Category Archives: USCG

Seperated by 9,000 miles: 66 & 77

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80 years ago.

Two Gator (LST Mk 2) sister ships, built almost side-by-side in the same yard in Indiana (Jeffboat), were hard at work on opposite sides of the globe in two very different campaigns in the same week.

USS LST-66 disembarking troops while beached at Red Beach #2, Tanah Merah Bay, Dutch New Guinea (Hollandia Operation), 23 April 1944. (US National Archives Identifier 205584995, Local Identifier 26-G-2184, U.S. Coast Guard Photo # 2184. by Coast Guard photographer Struges)

USS LST-77 lands Fifth Army M-4 Sherman medium tanks on the Anzio Waterfront, Italy, on 27 April 1944. National Archives SC 189668

USS LST-66, under the command of LT. Howard E. White, USCGR, had been built by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co., Jeffersonville, Indiana between August 1942 and April 1943. Sailing for the Pacific, she joined LST Flotilla Eleven where she landed troops and equipment during the Bismarck Archipelago operation (Cape Gloucester, Admiralty Islands), Eastern New Guinea (Saidor), Hollandia, Western New Guinea (Toem-Wakde-Sarmi, Biak, Noemfoor, Cape Sanaspoor, Morotai), Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, and Balikpapan, earning eight battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation. Decommissioned, on 26 March 1946 and struck soon after, she was sold for scrap in 1948.

USS LST-77, under the command of LT(jg) Anothy Kohout Jr., USNR, had been built by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co., Jeffersonville, Indiana between February and July 1943. She sailed to Europe and fought off German attacks as part of the hard-luck Convoy UGS-37, landed troops and equipment at Anzio, and participated in the Dragoon Landings in Southern France– delivering troops to Grande Beach on 24 August 1944 and St Tropez the following week. Loaned to the Royal Navy in December 1944, she was sailed around the Adriatic as a part of the 11th Flotilla, carrying troops, partisans, and civilians until October 1945 when handed back over to the USN. She was stricken from the NVR in 1946 and sold the following year for scrap, having earned two battle stars.

And in USCG News…

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Lots of stories from the Coast Guard that you may have missed (as they don’t get much press).

Polar Star Returns

The 48-year-old USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) and her crew have returned home to Seatle after a monumental 138-day deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2024.

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) stands on the ice in front of the cutter in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, Dec. 29, 2023. Every year, a joint and total force team works together to complete a successful Operation Deep Freeze season. Active, Guard, and Reserve service members from the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy work together to forge a strong JTF-SFA that continues the tradition of U.S. military support to the United States Antarctic Program. (U.S. Coast Guard photo

During their deployment, the crew traveled over 27,500 miles, navigating through various oceans and breaking through thick Antarctic ice to ensure the delivery of vital supplies, including nine million gallons of fuel and 80 million pounds of cargo, to resupply the United States Antarctic stations, in support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) – the lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP).

After arriving in Antarctica, the cutter broke a 38-mile channel through fast ice up to 12 feet thick, creating a navigable route for cargo vessels to reach McMurdo Station. The Polar Star and crew executed three close-quarters ice escorts for cargo vessels through difficult ice conditions to guarantee the delivery of nine million gallons of fuel and 80 million pounds of cargo to advance scientific endeavors in the most remote region of the world. The cutter departed the Antarctic region on Feb. 14 after 51 days of operations in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2024.

Harriet Lane Flexes in the Pacific Rim

The 40-year-old 270-foot USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC 903), the only member of her class deployed to the Pacific, just completed her inaugural 15,000-mile, 79-day Operation Blue Pacific Patrol in Oceania.

Just moved to the Pacific after a 15-month SLEP, it looks like they ditched her old MK75 OTO for a 25mm MK38 Mod 2, which offers better optical fire control but far less punch. At least she still has her AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite that hopefully has been updated to a (V)3 standard, which would allow her to jam. Plus, in theory, she could carry an MH-60. 

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) crew renders honors to the Battleship Missouri Memorial as the Harriet Lane and crew return to home port in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, April 9, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Senior Chief Petty Officer Charly Tautfest)

Based now in Hawaii, Harriet Lane and crew “partnered alongside allies and several Pacific Island countries from January to April 2024. Among those countries were Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Marshall Islands. The focus was on advising and sharing best practices, along with bolstering our partners’ capabilities to promote and model good maritime governance in the region.”

Of note, the Chinese ambassador said that USCG boarding of their trawlers in Oceania is illegal, so there’s that.

Bertholf Returns from West Pac Deployment

The more modern 4,600-ton USCGC Bertholf (WMSL 750) and crew returned home on 10 April following a 21,000-mile, 98-day Indo-Pacific deployment in support of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet.

