex-USCGC Courageous, which has been in service with the force since 2005, and two former 378-foot Hamilton-class cutters transferred in recent years, SLNS Gajabahu (P626)/ex-USCGC Sherman, and SLNS Vijayabahu (P627)/ex-USCGC Munro.

She self-deployed 14,775nm to her new home from the USCG Yard at Curtis Bay, ironically, where she was built in the 1960s.

Once upon a time, she was stationed at CGS Pascagoula, formerly NAVSTA Pascagoula, directly across from Ingalls on Singing River Island– where I was very familiar with the “Swamp Rats” and toured her for an article in Sea Classics— before her final assignment to Pensacola in 2017.

A bit of Decisive remains on the Gulf Coast.

One of Decisive’s 26-foot Mark V Motor Surfboats (MSB), DEC1 is preserved as part of the USCG static display at the Battleship Alabama Park in Mobile.

This circa 1994 MSB MKV replaced one of Decisive’s original 1960s-era wooden-hulled 26-foot Monomoy surfboats and was used aboard while the cutter was stationed at Pascagoula. It was the go-to when having to conduct boardings or rescues in heavy seas.

Dubbed a “bathtub” for obvious reasons, these craft were self-righting and self-bailing. The MSB MKV was built by Ocean Technical Services in Harvey, Louisiana, and used a Cummings 4BT3.9M diesel to push it at 18 knots.

Typically manned by three, it could carry 10 passengers or 15 survivors in a pinch, depending on size.

The exhibit includes not only the surfboat but also a 41-foot UTM, a S-61/HUS-1G/HH-52A Seaguard (1371), and a S-55B/HO4S-2/HH-19G (1258), the latter two sourced from the National Museum of Naval Aviation to honor the nearby CG Aviation Training Center (ATC), which has trained the service’s pilots and aircrew since 1966.

Warship Wednesday 3 June 2026: The Mighty Mud Duck

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Here at LSOZI, we take a break every Wednesday to explore the old steam/diesel navies from 1833 to 1954, profiling a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger 

If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”

Warship Wednesday 3 June 2026: The Mighty Mud Duck

USCG Historians Office

Above we see the 240-foot Tampa-class cruising cutter/gunboat USCGC Modoc (WPG-46) in her circa 1922-1940 peacetime white and buff livery, likely somewhere off North Carolina, her stomping grounds when not on ice patrol.

A hard-charger in an interesting class of cutters, Modoc had several brushes with history during her career and wartime service.

The Tampas

In late 1917, with 47 USCG cutters and 272 boat stations transferred to the Navy’s control under the mobilization plan for the American entry to the Great War, six of the smaller service’s largest cruising cutters on the East Coast– the 205-foot USCGC Algonquin and Manning, Seneca (204 feet), Ossipee (165 feet), Tampa (190 feet), and Yamacraw (191 feet)– had been quickly fitted with extra guns and depth charges and sent overseas to Gibraltar.

The 205-foot USCGC Seneca, among the largest and most capable cutters when the U.S. entered the Great War, spent 1917-19 overseas on convoy escort duty

The six-pack formed Patrol Squadron Two of the Atlantic Fleet Patrol Forces, Sixth Division, and were tasked with escort duties for convoys sailing between England and the Mediterranean. They gave yeoman service, with Tampa tragically lost during the conflict. Seneca alone escorted 30 convoys, accounting for an armada of more than 500 ships.

With that as a forward, on 12 November 1917, the Navy General Board met with USCG Constructor Frederick E. Hunnewell to discuss the smaller service’s future shipbuilding program. It had been decided that the service would begin construction on a new class of larger, more capable cutters. The guidelines favored a 240-foot vessel with decent warfighting characteristics (speed and armament) as well as endurance and seakeeping, with the Navy stressing a 16 knot speed (most of the cutters deployed to Europe pushed 12 knots, maximum) and Board member RADM Charles Badger (USNA 1873) urging “three 5-inch guns centerline, one 3-inch anti-aircraft gun, and two machine guns” as standard armament.

With magazine space for 200 rounds per 5-incher, a 6,000-gallon-per-day evaporator, a five-kilowatt radio, day and night signaling apparatus, a submarine signal receiver, two 30-inch searchlights, an ice machine, and six 30-foot small boats, the estimated cost of six desired new 240-foot cutters so armed would be $700,000 apiece, with the class pushing $4.2 million and change.

However, with the Navy prioritizing its own vessels for construction during the war, the planned half-dozen 240-footers never made it to the schedule before the Coast Guard reverted to the Treasury Department in 1919 upon the outbreak of peace.

Still a program of record, the service whittled the number of hulls down from six to four and pursued novel cost-savings measures and innovations to cover the basics of the circa 1917 mandate, but on a more shoestring T-department budget.

In 1921, Captain Quincy B. Newman, Engineer-in-Chief of the Coast Guard, introduced the first synchro-turbo electric drive on ships in any of the U.S. services on the class leader of the new 240-footers, the USCGC Tampa (WPG-48). The plant consisted of two Babcock & Wilcox, cross-drum type, 200 psi, 750° F superheated boilers transferring to a General Electric 2,040 kVa electric motor driven by a turbogenerator, pushing a single 13-foot four-bladed screw.

At the time, they were the largest and most capable cutters ever to enter service.

A more in-depth dive by Newman, from Marine Engineering and Shipping Age, January 1922:

On trials, Tampa made 16.2 knots against a planned 16. Effective range was 5,500nm at 9 knots, about what a plodding convoy was good for.

Here’s a better look at the plan of these 240s. Note the forward “officers’ country” for the eight members of her wardroom. The berthing for the 81 enlisted was over the engineering spaces.

Robert Scheina notes that:

“The 240-foot cutters followed the traditional cutter hull form, having a plumb bow and counter stern. These features proved particularly undesirable while on the International Ice Patrol. Heavy seas coming up under the counter caused severe shocks. The wardroom in this class was well forward; thus, the deck sloped upward. This feature was known as the ‘Honeywell Hill,’ in honor of the principal architect of the class.

Armament in peacetime would be two unshielded 5″/51 Mark 8 single mounts (new guns for the Coast Guard, only entering Navy service in 1911), a 3/50″ DP gun, a pair of 57mm 6-pounders (loved by the Coast Guard for “shots across the bow”), and a 1-pounder saluting gun. Weight and space were reserved on deck for multiple depth charge racks, while the 6-pounders could be swapped out with additional 3″/50s in time of war.

Modoc’s stern 5″/51 in gunnery practice during the ice season, 27 November 1928. Note the extra deck space for depth charge racks and projectors. NARA 26-G-11-27-28(20)

Another shot of Modoc’s 5″/51

Another shot of Modoc’s 5″/51 in peacetime practice

Note her 3″/50 was on a platform before the bridge:

One of Modoc’s two 6-pounders. Navy Secretary Edwin Denby (far right) and Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon (third from right) aboard the new U.S. Coast Guard cutter Modoc, prior to her first sailing, at the Washington Navy Yard, April 1922, LOC npcc.06082

When it came to peacetime, the typical magazine allowance was 100 5-inch Service rounds, 100 3-inch Service, 110 6-pounder Service, 60 1-pounder Target, and 110 6-pounder Blank charges. Also stored were 20 Torpedo “D” wrecking mines with another 20 TNT booster charges. This went out the window in wartime.

Likewise, with the Coast Guard long keeping the ability to send up to half of a cutter’s 89-man complement ashore to suppress assorted rowdies, bandits, and pirates, as needed, the class had an allowance of 53 “Landing Force Kits” each consisting of a M1903 Springfield rifle with bayonet, scabbard, and belt; a canteen with cup and cover, a haversack, and canvas leggings. For good measure, 25 M1911 pistols with belts and magazines were also included. Other goodies in the small arms locker included two Lewis guns, a single Thompson sub gun, two 22LR rifles and two .22LR pistols for marksmanship training; two .45-70 black powder line throwers, and four 1-inch Very pistols.

Landings, boardings, recoveries, and rescues were accomplished by eight boats: a 27-foot whaleboat, two 26-foot Monomoy surf boats, a 26-foot sailing launch, a 26-foot self-bailing surfboat, a 22-foot motor dinghy, and an 18-foot punt.

All four of the class (Tampa, Haida, Mojave, and Modoc, all named for Native tribes) were built by the short-lived Union Construction Company of Oakland, with Tampa laid down on 27 September 1920 and the last, Modoc, delivered on 14 January 1922.

Tampa class, 1929 Jane’s

240-foot Coast Guard cutters, likely Modoc, Mojave, and Tampa, September 1937 26-G-09-01-37(8)

Which sets the stage for us to…

Meet Modoc

Ordered in 1920 with the rest of her four-member class, the future Modoc was Yard No. 19. Launched  1 October 1921 with a bottle of sparkling cider smashed by a Miss Jean Lemard, Modoc commissioned 14 January 1922.

After completion, she headed via the Panama Canal to join sisters Tampa and Mojave on the East Coast while Haida remained on the West. Modoc’s first homeport was Wilmington, North Carolina, where she augmented and then replaced the old (circa 1899) 188-foot USCGC Seminole, with the latter eventually shuffled off to semi-retirement in the Great Lakes.

She is well remembered in Wilmington, which she called home for much of the next 18 years. She was captured by local photographer Louis T. Moore in her typical dock in front of the Customs House.

US Coast Guard Cutter Modoc in Wilmington, photo courtesy of the Historical Society of the Lower Cape Fear

US Coast Guard Cutter Modoc in Wilmington, photo courtesy of Historical Society of the Lower Cape Fear

Coast Guard Cutters Modoc and McAdoo dock at Wilmington, while the plodding ferryboat, Menantic, plies the waters by Moore

Modoc “defended” the town from faux buccaneers during the Feast of Pirates, which was held during the summers of 1927-29.

McKean Maffitt, secretary of the Feast of Pirates and Wilmington’s city engineer.

She also had some very real LE operations against bootleggers during Prohibition. Of note, the Tar Heel State maintained its own liquor ban from 1909 to 1935.

Modoc’s crew outside of the Customs House in Wilmington with smashed cases of smuggled hooch. Photo by Louis T. Moore

In the Ice

During the April-to-June ice season, when bergs from Greenland calve and drift south into the North Atlantic shipping lanes, Modoc, Tampa, and Mojave alternated 15-day stints on the International Ice Patrol, a service founded just after the loss of the Titanic.

Forward based out of either Boston or Halifax (it changed throughout the decade), these cutters tracked, day by day, the icebergs and field ice, determining their set and drift, then duly reporting their presence and location to the hydrographic office of the Navy while broadcasting the data by radio for protection of shipping. Each season in the 1920s typically tracked 400 large bergs.

It was customary for the cutter on station during the anniversary of the great liner’s loss to hold a ceremony. The skipper read prayers, three volleys were fired, and taps were sounded by the ship’s bugler. One such service aboard Modoc in 1925 was filmed and remains in public archives.

Memorial Service on board April 14 (in the late 1920s?), the Anniversary of the sinking of the S.S. TITANIC after colliding with an iceberg. Modoc was serving with the International Ice Patrol at the time. NH 45947

April 1928 saw Modoc as one of the spotting beacon ships off the Newfoundland for the German transatlantic plane Bremen, attempting a crossing from Dublin to St. John’s.

A modified Junkers W 33 monoplane, Bremen achieved the first successful non-stop airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean from east (Baldonnel Aerodrome, Ireland) to west (Greenly Island, Quebec) in 36.5 hours, seen at Greenly above. Library and Archives Canada / PA-126212

Lifesaver

While not on Ice Patrol, Modoc performed the standard counter-smuggling, derelict destruction, law enforcement, and SAR that you would expect from a Coast Guard cutter.

She participated in several peacetime “saves.”

In February 1923, Modoc was sent from Wilmington to the lumber schooner Friendship, reported sinking in Oregon Inlet, about 90 miles south of Virginia Beach, and effected a rescue.

In January 1924, she rushed to the site of the Danish freighter Normania, reported foundered off Norfolk, but the steamer’s crew had already been rescued by the closer SS Henry R. Mallory just before their vessel plunged to Davy Jones.

In December 1926, Modoc responded to the sinking of the Coast Guard schooner Lincoln, which was destroyed by fire with a loss of six lives, several miles southwest of Cape Lookout Lightship. Lincoln, a seized rumrunner, was being used to carry oil and gasoline to lightships and stations.

In October 1926, Modoc responded to the de-masted schooner Purnell T. White, which had been caught in the northeaster off Cape Lookout and towed her to port.

January 1928 saw her tow the disabled motor yacht Cutty Sark, owned by Alexander Smith of Chicago and New York, into Charleston.

In January 1929, three barges loaded with lumber from Fernandina, Florida, to Georgetown, South Carolina, broke away from their tug in a storm, and one, the barge Belfast, foundered off Frying Pan Shoals, with Modoc saving her four-man crew.