Throughout the deployment, Bertholf led international engagements in the Republic of Singapore, Malaysia, and India, strengthening interoperability and maritime governance through joint at-sea exercises, professional engagements, and subject matter expert exchanges.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL 750) transits near the Singapore Straits, on Feb. 29, 2024. The Bertholf is a 418-foot National Security Cutter currently deployed to the Indo-Pacific region under the tactical control of the U.S. 7th Fleet. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier)

Meanwhile, in the 4th Fleet AOR…

Coast Guard Reserve crews from three Port Security Units (PSU) will be conducting exercise “Poseidon’s Domain” along the northeast and eastern coasts of Puerto Rico from April 8 to April 25. The exercise will train crews from PSUs 305, 307, and 309 on Coast Guard Reserve PSU functions in support of national defense and homeland security missions.

The company-sized units deployed– with their boats and equipment– via USCG HC-130s, which is cool.

 

The PSU training events will include boat operations, unmanned aerial system operations, and Life Support Area establishment. PSU crews will also work with the U.S. Army Reserve 432nd Transportation Company, U.S. Customs and Border Protection-Air and Marine Operations Fajardo Maritime Unit, Maritime Surveillance Division FURA and Policía de Puerto Rico Distrito Vieques to enhance joint maritime security capabilities in the region.

Finally, an embarked USCG Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) aboard the elderly Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) recently intercepted three different vessels while on patrol in the Caribbean Sea under USSOUTHCOM/JIATF-South orders.

One of the vessels, it should be pointed out, was a narco sub (self-propelled semi-submersible drug smuggling vessel), which then became the subject of a SINKEX.

240322-G-N3764-1001 ATLANTIC OCEAN (March 22, 2024) – The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 50 work together to intercept a self-propelled semi-submersible drug smuggling vessel (SPSS), in the Atlantic Ocean, March 22, 2024. Leyte Gulf is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command area of operations, employed by the U.S. Fourth Fleet to support joint and combined military operations, which include counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. (U.S. Coast Guard Courtesy Photo/Released)

Douglas World Cruisers at 100

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This month marks the centennial of the first successful aerial circumnavigation of the globe.

Kicked off on 6 April 1924 when four pairs of U.S. Army Air Service pilots and mechanics, using modified War Department-owned Navy Douglas DT torpedo bombers, departed West from Seattle’s Sand Point Aerodrome, some 27,550 miles and 175 days (363 flying hours) later, two planes flew back in from the East on 28 September 1924, having made 74 stops in 22 different countries– the latter high number both for publicity as well as refuel/repair.

Keep in mind these were open-cockpit aircraft produced only two decades after the Wright Brothers first proved flying a powered heavier-than-air machine was even possible. 

The four planes included the Seattle (No. 1)– Maj. Frederick L. Martin (Pilot and Flight Commander) and Staff Sgt. Alva L. Harvey (Mechanic), Chicago (No. 2)– Lt. Lowell H. Smith (Pilot, subsequent Flight Commander) and 1st Lt. Leslie P. Arnold (Mechanic), Boston (No. 3)– 1st Lt. Leigh P. Wade (Pilot) and Staff Sgt. Henry H. Ogden (Mechanic), and New Orleans (No. 4)– Lt. Erik H. Nelson (Pilot – Engineer) and Lt. John Harding Jr. (Chief Mechanic).

Seattle at Vancouver Barracks

Chicago. When crossing the open ocean, the DT-2s were fitted with floats

Boston at Vancouver Barracks

New Orleans at Vancouver Barracks

Airplanes New Orleans, Chicago, and Boston at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, March 1924 before the expedition’s launch in April. NH 884

Chicago and New Orleans finished the flight (both of which are preserved) with Smith, Arnold, Wade, Nelson, and Ogden winning the Mackay Trophy, and all fliers were authorized a medal of honor and a $10,000 bonus by Congress.

Chicago at NASM NASM-NASM2020-07130-000001

Seattle crashed in dense fog into a mountainside near Port Moller on the Alaska Peninsula in April while Boston was lost at sea near the Faroes in August, with both crews (eventually) recovered alive.

Besides being done in what were essentially converted Navy torpedo bombers, the Navy and Coast Guard extensively supported the flight. In particular, USS Noa (DD-342), USS Charles Ausburn (DD-294), USS Hart (DM-8), USS Milwaukee (CL-5), and USS Richmond (who rescued the crew of Boston), were assigned to assist with cross-ocean portions of the trip. 

Navy supporting “Around the World Flyers” 1924. NH 883

USS Milwaukee (CL-5) At Ivigtut, Greenland, July 1924, awaiting the arrival of the U.S. Army around-the-world fliers. Donation of Mr. & Mrs. Don St. John, 1990. NH 96690

U.S. Army Around the World Flight, 1924 Three U.S. Army Air Corps flyers on board USS Richmond (CL-9), explaining their route to Sailors. Photographed at Hunters Bay, Orkney Islands, Scotland, circa mid-1924. The flyers are Lieutenants Arnold, Smith, and Wade. NH 880

Warship Wednesday, April 3, 2024: The Bathtub of Sampson, Schley, and Sims

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile 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

Warship Wednesday, April 3, 2024: The Bathtub of Sampson, Schley, and Sims

Naval Historical and Heritage Command Photo NH 85726

Above we see the “Propeller-class” brigantine-rigged cruising cutter Manning of the newly-formed U.S. Coast Guard as she steams in European service with the U.S. Navy during the Great War, circa 1917-18. Note her dazzle camouflage, rows of depth charges over her stern, and four 4″/50 cal open mounts, fore and aft, made all the more out of place due to her antiquated plow bow and downright stubby 205-foot overall length.