March 1930 saw Modoc involved in the sweeping search for the missing yawl Nahma, owned by Mr. A. Felix Du Pont, with 12 souls, including his 19-year-old son Richard, aboard. They eventually turned up, but Nahma, Richard, again at the wheel, was lost off Cape Hatteras just two years later, the six aboard rescued by the Army transport Republic. Richard Chichester du Pont would meet his end in 1943, piloting an experimental glider at March Field in California, aged just 32, with a commercial carrier he had founded beforehand, now today’s American Airlines.

In February 1936, Modoc was sent to the aid of the 7,200-barrel Atlantic Refining Company tanker Albert Hill, bound from Philadelphia to Atreco, Texas, for a cargo, 200 miles off the coast of South Carolina. Soon after taking her under tow, the 435-foot Hill suffered an explosion, with the cutter rescuing all but four of her crew. Nonetheless, Hill was pulled into port and eventually returned to service after extensive repair at Robins Dry Dock in New York and was only scrapped in 1947.

In July 1936, Modoc was sent to search for the schooner Dewless, which started that summer’s biennial 635-mile Newport-to-Bermuda race and then promptly vanished. Dewless, owned and skippered by F. William Schnirring of New York, was located safe and sound two days later.

While on the Ice Patrol, in May 1930, the cutter documented an encounter with a white whale.

Boston Navy Yard, 24 June 1934. Top to bottom is USS Farragut (DD-348) to the left, a 250-foot Lake class USCG cutter to the right, a 240-footer, likely either Modoc or Mojave, USS Eagle PE-19, the battlewagons USS Texas (BB-35) and New York (BB-34), the French Sloop D’Entrecasteux, and the venerable frigate USS Constitution. (49629216003)

Not War, but You Can See It from Here…

When the Germans invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, Modoc was steaming off the Virginia Capes, conducting small arms gunnery drills. Ordered to put into Norfolk with leaves canceled and those detached recalled, she soon transferred 24 enlisted, nearly a third of her complement, to bring the large 327-foot USCGC Bibb up to a more warlike footing. The bigger cutter was soon bound for duty with the newly formed U.S. Neutrality Patrol in the North Atlantic.

Even with a reduced crew, Modoc soon was on patrol herself, trailing and identifying passing vessels offshore, exemplified by this entry from 15 November 1939, in the Atlantic.

This continued through 1940, with a break at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay for a quick refit, and patrols as far south as the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

Modoc began New Year’s 1941 on patrol in the Florida Straits and in early February, she responded to the distressed 2,512-ton Brazilian freighter SS Mahukona, which disappeared without a trace while sailing from Newport News to Rio.

By April, Modoc was in drydock at Algiers across from New Orleans, prepping for continued North Atlantic service, calling at her traditional home port of Wilmington by the end of the month. Sent from there to the Boston Navy Yard for weapon upgrades, including adding two water-cooled .50 cal machine guns, two depth charge racks and two Y-gun projectors to her stern, she steamed out of Beantown for the Gulf of Maine on 12 May 1941, beginning a North Atlantic patrol off Newfoundland two days later, in doing so relieving cutter Northland (WPG-49), whose mission was to patrol the convoy lanes and pick up survivors of merchantmen sunk by German U-boats.

On the afternoon of Saturday, 24 May 1941, the neutral USCGC Modoc was shadowing British Convoy HX-126 on the lookout for survivors of nine freighters and tankers sunk by Wolfpack West over 20-22 March. Her radiomen overheard British traffic concerning the sinking of the vaunted battlecruiser HMS Hood, sent to the bottom of the Denmark Strait with 1,400 of her crew by the battleship Bismarck that morning.

Soon enough, Modoc’s lookouts reported a mysterious man-of-war on the horizon, followed by a biplane, and three other warships in the distance. It turned out the first ship was Bismarck, the aircraft was a Swordfish torpedo plane from the carrier HMS Victorious, and the three trailing ships were the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk.

Managing to avoid fire from either side, Modoc was able to observe the Sword’s attack on the German battleship and the resulting flak, then slipped back into the mists as the faster ships sped on for their rendezvous with destiny.

Her deck log from that evening:

Still in her peacetime white and buff scheme, the British reportedly thought she was a yacht at first, then almost opened fire on her.

Coast Guard Cutter Modoc (WPC-46) and the German battleship Bismarck by James Flood https://www.jamesaflood.com/uss-modoc-cg-wpg-46/

Following this exciting patrol, Modoc reported for duty with the Navy on 1 June 1941 and was designated flagship of the South Greenland Patrol, serving in the waters of that frozen subcontinent through the rest of the year.

As noted by DANFS:

Transferred to the Navy by Executive Order No. 8929 of 1 November 1941, Modoc joined the Greenland Patrol, whose orders were to do “a little of everything.” This duty involved keeping convoy routes open, breaking and finding leads in ice for the Greenland convoys, escorting the convoys and rescuing survivors from torpedoed ships, constructing and maintaining aids to navigation, and reporting weather conditions. Ships of the patrol were also expected to discover and destroy enemy weather and radio stations in Greenland, continue hydrographic surveys, maintain communications, deliver supplies, and conduct search and rescue operations. All these duties, the Coast Guard performed with exemplary fortitude and faithfulness throughout the war.

War!

With the U.S. officially in the war after Germany declared war on it on 11 December 1941, following Pearl Harbor, Modoc was in Greenland’s waters. Sent back to Norfolk for six weeks of repairs and alterations in early 1942, she returned to Greenland on 26 April, escorting the oiler USS Laramie (AO-16), the latter filled with a vital cargo of gasoline and oil for Army bases on the island.

In May, she escorted the empty Laramie, SS Omaha, and SS Azra back to Boston. Then came subsequent convoy runs from Newfoundland to Greenland and back for the rest of the year, often working with sisters Tampa and Mohawk.

Modoc in WWII Greenland Patrol livery

USCG Modoc or Tampa seen in Greenland, LT JG George R. Boyce in foreground, October 1942, NARA

The Ice Patrol suspended during the war; on 19 March 1943, the massive 14,795-ton whale factory ship Svend Foyn collided with an iceberg 70 miles south of Cape Farewell while sailing with Convoy HX-229A from New York to Liverpool with a cargo of fuel oil. The vessel foundered two days later with the loss of 43 out of the 195 crew and passengers aboard, with the USCGCs Aivik, Algonquin, and Frederick Lee on scene, later joined by Modoc to transfer those plucked from the sea to the latter cutter for transport to St. Johns.