You wouldn’t know it to look at her, but Manning was in her second war and still had a lot of life left.

Turn of the Century Cutters

The Propeller class was emblematic of the Revenue Cutter Service– the forerunner of the USCG– at the cusp of the 20th Century. The USRCS decided in the 1890s to build five near-sisterships that would be classified in peacetime as cutters but would be capable modern naval auxiliary gunboats.

These vessels, to the same overall concept but each slightly different in design, were built to carry a bow-mounted torpedo tube for 15-inch Bliss-Whitehead type torpedoes (although they appeared to have not been fitted with the weapons) and as many as four modern quick-firing 3-inch guns (though they typically used just two 6-pounder, 57mm popguns in peacetime). They would be the first modern cutters equipped with electric generators, triple-expansion steam engines (with auxiliary sail rigs), steel (well, mostly steel) hulls with a navy-style plow bow, and able to cut the very fast (for the time) speed of 18-ish knots.

All were built 1896-98 at three different yards to speed up delivery.

These ships included:

–McCulloch, a barquentine-rigged, composite-hulled, 219-foot, 1,280-ton steamer ordered from William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia for $196,000. She was the longest of the type as she was intended for Pacific service and so was designed with larger coal bunkers.

–Gresham, a brigantine-rigged 206-foot, 1,090-ton steel-hulled steamer built by the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, OH for $147,800.

–Manning, a brigantine-rigged 205-foot, 1,150-ton steamer ordered from the Atlantic Works Company of East Boston, MA, for a cost of $159,951.

–Algonquin, brigantine-rigged 205.5-foot, 1,180-ton steel-hulled steamer ordered from the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, OH for $193,000.

–Onondaga, brigantine-rigged 206-foot, 1,190-ton steel-hulled steamer ordered from the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, OH for $193,800.

Meet Manning

As the USRSC (and the USCG until 1967) was part of the Treasury Department, our vessel was the only one named in honor of Grover Cleveland’s Treasury secretary, Daniel Manning, although she only carried the last name and not the full name while in service. Accepted by the Service, Manning was commissioned on 8 January 1898, and she would soon “see the elephant.”

War with Spain!

Unlike the coming World Wars where the entire Service would be placed under the control of the Navy, only those vessels deemed modern enough to hold their own in a fight were seconded to the larger sea-going branch for the conflict with the Empire of Spain.

On 24 March 1898, President McKinley instructed his T-Sec to place nine cutters– ours included– “under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, and cooperate with the Navy, until further orders. This was five weeks after the mysterious and controversial sinking of the USS Maine in Havanna harbor and a full month before Congress declared war on Spain, a fateful vote tallied on 25 April.

In all, the RCS would place 13 revenue cutters– carrying 61 guns and crewed by 98 officers and 562 enlisted— under Navy control during the conflict. This would include four (Grant, Corwin, Perry, and Rush) used to patrol the Pacific coastline and one (Manning’s sister McCulloch) to Commodore Dewey’s Asiatic Squadron for the push on Manila.

This left the Manning, under the command of Captain Fred M. Munger, Morrill, Hamilton, Windom, Woodbury, Hudson, Calumet, and McLane, to join the North Atlantic Squadron under RADM William Thomas Sampson (USNA 1861).

Meanwhile, another seven smaller cutters (Dallas, Dexter, Winona, Smith, Galveston, Guthrie, and Penrose), with a total of 10 guns between them and crewed by 33 officers and 163 men, were placed under Army orders patrolling coastwise minefields off protected harbors from Boston to New Orleans.

Manning was up-armed with three 4-inch guns (2 forward, one aft) with a mix of 250 AP and Common shells. She was also given steel gun shields for her 6-pounders for which she took on 1,500 AP shells, and was fitted with a Maxim-Nordenfeldt 1-pounder 37mm “pom pom” with another 2,200 rounds for that eclectic gun.

A Maxim-Nordenfelt 37mm 1-pounder autocannon fitted on the yacht USS Vixen in 1898. Manning was fitted with one of these for her SpanAm War service. Basically a super-sized Maxim machine gun, it had a very respectable 300 rpm rate of fire, as long as the shells held out. LC-DIG-det-4a14810

Manning would head south to Key West, and eventually be folded into Commodore Winfield Scott Schley’s 2nd Squadron.

His little gunboat was listed by the Navy as having engaged in combat on 12 and 13 May at Cabanas and Mariel, Cuba, and 18 July at Naguerro. Munger noted some 71 rounds of 4-inch and 148 rounds of 6 pdr. ammunition expended in the earlier of the three.