It was an epic rescue.

As related by DANFS

Due to the deep roll of the Modoc, operating without lights in the middle of the night, the taking on of the half-frozen survivors was a difficult feat. Several of her crew distinguished themselves by going down the net and working waist-deep in the icy water to haul half-numb survivors aboard. One man, Leonard W. Campbell (101-707) CBM, almost lost his life in this rescue work. He and two others–John T. Hendrix (200-373) CEM, and William F. Coultas (251-300) Sea1c, were commended, and each of them later received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. The Svend Foyne finally sank with 24 persons reported trapped aft. When the vessel sank, the Modoc and Algonquin searched the position and heard cries for help, but could not sight any survivors. Nearly four hours later, she took aboard one man who died of heart failure an hour later due to the extreme cold of the water in which he had been immersed for hours.

Modoc steamed into St. Johns with 128 living men from Svend Foyne on 28 March 1943.

Returning to convoy work for the rest of 1943, Modoc joined the CGCs Storis and Comanche in a futile search for survivors of the lost USAT Nevada, which had gone missing in a storm off Greenland on 16 December.

During a stateside refit in 1944, Modoc landed her 5-inchers, Y-gun depth charge throwers, and .50 cals, kept her 3″/50s, added four 20mm Oerlikons, as well as 4 K-gun throwers and two forward Mousetrap ASW devices. She also picked up SF-1 and SC-3 radars and a QCJ-3 sonar. Not bad, given the circumstances.

Modoc, along with the cutters Tampa and Algonquin, spent part of March and April 1945 as ASW cats in the waters off Portland, Maine, chasing the “tame mouse” Italian submarine Goffredo Mameli (T.V. Cesare Buldrini) in exercises.

Remaining a fixture on the Greenland convoy routes the rest of the war, Modoc went to the assistance of the distressed HMT Strathella in February 1944, the steamer Chippewa in November 1945, and RMS Begun in December 1945.

Modoc returned to the Treasury Department in accordance with Executive Order No. 9666 of 28 December 1945.

Modoc 1944-45

She earned one battle star for her WWII service.

But she still had at least one more good sub-arctic rescue in her.

Damaged by heavy seas, the EC2-S-C1 type Liberty ship SS Henry Baldwin, carrying 589 troops, radioed for help (“Developed plate crack in starboard of after-deck. Extremely heavy westerly seas”) on 16 January 1946 from a position about 300 miles southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland. Modoc, sailing back to the U.S., was ordered at once to her aid, and Baldwin limped into Argentia. After repairs, the freighter continued service for another 24 years.

Afterward, Modoc reported to Boston Navy Yard on 26 January for installation of weather equipment and repairs.

On 26 March 1946, Modoc inaugurated the first post-war International Ice Patrol, using radar and LORAN for the first time in the IIP’s history. Also, for the first time, patrol aircraft were used to assist the cutter– USCG PBY-5As and PB4Y-1s of VP-6CG out of Argentia.

Decommissioned 1 February 1947, just shy of 25 years of service, ex-Modoc was sold to Manuel Velliantis in Honduras.

She was converted for merchant use as a barco bananero (banana boat) and renamed Amalia V. Later registered in Ecuador in 1950 by Tropical Navigation Co., she was renamed Machala, and served as a merchantman until scrapped in 1964

Epilogue

Little exists of the Modoc outside of her logbooks and plans in the National Archives and the occasional relic on the collector market.

The Coast Guard recycled the name Modoc for use on the transferred WWII-era USS Bagaduce (ATA-194), which served as USCGC Modoc (WATA-194/WMEC-194) from 1959 to 1979. That 143-foot vessel saw an active post-military career, serving as a bed and breakfast and as a sea base with the Earthrace Conservation group.

Since the International Ice Patrol has been maintained by the Coast Guard, there has been no berg-related loss of life in the area during the annual season, which now typically counts. The last cutter patrol was by USCGC Spar in 1990, the mission transitioning to aircraft and, by 2016, a combination of aerial and satellite surveillance.

Thanks for reading!

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

***

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So I went to Sail 250 in New Orleans

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Unless you have been under a rock, Sail 250, a tall ship parade joined with U.S. and allied warships, is rolling this summer from New Orleans (last week), to Norfolk/Hampton Roads (June 19 to 23), and thence to Baltimore (25 June to 1 July), NYC (for the July 4 week), and Boston (July 11-16).

The tall ships involved are mostly national training vessels and will eventually grow to 41 ships as diverse as Portugal’s NRP Sagres and Romania’s Mircea, augmented by such classic windjammers as the Elissa, Bowdoin, and Milwaukee’s Denis Sullivan.

The New Orleans leg was admittedly the smallest, with just seven tall ships (USCGC Eagle, Peru’s BAP Union, the Swedish HSwMS Gladan, the Uruguayan Navy’s ROU Capitán Miranda, the Colombian ARC Gloria, Argentine ARA Libertad, and Chilean CNS Esmeralda)

The Navy also sent USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) and Farragut (DDG 99) from Norfolk and Mayport, respectively, while the Coasties sent the 270-foot Bear-class cutter USCGC Mohawk (WMEC 913) up from Key West for tours. These warships were joined by the RN’s West Indies Station Ship, the Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel HMS Trent (P224), and her Dutch counterpart, HNLMS Friesland (P842).

The USCG was also present on the water, providing security along the 12 tour ships, with the 87-footers USCGC Yellowfin (WPB-87319) and Sawfin (WPB-87357), and details surged from MSST Houston, MSST New York, and MSST Kings Bay.

The international tall ships were arrayed in front of the Audubon Aquarium adjacent to the French Quarter and at the end of Canal.

Farragut and Friesland were hidden in the Bywater off the Poland Street Wharf, which the crews probably loved.

Kearsarge and Eagle were in the thick of it, located off the Riverwalk Mall at the Julia Street Wharf.

The Trent, at 297 feet oal and 2,000 tons, was a good mate for Mohawk, some 270-feet and 1,830 tons, with the cutter moored outboard of the Brit. They were tucked under the twin span bridges by the cruise ship terminal.

The crowds were bonkers.

Two different friend groups of ours went for the tall ship cluster by the Aquarium and could only ever get pier-close.

Two other sets of friends went for the mighty Kearsarge, along with several thousand others. One set threw in the soggy (rain and 99 percent humidity, 100-degree “feels like” heat index) towel after two hours in line, while the others only got on LHD-3 after a 3.5-hour wait.