May 12, 1898, USS Manning in engaged off Cabanas, Cuba By Lieut. G. L. Carden, R.C.S. This is the only known photo of a Revenue Cutter in action during the Spanish-American War.

Munger filed three detailed reports with the T-Sec’s office, detailing the cutter’s actions in the war, including a total of some 600 rounds fired across several more engagements than what the Navy detailed.

Returned from Navy service to the RCS on 17 August 1898, Manning put into Norfolk to remove the bulk of her wartime armament and settled into her “salad days.”

Interbellum

USRC Manning. Photograph by Hart, taken off New York City circa 1898-99. Note that she still has at least one 4-inch gun forward and her steel shields over her 6-pounders. NH 46627

On 2 January 1900, Manning was ordered to report to San Francisco via the Straits of Magellan for duties with the Bering Sea Patrol, where she would perform the hard work in the remote region for 13 of the next 16 summers, with occasional pivots to warmer climes in Hawaii.

As with other cutters sent to Alaska, this ranged from policing fishing and sealing grounds, responding to natural disasters, conducting hydrographic surveys, responding to wrecks and distress, and generally serving as the sole federal institution for hundreds of miles in many cases– a job that spanned from carrying supplies and medicine to isolated coastal villages to serving as constabulary force ashore, and even holding court with an embarked judge from time to time. Her Public Health Service physician was often the only medical professional to call at many of these areas with any regularity.

Boiler room of the USS Manning with four crew members, Washington State, between 1898 and 1906

the crew of the Revenue Cutter Manning while on a Bering Sea Patrol 1901 210604-G-G0000-1004

the crew of the Revenue Cutter Manning while on a Bering Sea Patrol 1910 210604-G-G0000-1005

the crew of the Revenue Cutter Manning while on a Bering Sea Patrol 1910 210604-G-G0000-1006

U.S. Revenue Cutter Manning, Unalaska, Aug. 1908. A great view of her torpedo tube. LOC LC-USZ62-130291

Equipped sometime during this period with a 2-KW DeForest spark transmitter/receiver, Mannng could also serve as a floating wireless station while her original coal-fired suite was replaced with oil-fired boilers during a refit at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

At Sea – “USRC Manning’s race boat crew (1902-1904) which used the Corwin’s Gig. Left to right: Seaman ‘Frenchie’ Martinesen, Master-at-Arms Stranberg (Coxswain), Seaman Andreas Rynberg, Magnus Jensen, and Franze Rynberg.”

Japanese schooners caught poaching near the Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska, 1907. “On verso of image: Schr. Nitto Maru is in the foreground. Schr. Kaiwo Tokiyo in the center. Both poachers on Pribloff Islands, Behring Sea, now under the guard of Rev. Cutter McCulloch at Unalaska. Manning is on the right. 63 Japanese in both crews.” John N. Cobb Photograph Collection, University of Washington UW14289. At the time, Capt. Fred Munger, Manning’s old SpanAm War skipper, was head of the Bearing Sea Fleet. 

Manning, 1912. Note this is before her refit that changed her to oil and reduced her masts, ditching her auxiliary sail rig. Note her torpedo tube, still with a hatch. 

In June 1912, while docked at Kodiak Island, Manning’s crew noted the rumbling and ash in the distance that was the historic eruption of Novarupta/Katmai— the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. She would spend the next several days harboring refugees from the surrounding communities– as many as 414 onboard the small gunboat at any one time– and, as every well was full of ash, run her then rare desalination plant to make fresh water.

Crew and deck of the US Revenue Cutter Manning covered in ash from June 6, 1912. Via Anchorage Museum

U.S. Revenue Service cutter Manning, crowded with Kodiak residents seeking safety during the 1912 eruption of Novarupta, which resulted in about a foot of ashfall on Kodiak over nearly three days. The photograph was published in Griggs, 1922, and was taken by J.F. Hahn, U.S.R.S.

While many of her crew became sick from the ash of Navarupta, and she had fought both malaria and the Spanish off Cuba for nearly four months during the war, Manning had been a lucky ship when it came to deaths. This streak ended on 10 October 1914 when she lost four crewmen and a Public Health Service physician after one of her small boats swamped in heavy surf off Sarichef, Unimak.

Then came trouble in Europe.

Great War

While in Astoria, Oregon on 26 January 1917, Manning received orders to report, via the Panama Canal, to the Coast Guard Depot at Curtis Bay, Maryland to prepare for possible Naval service.

Soon after she arrived there, on 6 April 1917, the day Congress declared war on Imperial Germany, U.S. Navy’s radio centers transmitted “Plan One, Acknowledge” to all Coast Guard cutters, units, and bases, the code words initiating the service’s transfer from the Treasury Department to the Navy and placing it on an immediate wartime footing. Manning became part of the Navy once again.