I managed some shots from the Riverwalk of the flattop and her consort, Eagle (ex-Horst Wessel), after the tours ended and the crowds dissipated. As I had worked at Ingalls on her sister USS Boxer (LHD-4) and had gone on sea trials and tiger cruises on the latter back in the day, I was good with just getting that close to Kearsarge and had visited Eagle several times in the past.

We chose to trek on down to the cruise ship terminal and visit Trent and Mohawk, which had no lines, no waiting.

Both ships were filled with courteous professionals, and I must say that Trent, which has been hard used since she entered the hull-strapped RN in August 2020, and has been on the Caribbean “beat” since October 2025, was very well maintained, considering.

The gently larger Trent is all but blocking the Mohawk moored alongside under the spans. Note Mohawk’s white helicopter hangar and stack.

Trent’s stomping ground is the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, along with the dozen Commonwealth states in the region, such as the Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica, Trinidad, etc.

Her Marlin-capable flight deck was quite cluttered with 20-foot ISO containers and spare RHIBs. Keep in mind, she can carry a platoon of RM Commandos if needed.

Note the eight “snowflake” seizures credited on her focsle. She notably set a (British) record for the amount of coke seized at sea, bagging 6,995 keys in her 2024 deployment alone.

That 30mm DS30B Mark 2 gun, though. Trent’s main battery, which is gyro-stabilized, has all the FLIR and remote FCS goodies and uses a 30mm Bushmaster cannon capable of reaching out to 5,100m. The new U.S. Mk 38 Mod 4 MGS is very similar, using the same gun with an optional 12.7 mm coaxial to boot.

The SA80 is at the ready on the quarterdeck. After having fired one of these in the past, I can agree with the trope that this is one of the worst bullpups ever made, but it has soldiered on for the past 40 years. As the Brits say with resignation, “it can’t be helped.”

One of Trent’s well-equipped minigun mounts. She formerly carried two, but these were replaced with more practical M2 Brownings and 7.62 GPMGs, carrying four of the former and two of the latter.

Trent’s blue stag on her stack represents the historic River Trent, her namesake. She is at least the seventh HMS Trent on the Admiralty’s lists going back to 1757, with the sixth being a WWII River-class frigate (K243) that went on to serve with the Indian Navy.

Mohawk as seen from Trent with her glad rags flying. Note Trent’s Western Approaches style camouflage, calling back to WWII. 

A rare sight for a 270: her hangar, empty and open.

My advice if attending Sail 250: enjoy the initial sail in from a high vantage point, then pick your vessel and time, keeping crowds in mind.

Enjoy!

Mighty T’s Hat Trick

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U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma crew members conduct interdiction operations in the Gulf of America, May 8, 2026. Tahoma’s crew, alongside a deployed Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron aircrew, stopped three suspected smuggling vessels carrying narcotics during a maritime patrol approximately 90 miles off Cartagena, Colombia. (U.S. Coast Guard photo 260508-G-G0107-1002)

The 270-foot Famous (Bear) class USCGC Tahoma (WMEC-908) recently stumbled upon three smuggler vessels off the coast of Colombia, and bagged same.

From PAO:

Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma’s crew simultaneously interdicted three suspected smuggling vessels carrying approximately 6,085 pounds of cocaine worth nearly $45.8 million, May 8, approximately 90 miles off Cartagena, Colombia. This seizure represents 2.3 million potentially lethal doses of cocaine that will not reach American streets.

Tahoma’s crew launched their two small boats and their deployed Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron aircrew, stopping all three vessels.

One vessel was non-compliant and required aerial use of force tactics, including precision sniper fire directed at the engines, to compel the vessel to stop, resulting in the suspected smugglers on the vessel jumping overboard. The aircrew released multiple personal flotation devices, and the people were rescued with no reported injuries. The other two vessels stopped when directed by Coast Guard crews.

Commissioned in 1988, the Mighty T is some 38 years young and is homeported in Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, under U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command.

She is one of just a handful of American warships still sporting the MK 75 OTO Melara 76mm gun and carries forward the legacy earned by the previous USCGC Tahoma (WPG-80) during World War II.

NOAA: USV Powerhouse?

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NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey (OCS) is currently utilizing fully uncrewed contract USVs for an offshore hydrographic survey mission along the Florida Gulf Coast.

Operated by Woolpert, the mission is being conducted by Chance Maritime’s Chance MC29 and larger MC40 platforms.

The Chance MC40

Chance MC40

Over the multi-month project, Woolpert will survey approximately 11,000 linear nautical miles. Woolpert hydrographers, positioned across multiple time zones, will remotely conduct hydrographic surveys around the clock. Survey data is uploaded to a cloud server via Starlink satellite communications, where it is ingested into Woolpert’s Automatic Survey Production Environment (ASPEN) and made ready for further postprocessing by Woolpert’s hydrographic processing team.

In an expansion of the concept, NOAA just awarded Chance a $21.6 million contract for up to eight Chance LR30 platforms, equipping NOAA with a fleet of long-endurance USVs purpose-built for hydrographic and fisheries surveys.

Coupled with what the USCG is doing with Saildrones, this is all some very good vetting of programs with some serious 21st-century military applications, without which Big Navy can surely piggyback off of.

I hope people are paying attention.

Chance LR30 Uncrewed Surface Vessel

Chance LR30 Uncrewed Surface Vessel

Meanwhile, CTF 66 and CTF 68 are operating robotic and autonomous systems alongside our Norwegian Allies to strengthen our collective ability to conduct operations in the Arctic. (Photos by MC1 Brandie Nuzzi).

RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — A Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft and Lightfish Unmanned Surface Vessel, attached to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, operate in Breivika Bay during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Cla

RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — A Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft and Lightfish Unmanned Surface Vessel, attached to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, operate in Breivika Bay during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Cla

RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — A Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft, attached to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, operates in Breivika Bay during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brandie Nuzzi)

RAMSUND, Norway (May 12, 2026) — Commander, Task Force (CTF) 66, Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron Three (USVRON 3) Division 32, Black Sea and technical support personnel pose for a photo during Arctic Sentry 2026. Launched in February 2026, Arctic Sentry reflects Allies’ collective understanding that NATO must do even more as an alliance to ensure security in the Arctic and the High North, and to further strengthen its ability to operate in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1

USCG Update: Sail drones arrive, Snow Hawks New Special Missions Command

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Lots of updates to our favorite mini-Navy.

Great Lakes sail drone summer stock

A Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel operates with the fast response Coast Guard cutter Robert Goldman in the Arabian Gulf during Exercise Phantom Scope, Oct. 7, 2022. During the bilateral exercise between the United States and the United Kingdom, USVs operated in conjunction with crewed ships and naval command centers in Bahrain. Credit: Navy Chief Petty Officer Roland Franklin VIRIN: 221007-N-NS602-1218

“Leveraging a contract awarded by the Coast Guard to enhance maritime domain awareness, the Great Lakes District will deploy autonomous drones to support Coast Guard missions on the Great Lakes from May to October.”

The drones will be 16 Saildrone Voyager SD-2050 USVs under a $15.5 million contract. The SD-2050 is 33 feet long, draws just over six feet under its fin keel, and has an almost 20-foot-tall wing (sail). All electric with solar panels in the wing (sail), it has a 3.5 kW peak draw, uses an electric motor for cruising at 5 knots, and is good for 100 days between service stops.

Saildrone Voyager SD-2050 deploys on Lake Erie as it begins its border security and MDA mission for the US Coast Guard in the Great Lakes.  Equipped with radar, cameras, AI collision avoidance, and sensors scanning 300 meters deep, they monitor vessel traffic, illegal activity, and support emergency response. Via Saildrone

From USCG PAO:

The drones are wind- and solar-powered vessels the Coast Guard will use to monitor the Great Lakes, gather critical weather data for emergency response planning, track illicit activity, and keep maritime borders safe.

The autonomous vessels are highly visible, equipped with radar, cameras, and collision-avoidance artificial intelligence, and monitored continuously by human operators who can take manual control if needed.

Sail drones are equipped with sensors focused solely on maritime domain awareness, providing critical information on vessel activities, including vessels in distress or engaged in illegal operations.

A sizzle reel of Saildrone operations from last year, when the company’s USVs sailed 383,674nm in 10,217 drone days on the water, and identified 2.5 million surface contacts.

The U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes (District 9), headquartered in Cleveland, manages operations across all five Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and 6,700 miles of shoreline and 1,500 miles of Canadian border with roughly 6,000 personnel

Jayhawk snow games

The MH-60T det from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka recently worked on an avalanche training exercise with the Alaska National Guard and local first responders. In doing so, some incredible shots were captured by AUX Don Kluting, PA2 John Hightower, and AST2 Grooms.

Of note, a Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Kodiak flew nearly 620 miles to rescue two stranded hikers from Makushin Volcano on the remote Unalaska Island. To put that in perspective, that’s the same distance from Massachusetts to North Carolina!

The USCG has been flying the ’60 since 1989, first with the HH-60J and now as the MH-60T– which includes converted surplus USN SH-60Fs.

Moving forward, the service aims to have an all-Jayhawk heli fleet with 127 aircraft replacing the smaller MH-65 Dolphin.

Special Missions Command

The Coast Guard is standing up a new Special Missions Command to oversee its deployable specialized forces.

Slated to form at the start of FY27 (1 October 2026), the SMC will be based at Coast Guard C5I Service Center facility in Kearneysville, West Virginia, about 70 miles as the crow flies from D.C.

Members from the Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East (MSRT) patrol the East River during the 79th United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Breanna Boardman)

It will fold in the current two Maritime Security Response Teams (MSRT-East, Chesapeake; MSRT-West San Diego), two Tactical Law Enforcement Teams (PACTACLET in San Diego and TACLET South in Opa Locka), seven Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSST Seattle (91101), MSST Kings Bay (91108), MSST Miami (91114), MSST New York (91106), MSST Houston (91104), MSST New Orleans (91112), MSST Cape Cod (91110)), three Regional Dive Lockers (RDLE Portsmouth, RDLW San Diego, and RDLP Honolulu) and the National Strike Force (CBRN) team along with the eight USCGR Port Security Units.

Members from the Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East (MSRT) patrol the East River during the 79th United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Breanna Boardman)

Part of the SMC’s buildout will be an $80 million investment to add more than 650 personnel to the service in addition to those being merged. When fully constituted, the SMC should have somewhere around 3,000 personnel, counting reserves and support elements.

The move is a return to the Deployable Operations Group, or DOG, concept that existed from 2007 to 2013, with operational control returning to regional commands once it was disestablished and replaced with the more loosely formed Deployable Specialized Forces (DSF) moniker. From what I gather, DOG wasn’t stood down because it didn’t work, but rather as a money-saving measure and so that local area commanders could keep more control over their shiny local counter-T/high-risk/high-profile units.

In other words, you can look at this as more of a USCG version of NSWC, which is probably a good thing.

A Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) East patch is shown August 7, 2025, aboard the USCGC Richard Synder (WPC 1127) in Portsmouth, Virginia. The MSRT is a deployable specialized forces unit that conducts counterterrorism and direct-action missions, such as high-risk law enforcement boarding procedures and CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive) threats. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Christine Bills)

ROK OPV for PI, Now with OTO, Ok? OK!

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The Philippine Navy holds an arrival ceremony on May 8, 2026, for Offshore Patrol Vessel 2, the future BRP Rajah Lakandula, at Naval Operating Base-Subic. The event is led by PN Flag Officer in Command Vice Admiral Jose Ma Ambrosio Ezpeleta with Philippine Military Academy Superintendent Vice Admiral Caesar Bernard Valencia. Photo courtesy: Philippine Navy

The Philippine Navy’s newest offshore patrol vessel, the future BRP Rajah Lakandula (PS-21), has arrived in the country from Hyundai in Korea for a pending commissioning, just 14 weeks after her sister.

The 2,400-ton/310-foot Rajah Sulayman-class OPV is a heavy hitter for her size, carrying a 76mm/62 cal OTO Super Rapid forward, two 30mm RWS mounts, and two stabilized .50 cals backed up by a Leonardo 2D air/surface surveillance radar, an EW suite including IR and RF decoys, a heli/UAV-deck and hangar, and a mission bay that supports a towed array sonar.

Philippine Navy’s BRP Rajah Sulayman (PS20), with the BRP Jose Rizal (FF150), during a pass ex evolution on January 17, 2026.

BRP Rajah Sulayman OPV (PS-20)

It would be nice to see the U.S. Navy and USCG move back to a 76mm (if not 5-inch) gun from the current 57mm Mk 3/Mk 110 Bofors mount.

And maybe some ASW stuff.

Just saying.

We used to be a proper country.