It was decided to use the little gunboat as part of the scrappy Squadron 2, Division 6 of the Atlantic Fleet Patrol Forces, and sent overseas to report to VADM(T) William Sowden Sims. Based at Gibraltar, this force consisted of six Coast Guard cutters (Tampa, Algonquin, Seneca, Manning, Ossipee, and Yamacraw). On a list compiled for the British Admiralty, the USCG cutters were described as “good sea boats, good crews, much better than old gunboats.”

With Royal Navy communications personnel aboard, they would escort convoys between Gibraltar and the British Isles and conduct antisubmarine patrols in the Mediterranean against very active German U-boats there.

For her role, Manning and her sister cutters headed to Gibraltar were given a dazzle camouflage scheme. She and sister Algonquin would be armed with four 4-inch guns with 1,500 shells stored in two magazines fore and aft, two racks capable of carrying 16 300-pound depth charges, and four 30.06 Colt “potato digger” machine guns. A small arms locker would be filled with a pair of .30-06 Lewis guns, 18 .45 caliber Colt pistols, and 15 Springfield rifles.

USCG Cutter Manning in her Great War dazzle 170807-G-0Y189-009

USCGC Manning in dry dock. Note the canvased deck guns. 170807-G-0Y189-010

Although Manning’s Gibraltar service is not well documented, the risk was no joke as fellow Squadron 2 cutter Tampa, after completing a convoy run from Gibraltar to England, was torpedoed by UB-91, killing all 131 (111 USCG, 16 RN and 4 USN) personnel aboard.

Returning to USCG service

Reverting back to the Treasury Department on 28 August 1919, Manning would remain on the East Coast, spending the next 11 years operating out of Norfolk with her traditional white hull. During this period, she would participate in the reestablished International Ice Patrol, and take part in the “Rum War” against bootleggers, and other traditional USCG taskings.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Manning At Norfolk, Virginia, 30 December 1920. Note her armament has been landed but her torpedo tube remains although the hatch has been removed and the tube plated over. Panoramic photograph, taken by Crosby, Boston, Massachusetts. Donation of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, 1970. NH 105313

Manning would be involved in the landmark human smuggling case of the schooner Sunbeam in December 1919 and race to the scene of the sinking British liner SS Vestris off the Virginia Capes in November 1928.

Manning, Norfolk, 1920s. Note the lattice masts of the battleship to the right and the tall gantry works of what looks to be a Proteus class collier to the right

Manning late in her career. Note her RF DF equipment. Also, her torpedo tube has been removed altogether. 

Manning Underway 1927

Past her prime and slated to be replaced by a new and much more modern 250-foot Lake class cutter, Manning was decommissioned at Norfolk on 22 May 1930. The following December, she was sold to one Charles L. Jording of Baltimore for just $2,200.02.

As for her classmates: Cleveland-built sisters Algonquin and Onondaga had been sold in 1930 and 1924 respectively and disposed of. Gresham, sold by the Coast Guard in 1935 for scrap was required by the service in WWII for coastal patrol, then became part of the Israeli Navy before disappearing again in the 1950s and was last semi-reliably seen in the Chesapeake Bay area as late as 1980. McCulloch was lost in 1917 northwest of Point Conception, California when she collided with the Pacific Steamship Company’s steamer Governor (5,474 tons) in dense fog and endures as a reef.

Epilogue

Some of her logs are digitized and online. Few other relics of the old girl exist, which is a shame.

While the Coast Guard has not commissioned a second USCGC Manning, it did, in 2020, commission a painting by Michael Daley, MBE, GAvA, of the old girl steaming out of Gibraltar at the head of a convoy during the Great War with another cutter on the horizon.

Artist Michael Daley, MBE, GAvA. CGC MANNING escorting a convoy out of Gibraltar during World War I. 210610-G-G0000-101

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

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The (Sad) State of the USCG

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In line with a 3,500-person shortfall in recruiting and retention—a nearly 10 percent shortage in the enlisted ranks—that is forcing the Coast Guard to take 13 badly-needed cutters out of service in one form or another, some aging 210-foot Reliance class cutters are being essentially placed in what would have been deemed “ordinary” back in the old days.

The CGC Confidence (WMEC-619) and CGC Dependable (WMEC-626) will therefore soon be placed in “commission special” status, pending an eventual decommissioning and likely handover to overseas allies. 

The planned Offshore Patrol Cutter program, which was to replace the 210s and other Cold War-era blue water assets, is behind schedule, so there of course will be a “cutter gap.” 

This means that when the actual ax falls, the crews will no longer be assigned so there will be no traditional decommissioning ceremony, just an administrative move on paper. Sad when you consider these vessels have each put in over a half-century of service. In fact, both recently returned from far-reaching ex-CONUS patrols.

VADM Lunday will host a Heritage Recognition Ceremony onboard Dependable’s homeport of JEB Little Creek in Virginia Beach, VA on April 9th.

Confidence will hold a Cutter Service Recognition Ceremony at 1000 on May 2nd, 2024 at the Coast Guard Station Cape Canaveral.