USCG’s new ‘Icebreaker’ Proving Herself

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U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WAGB 21)

The USCGC Storis (WAGB-21) is scheduled to return to the service’s icebreaker barn in Seattle after a 36-day, 4,800-mile patrol in the Bering Sea, her second since entering service last August.

The 360-foot/15,000-ton third-hand former oilfield support vessel M/V Aiviq seems to be proving herself even though she is really more icebreaker-adjacent, being a Polar A3 class ship capable of busting through just one meter of ice continuously.

As noted by CG PAO, Storis’s recent patrol “refined the crew’s ice piloting and navigational skills, developed baseline performance parameters for ice operations, and conducted a first-in-kind re-fueling exercise with USCGC Waesche (WMSL 751).”

The two vessels executed a pierside Fueling at Sea (FAS) exercise in Dutch Harbor during the patrol, essentally showing Storis could be used as an offshore fuel-replenishment barge, demonstrating the breaker’s “unique capability within the National Fleet to sustain forces in the high-latitudes—extending asset time on station, maximizing the nation’s operational footprint, and ensuring the Coast Guard remains always ready in the High North.”

Interesting.

A Dog’s Life: Parachute Jumps & Sinking Subs

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One well-traveled Boston Terrier, YN1 Spar, in USCG service, circa 1944.
Original period caption:
Spar, a two-year-old Boston Bull pooch, was born for the sea. She shipped out as a wee pup and has served the Coast Guard well as mascot on the Coast Guard Combat Cutter Spencer at the time is sank a German sub in battle on the North Atlantic. An adventurer who likes action at sea and in waterfront beverage emporiums, Spar once bailed out of a crippled airplane over Newfoundland in the arms of her master, Coast Guard Coxswain Harold L. Mottard, of Boston, Mass. Here, Spar wears her dress blues, complete with first-class yeoman rating, campaign ribbons (earned), and wings for the plane jump. She’s going ashore between voyages.

National Archives Identifier 205583224, Local Identifier 26-G-08-22-44(1)

Of note, the 327-foot Treasury (Hamilton) class cutter Spencer (WPG-36) had a very active WWII career, including the bona fide and well-documented sinking of the German Type IXC submarine U-175 (KrvKpt. Heinrich Bruns) while on Convoy HX-233 in 1943.

26-G-1517: Sinking of German submarine U-175, April 1943. The submarine was sunk off south-west of Ireland by USCGC Spencer (WPG-36) on April 17, 1943. Official Caption: “COAST GUARD CUTTER SINKS SUB: Coast Guardsmen on the deck of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter USCGC SPENCER (WPG-36) watch the explosion of a depth charge which blasted a Nazi U-Boat’s hope of breaking into the center of a large convoy. The depth charge tossed from the 327-foot cutter blew the submarine to the surface, where it was engaged by Coast Guardsmen. Ships of the convoy may be seen in the background.” Date: 17 April 1943. Official U.S. Coast Guard Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. (2017/09/05).

All in all, Spencer had a 43 year career, only retiring in 1980, likely the last Ameircan maritime vessel in service with a U-boat kill still stenciled on her bridge wings.
Spar earned those stripes.

USCGC Tampa, found

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The 190-foot, 1,200-ton Miami-class auxiliary gunboat/steel-hulled “cruising cutter” Tampa (WGC-11) was built to spec at Newport News and commissioned on 19 August 1912.

Constructed at $250,000 for the Revenue Cutter Service, she was a simple coastwise vessel, armed with a trio of 6-pounders in peacetime, with weight and space reserved to upgrade those to 3-inchers during war.

USCGC Tampa photographed in harbor, before World War I. Note her two visible whalers. Completed in 1912 as the U.S. Revenue Cutter Miami, she was renamed Tampa in February 1916. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. NH 1226

She spent her first few years stationed in southern Florida (go figure), under her original name (Miami), service she alternated with heading to the North for the International Ice Patrol every spring– remember these were the years just after the loss of the Titanic.

Crew photo of the Revenue Service Cutter Miami (future USCGC Tampa) while on Ice Patrol, circa 1912-16. Note one of her 6-pounder guns to the right of the photo

Revenue Cutter Miami, the future USCGC Tampa, USCG 190326-G-G0000-1001

Then came war, and Tampa was quickly modified for overseas service with five other large cutters.

As detailed by the CG Historian’s Office:

On 1 February 1916, three days before the Gasparilla Carnival and South Florida Fair in Tampa, her name was changed to Tampa. Again that year, she made the ice patrol and then returned to Key West. The year 1917 was very eventful for the crew of Tampa. The South Florida Fair and Gasparilla Carnival at Tampa was the greatest yet, lasting nine days, from 2 February through the 10th. With four days to recuperate from this gala affair, they went on to patrol the Annual Motor Boat Regatta at Miami from 15 to 17 February 1916.  On 27 and 28 March, they patrolled the races of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club in St. Petersburg, Florida.

There was a shadow over the spring gaiety of 1917, however.  On 2 February 1917, the opening day of the Fair and Carnival in Tampa, was the day the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.  Perhaps the men of Tampa sensed that this would be their last celebration with the citizens of their favorite city. On 6 April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany, and immediately, Tampa and other Coast Guard cutters were transferred to the Navy. During the next four months, she received heavier armament by trading her three six-pounders for four 3-inch guns and a pair of machine guns. After preparations at the Boston Navy Yard, Tampa moved to the New York Navy Yard on 16 September and reported for duty to the commanding officer of USS Paducah (Gunboat No. 18). Ordered to duty overseas, the warship departed New York on 29 September in company with Paducah, Sterling, B.H.B. Hubbard (SP-416), and five French-manned, American-made submarine chasers in tow. After stops at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Ponta Delgada in the Azores, Tampa and her sailing mates reached Gibraltar on 27 October 1917.

Based in Gibraltar, the Tampa, Seneca (her companion ship during the ice patrols), Yamacraw, Ossipee, Algonquin, and Manning made up Squadron 2 of Division 6 of the Atlantic Fleet Patrol Forces. Their mission was to protect convoys from submarine attacks. In the little more than a year left to her, Tampa escorted 18 convoys, comprising a total of 350 vessels, through the U-boat-infested waters from Gibraltar to Britain. Her record during this period was outstanding. She was never disabled, and her one request for repairs had been on two minor items, in spite of spending more than fifty percent of her time at sea and steaming an average of 3,566 miles a month.