If you are a former shipmate or know one, those dates may be of interest.

This is as the service is being stretched to its limits to conduct far-reaching patrols in the WestPac, hunt down narco subs in the EastPac, and maintain a squadron of six very busy cutters (PATFORSWA) in the Persian Gulf.

With that, the 27th commandant of the USCG, delivered her second State of the Coast Guard Address this week.

Wait for the news that the service’s maintenance budget will only cover about half of its upcoming needs and current backlog…Ba Dum Tss.  

USCG Owns Southwest Pacific?

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Big Blue, the U.S. Navy, has two carrier strike groups (TR and Reagan) in the Pacific as well as an amphibious ready group (America), with the latter two currently forward deployed in Japan at Sasebo and Yokosuka while the San Diego-based Teddy Roosevelt group (with CVW-11 embarked) is flexing off Luzon in the vital South China Sea.

However, south of Manila, except for an LCS that has been on a rotational deployment to the region, the only armed American maritime assets currently underway are owned by the Coast Guard.

The four big frigate-sized National Security Cutters based at Alameda, California continue their regular WestPac deployments with class-leader USCGC Bertholf (WMSL 750) recently steaming over 8,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to take part in planned engagements with regional partners. 

She had previously made Westpac tours in 2019 and 2022. 

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL 750) transits near the Singapore Straits, on Feb. 29, 2024. The Bertholf is a 418-foot National Security Cutter currently deployed to the Indo-Pacific region under the tactical control of the U.S. 7th Fleet. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier)

The Bertholf crew recently conducted a refueling at sea evolution with the U.S. Naval Ship John Ericsson (T-AO 194). Alongside connected replenishment is a standard method of transferring liquids such as fuel and water and allows the cutter to stay out at sea for extended periods. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

She recently joined the rotationally-deployed USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) and called in Singapore. 

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL 750) arrives at Changi Naval Base in Singapore, on Feb. 25, 2024. The Bertholf moored next to USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), a U.S. Navy Littoral Combat Ship, also in the region to support an open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Cmdr. Trevor Parra)

Bertholf is operating as part of Commander, Task Force (CTF) 71, the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force, promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, strengthening partner networks, and enhancing maritime safety and security.

Harriet Lane Clocks in 

Meanwhile, the 40-year-old 270-foot Bear class USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC-903), the only member of her type in the Pacific, is getting her feet wet from her new homeport in Pearl Harbor and is currently deployed on her inaugural Blue Pacific mission, calling in Samoa and Fiji among other Pacific Rim allies.

A tour aboard the new dedicated “Indo-Pacific Cutter” while in Fiji.

FRC on expeditionary patrol

 
Speaking of Blue Pacific, the 154-foot Sentinel (Webber-class) Fast Response Cutter Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) recently concluded a “pivotal leg of its current expeditionary patrol in the Kiribati exclusive economic zone (EEZ) from Feb. 11 to 16, 2024… included two boardings of People’s Republic of China-flagged fishing vessels and observing and querying other fishing vessels from the PRC.”
 
She then, from Feb. 20 to 27, 2024, spent time in Majuro, Wotje Atoll, and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI).
 

The USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) crew and Kiribati Police Maritime Unit officers and recruits stand for a photo in Tarawa, Kiribati, on Feb. 16, 2024. For the first time since 2015, the patrol incorporated ship riders from the PMU, executing the maritime bilateral agreement signed with Kiribati in 2008. These engagements under Operation Blue Pacific emphasize the United States’ commitment to strengthening ties and ensuring maritime security within the Pacific community. (U.S Coast Guard photo by Lt. j.g. Nicholas Haas)

Henry, although a small cutter, conducted a similar 43-day expeditionary patrol 16,000 nautical mile patrol through Oceania in 2022, and a shorter, 28-day patrol, last year. Her three other Guam-based sisters have been making similar jaunts through the islands. 
 

Orion Drops

 
In a curious twist, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO), which operates 14 P-3 Orions on long-range counter-smuggling operations, recently detailed they have been making airdrops to USCG cutters deployed to the Eastern Pac on counterdrug ops, shoveling supplies out via an Airborne Deployable Delivery System.
 
The AMO released images of one of their aging P-3s dropping an ADDS bucket to a 210-foot cutter. 
 
 
Aerial resupply at sea via the airborne system saves approximately $1.3 million for each operation. AMO P-3 aircrews have conducted 16 airborne resupply missions with U.S. Coast Guard crews and task force teams since March 2022. These resupply missions have also allowed Coast Guard crews that would normally be required to travel to and from port to complete logistical supply runs to stay on station for approximately 75 additional days.

Way down in the South Pacific…

Finally, going even further south in the Pacific, the Coast Guard’s only serious icebreaker, the 48-year-old USCGC Polar Star (WAGB 10) has been busy breaking ice into McMurdo during Operation Deep Freeze 2023/2024, operating for 51 days below the Antarctic Circle, and is now retiring north, back across the Pacific.

Great War NYC COTP Days

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Check out this great image of what looks like circa 1910s U.S. Marines in landing party marching order including packs, leggings, web gear, and M1903 Springfields complete with long M1905 bayonets.

Only, they aren’t Marines, or even Blue Jackets, but, rather, U.S. Coast Guardsmen– you can even make out the surfman’s badge on the collar of the man to the left. The location? Manhattan’s Battery Park, circa 1918.

USCG Photo 210210-G-G0000-1007

The above are from the battalion-sized light infantry force under the command of the NYC Captain of the Port, a USCG unit under Temp. Capt. Godfrey Lynet Carden, which became a familiar sight as it drilled and patrolled along the city’s docks and parks during the Great War.

As detailed by the USCG Historian’s Office:

During WWI, the Coast Guard continued to enforce rules and regulations that governed the anchorage and movements of vessels in American harbors. The Espionage Act, passed in June 1917, gave the Coast Guard further power to protect merchant shipping from sabotage. This act included the safeguarding of waterfront property, supervision of vessel movements, establishment of anchorages and restricted areas, and the right to control and remove people aboard ships. The tremendous increase in munitions shipments, particularly in New York, required an increase in personnel to oversee this activity.

The term “captain of the port” (COTP) was first used in New York, and Captain Godfrey L. Carden was the first to hold that title. As COTP, he was charged with supervising the safe loading of explosives. During the war, a similar post was established in other U.S. ports. However, the majority of the nation’s munitions shipments abroad left through New York. For a period of 1-1/2 years, more than 1,600 vessels, carrying more than 345 million tons of explosives, sailed from this port. In 1918, Carden’s division was the largest single command in the Coast Guard. It consisted of more than 1,400 officers and men, four Corps of Engineers tugboats, and five harbor cutters.

The Coast Guard augmented the Navy with its 223 commissioned officers, more than 4,500 enlisted men, 47 vessels of all types, and 279 stations scattered along the entire U.S. coastline.

As for Carden, he was born in Siam in 1866, the son of a Presbyterian missionary, and attended Annapolis with the class of ’84, although did not graduate.

Rather, on 4 June 1886, he was appointed a cadet in the U.S. Revenue Marine Service and, following two years as a mid in that service, including serval cruises aboard the Revenue Cutter Chase, Mr. Carden was commissioned a 3rd lieutenant in the service.

Over the next decade, he would serve on the cutters Bibb, Manhattan, McLane, Morrill, and Grant.

2nd LT Godfrey L. Carden instructing a 6-pounder gun crew aboard the Revenue Cutter Morill in South Carolina waters, circa 1892. Note the rarely-seen USRSC officer’s sword. USCGH Photo 210210-G-G0000-1002

After combat aboard Manning during the Spanish-American War– during which Carden was in charge of the cutter’s two 4-inch and two 6-pounder guns– he became a go-to ordnance officer for the service and spent much of the next several years on detached duty touring manufacturers, hosting gunnery exhibits on large public events (St. Louis World’s Fair, etc) and would go on to return to Manning in 1910 as her skipper.

He then commanded the cutters Seminole and Mohawk in turn before his assignment as the COTP in New York.

Captain Godfrey L. Carden, as COTP NYC 1917-19

Following the close of hostilities, on 20 December 1918, Carden mustered the remaining men under his command– at the time still over 900– and marched from Washington Square through Fifth Avenue to the 9th Regimental Armory where they were inspected by the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Leo Rowe), USCG Commandant Ellsworth Bertholf, and Byron Newton, the Collector of Customs.

Note Carden at the front. USCG Photo 210210-G-G0000-1006

The COTP position endured until August 1919, when the Coast Guard transferred back to the Treasury Department, and Carden, who had reverted to his peacetime rank of LCDR, was relieved that October.

After service with the U.S. Shipping Board, Carden requested to retire in August 1921, capping a 35-year career when he moved to the retired list that same December.

He passed in 1965, aged 98, and is buried at Arlington.

Meanwhile, the COTP concept has become standard since then. 

60 Years of Getting it Done

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The 71-member crew of 210-foot U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Reliance (WMEC 615) returned to their homeport at Pensacola– where the aging class is being collected– on Saturday following a 57-day counterdrug patrol that ranged into the Eastern Pacific Ocean under 4th Fleet/JIATF-South control.

And the 59-year-old (not a misprint) cutter bagged a narco sub, which continues to be a thing in those waters.

The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Reliance (WMEC 615) interdicts a low-profile vessel carrying more than $5 million in illicit narcotics in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, on Feb. 15, 2024. Patrolling in support of Joint Interagency Task Force-South, the Reliance crew stopped two drug trafficking ventures, detaining six suspected traffickers and preventing nearly 4,000 pounds of cocaine and 5,400 pounds of marijuana, worth more than $57 million, from entering the United States. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Reliance)

Commissioned in Galveston in 1964 Reliance is the leader of her 16-ship class, of which four have been retired in recent years– only to see those old hulls transferred to overseas allies.