A haze grey USCGC Tampa moored in a European port (possibly Gibraltar), circa 1917-1918. Note the paddle tug astern of Tampa and the large converted yacht in the distance. The latter may be a British Navy vessel. Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2009. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. NH 106706

She was sunk while escorting a convoy on 26 September 1918– just seven weeks before the Armistice– in the Bristol Channel off the coast of Wales by German UB III-class submarine UB-91 (Kptlt. Wolf Hans Hertwig).

As detailed by DANFS:

Tampa, in company with her fellow escorts, departed Gibraltar with the 32-ship convoy HG 107, bound for Liverpool, on 17 September 1918. The convoy proceeded without incident beyond Cornwall and into the Irish Sea. During the late afternoon of 26 September, Tampa parted company with the convoy as she was in need of refueling. Ordered to put into Milford Haven, she proceeded independently toward her destination. At 7:30 p.m., as she steamed toward the Bristol Channel, UB-91 (Kapitänleutnant Wolf Hans Hertwig) spotted the ocean escort and, according to the U-boat’s war diary entry, dived and maneuvered into an attack position. From a range of about 550 meters, UB-91 fired one G6AV torpedo with a special attachment from her stern torpedo tube at 8:15 p.m. Minutes later, the warhead detonated on Tampa’s port side amidships, throwing up a huge, luminous column of water. Two minutes later, the U-boat was shocked by a second detonation, most likely caused by Tampa’s depth charges reaching pressure fuse depth, as the cutter sank.

All 131 souls aboard— 111 Coast Guardsmen, four U.S. Navy signalmen, a captain of the British Army, 10 seamen of the Royal Navy, and five British dock workers– were killed, representing the largest single loss of life for the Coast Guard during the conflict and, except the disappearance of the collier USS Cyclops, was the largest loss of life suffered by U.S. Naval forces in any incident of the First World War.

Painting of the sinking of Cutter Tampa by the German submarine UB-91, painted by noted marine artist John Wisinski. Photo by: USCG Historian’s Office, VIRIN: 220818-G-G0000-1001

Admiral William S. Sims, the senior U.S. naval officer on duty in Great Britain, received the following letter from the Lords of the British Admiralty:

“Their Lordships desire me to express their deep regret at the loss of the USS Tampa. Her record since she has been employed in European waters as an ocean escort to convoys has been remarkable. She has acted in the capacity of ocean escort to no less than 18 convoys from Gibraltar, comprising 350 vessels, with a loss of only two ships through enemy action. The commanders of the convoys have recognized the ability with which the Tampa carried out the duties of ocean escort. Appreciation of the good work done by the USS Tampa may be some consolation to those bereft, and Their Lordships would be glad if this could be conveyed to those concerned.”

Two bodies in U.S. naval uniforms later washed ashore, one of which was identified by a waterlogged pocket tag as being Seaman James Marconnier Fleury, USCG. They were both buried with full military honors at Lamphey Churchyard (a small country churchyard in Wales). Fleury’s family later brought home his body and buried him in a cemetery in Long Island, New York, but the unidentified Coast Guardsman still rests in Lamphey Churchyard. Local citizens care for his grave to this day.

Unknown Tampa Crewman, Lamphey Churchyard, Wales, United Kingdom, ca. 2014 “In loving memory of our unknown shipmate from the USS Coast Guard Cutter Tampa torpedoed in the Bristol Channel September 26th, 1918. Erected by the USS Tampa Coast Guard Post 719 American Legion, New York. USCG 170602-G-XX000-152

The UB-91 was surrendered at Harwich on 21 November 1918. Operated by a British crew, she toured several cities, including Cardiff and Newport, where she was displayed from 12–20 January 1919 and visited by local officials to raise funds for mariners’ charities. After the boat’s breakup at Briton Ferry in 1921, her deck gun was moved to Chepstow’s war memorial. Her only wartime skipper, Hertwig, credited with 14,668 tons of shipping (Tampa and three steamers) returned to Germany on board the transport Lucia Woerman and resigned from the Imperial Navy in 1920. He later joined the Kriegsmarine in 1937 at age 52 and held a series of training and desk jobs. KzS Hertwig was taken prisoner by the British during the liberation of Denmark in May 1945 and held in a PoW camp till the end of 1946. He passed in 1958, of cancer.

Until now, the only tangible part of Tampa that has ever been located was a brass boat plate from one of her whalers, found on 14 April 1924, almost six years after she was lost, discovered by a 14-year-old lad while beachcombing at Rest Bay, Porthcawl, England.

Tampa boat plate NH 41869

Now it seems, as reported by the Gasperados Dive Team, that the final resting place of Tampa is in 320 feet of water, some 50 miles off Newquay, England.

As detailed by the USCG Historian’s Office:

“Since 1790, the Coast Guard has defended our nation during every armed conflict in American history, a legacy reflected in the courage and sacrifice of the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Tampa,” said Adm. Kevin Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard. “When the Tampa was lost with all hands in 1918, it left an enduring grief in our service. Locating the wreck connects us to their sacrifice and reminds us that devotion to duty endures. We will always remember them.  We are proud to carry their spirit forward in defense of the United States.”

In 2023, the Coast Guard Historians Office was contacted by the Gasperados Dive Team regarding the Tampa. Over the past three years, the all-volunteer team conducted an extensive search for the wreckage.

“We provided the dive team with historical records and technical data to assist in confirming the wreck site,” said Dr. William Thiesen, Coast Guard Atlantic Area Historian. “This included the archival images of the deck fittings, ship’s wheel, bell, weaponry, and archival images of the Tampa.”

The Coast Guard is now developing plans for underwater research and exploration in coordination with its offices of specialized capabilities, historians, cutter forces, robotics and autonomous systems, and dive locker.

And so we remember.

In Waters Deep– Eileen Mahoney

In ocean wastes no poppies blow,
No crosses stand in ordered row,
There young hearts sleep… beneath the wave…
The spirited, the good, the brave,
But stars a constant vigil keep,
For them who lie beneath the deep.
‘Tis true you cannot kneel in prayer
On certain spot and think. “He’s there.”
But you can to the ocean go…
See whitecaps marching row on row;
Know one for him will always ride…
In and out… with every tide.
And when your span of life is passed,
He’ll meet you at the “Captain’s Mast.”
And they who mourn on distant shore
For sailors who’ll come home no more,
Can dry their tears and pray for these
Who rest beneath the heaving seas…
For stars that shine and winds that blow
And whitecaps marching row on row.
And they can never lonely be
For when they lived… they chose the sea.

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