This black and white photo shows newly the commissioned Reliance (WMEC-615) in the mid-1960s with an HH-52 Sea Guard helicopter landing on its pad and davits down with one of its small boats deployed. Notice the lack of smokestack and paint scheme pre-dating the Racing Stripe or “U.S. Coast Guard” paint schemes. She has a 3″/50 forward as well as 20mm cannons for AAA work and weight and space for ASW Mousetraps, a towed sonar, and Mk.32 ASW tubes, although they were never fitted. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

As noted by the USCG:

In addition, the cutter made port calls in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama for the first time in the ship’s 59-year history. The cutter also crossed into the Southern Hemisphere, prompting a time-honored equatorial crossing tradition for the Reliance crew. Before returning to Pensacola, the crew conducted aviation training with aircraft from Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile and steamed in formation with Coast Guard Cutter Diligence (WMEC 616) to commemorate the cutters’ upcoming 60th anniversaries this summer.

More background surfaces on 11 January Dhow incident

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There is much more color that has been added to the tragic 11 January boarding, search, and seizure of the stateless dhow of the Somali coast, reportedly packed with Iranian rocket and missile components headed for the Houthi. The boarding resulted in the deaths at sea of two SEALs, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers, 37, and Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram, 27.

Chambers and Ingram were declared lost at sea on 22 January after being missing for 11 days

The information comes from an odd source, the DOJ, which indicted four foreign nationals this week who were members of the crew of the dhow– Muhammad Pahlawan, Mohammad Mazhar, Ghufran Ullah, and Izhar Muhammad– who made their initial appearance via teleconference before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Richmond, Virginia. Ten other crewmembers are being held as material witnesses but are not charged.

The 31-page complaint makes some interesting reading. 

The boarding was accomplished by members of a West Coast-based Navy SEAL team and USCG MSST elements operating from the 100,000-ton sea base, USS Lewis B. Puller, supported by helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. Once the VBSS team was aboard (sadly, after losing Chambers and Ingram in the process) they confirmed it was a stateless vessel and proceeded with the search. Although the crew at first said that they had been fishing for the past six days, there were no fish aboard and no fishing equipment in use. The crew said they were unaware of any cargo on the dhow.

What the VBSS team turned up were a series of warhead, and propulsion and guidance components for MRBMs and anti-ship cruise missiles, all “packaged without markings, labels, or identification in compartments near the front of the dhow.”

“The military’s belief that the weapons are Iranian is based in part on labels on various components, the recovery of similar exploded or destroyed missiles and destructive devices from other Houthi attacks in the region around the time of the seizure, and comparison of seized weapons to known information about Iranian manufactured missiles and rockets.”

The rocket and missile parts were found hidden in culvert piping and net float buoys and the 14-member crew transferred to the Puller, which then became a floating brig. The dhow was sunk by the Navy afterward as it was deemed “no longer safe or seaworthy.”

Several of the crew had Pakistani identification cards and in interviews, some said the dhow came from Pakistan and they didn’t know what the cargo was, while others said it came directly from Iran. One, Pahlawan, who told the rest of the crew to only refer to him as a refrigeration mechanic, was in charge. Pahlawan said he had been in Iran for two years and that he began working on the dhow 10-15 days before it left Konarak, Iran, where it had been inspected by the Iranian Navy an hour before it departed. Once they left Konarak, they took on diesel at night at Chah Bahar, a known base of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy.

Pahlawan said he was instructed by the owner and captain of the vessel– neither of which embarked– on what heading to take toward the Somali coast and was given a sat phone to communicate with an individual through a series of calls that the FBI traced back to an individual known to be affiliated with the IRGC.

Of note, Pahlawan also had a personal cell phone and was active on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. You gotta stay on top of things, after all.

As noted by the DOJ:

Pahlawan faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted of unlawfully transporting a warhead, and all four defendants face a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted of the false statements offense. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Not a bad looking 40 year old

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How about this great image during the magic hour?

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa (WMEC 902) transits the Florida Straits, on Feb. 4, 2024, while supporting Operation Vigilant Sentry. Tampa is homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Senior Chief Petty Officer Brodie MacDonald)

Tampa, a 270-foot Famous (Bear)-class cutter, was commissioned on 16 March 1984 putting her within striking distance of the big four-oh. Of note, her class is the last in U.S. service to carry the classic 1970s MK75 OTO Melera 76mm/62 cal mount.

She recently returned home Tuesday, following a 77-day maritime safety and security patrol in the Florida Straits.

“CGC Tampa has gracefully completed a multitude of missions throughout her 40 years of service,” said Cmdr. Walter Krolman, commanding officer of Tampa. “From mass migration rescues to participating in multi-nation military exercises and conducting counterdrug operations, Tampa continues to prove her motto, “Thy way is the sea, thy path in the great waters.”

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