Last week, the 154-foot Sentinel-class fast response cutter USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143),based in Guam, visited Tacloban in the Philippines on the occasion of the 79th Leyte Gulf Landing Anniversary while the larger frigate-sized USCGC Stratton (WMSL 752) called in Manila.
Hatch is the first of her class to visit the Philippines and will certainly not be the last as the FRCs are sailing far and wide, increasingly roaming around the West Pac. If you are curious, while calling at Tacloban she was 1,300 miles away from home, certainly within range as they have been logging patrols as long as 8,000nm in recent months.
Colleagues from the Philippine Coast Guard prepare to receive the crew of the USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143) at the pier in Tacloban, Philippines, on Oct. 19, 2023. In a historic first, the USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143) visited Tacloban, Philippines, from Oct. 19 to 23, 2023, and the crew conducted engagements marking a significant milestone in the enduring relationship between the United States and the Philippines. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Cmdr. Ryan Crose)
From the CG PAO:
“The expanded capabilities of the Fast Response Cutter represent more than just advanced technology; they symbolize the bridge of cooperation and goodwill between nations. The FRCs and their dedicated crews regularly play a pivotal role in international diplomacy. These vessels, along with their highly trained and professional crews, are ambassadors of peace and collaboration, said Capt. Nick Simmons, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam. “They foster understanding and trust across borders, making the seas safer not only for our own nations but for all nations that rely on the freedom of navigation and maritime security.”
Hatch is the 43rd FRC and was commissioned in July 2021, so she is a new hull.
The class has been around since 2012 when the leader, USCGC Bernard C. Webber (WPC 1101) was commissioned and sent to Miami.
Of relevance, the fourth of the class commissioned, USCGC Robert Yeard (WPC 1104) joined the fleet in 2013 and is currently out of the water at the CG Yard in Maryland where she is getting an overhaul, offering some great shots of her hull form.
Every three years the Yered gets hauled out for some much-needed maintenance including a top-end overhaul of the mains and a full paint job. For the next 140 days, it will be stripped, sprayed, welded, shafts and props dropped replaced, and cleaned. As hard as this ship works and runs, it needs it.
For reference, all of the FRCs are built by Bollinger in New Orleans and the current program of record is 65 hulls, although plans are for at least two to be placed in uncrewed a Recurring Depot Availability Program (RDAP)– otherwise known as “ordinary” back in the day, due to empty billets across the USCG.
OPC Progress
Meanwhile, the future USCGC Argus (WMSM-915), the lead ship of the Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter program and the sixth cutter to carry the name, is set to side-launch at Eastern Shipbuilding Group’s Nelson Shipyard near Panama City, Florida on Friday and proceed to finish fitting out in prep for commissioning.
Offshore Patrol Cutter ARGUS in launch position. Photo Eastern Shipbuilding Group
Offshore Patrol Cutter ARGUS in launch position. Photo Eastern Shipbuilding Group
The Heritage class is so-called as they are all to be named for historic cutters, a move I for one support and wish the Navy would take a hint when it comes to naming conventions. For example, the initial cutter Argus was one of the first 10 ships assigned to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, a predecessor service to the Coast Guard in 1791. Of the 10 original cutters assigned to the RCS, Argus spent the longest time in service. Subsequent cutters Argus were commissioned in 1804, 1809, 1830, and 1850.
Interestingly, the first OPC’s sponsor is not a politician but Capt. Beverly Kelley, USCG, (Ret). She was the first woman to command an American military vessel when she was piped aboard the 95-foot Cape-class patrol boat USCGC Cape Newagen in 1979.
Kelly, a University of Miami alum who graduated from OCS in 1976, seen on Cape Newagen’s bridge back in the day when the USCG still allowed beards without a profile. She went on to skipper the 270-foot cutter Northland (WMEC-904) as well as the 378-foot cutter Boutwell (WHEC-719) before retiring in 2006, capping a 30-year career that included 18 in sea-going billets.
More on the Heritage (Argus) class
OPC Characteristics: • Length: 360 feet • Beam: 54 feet • Draft: 17 feet • Sustained Speed: 22 Plus knots • Range: 8500 Plus nautical miles • Endurance: 60 Days
The main armament is an Mk 110 57mm gun forward with an MK 38 25mm gun over the stern HH60-sized hangar, and four remote .50 cal mounts.
I say replace the Mk38 with a C-RAM, shoehorn a towed sonar, ASW tubes, an 8-pack Mk41 VLS crammed with Sea Sparrows, and eight NSSMs aboard, then call it a day.
But no one listens to me…
Current spending on the overbudget and overtime project puts the ships at $704 million per hull. Hopefully, this can be amortized out now that a second yard (Austal in Mobile) is working on the cutters and a big reason why Eastern is so far behind is a mix of teething issues with the brand-new design (in particular non-compliant shafts delivered by Rolls-Royce for the first to hulls) and the 2021-22 supply chain/Covid slow down.
As the OPC program of record is for 25 cutters– replacing the smaller 13-strong Bear class and 16-member Reliance classes of cutters– and, knowing the Coast Guard will be the backbone of the force in blue water for the next 40 years, it is important to get it right.
Some 64 years ago this month: The last U.S. Coast Guard Boeing PB-1G “Flying Lifeboat” CG-77254 parked next to the first Coastie Lockheed SC-130B Hercules; beyond them is a Coastie R5D Skymaster seen at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, in 1959. The final PB-1G, the last B-17 Flying Fortress in U.S. military service, as far as I can tell, was not withdrawn from service until October 1959.
USCG photo
Converted B-17G bombers, the PB-1G carried no armament and, in addition to Loran, fitted a surface search radar in place of the chin mount, but still toted the Norden bombsight. It came in handy when dropping the self-bailing lifeboat it carried under the belly.
Eighteen B-17Gs were set aside by the USAAF for transfer via the US Navy to the Coast Guard to be used as search and rescue aircraft. Rework began to convert the aircraft in question for search and rescue duties. On 1 January 1946, the Coast Guard was returned to the Treasury Department, but nevertheless, the Navy continued to rework the B-17s and transferred the first of 18 to the Coast Guard in July 1946. These aircraft were Lockheed-Vega and carried Navy serial numbers. An additional PB-1G was obtained directly from the USAAF in 1947 and it served with a truncated AAF serial number. Two additional aircraft PB-1R configured for VIP operation and one aircraft configured for photo mapping were also provided.
The PB-1Gs were stationed throughout the hemisphere and were used primarily for search and rescue purposes. They were also used for Ice Patrol. The photo aircraft carried a nine-lens, $1.5 million dollar, aerial camera for mapping purposes. Interestingly, the Norden bombsight, used by the B-17s in the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was retained and was used to pinpoint targets for the camera.
They saw lots of use on the Ice Patrol.
Coast Guard PB-1G (B17) ice patrol plane, 1958
Original caption: “Somewhere in the region of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, taking a Loran fix in a Coast Guard PB-1G (B17) ice patrol plane, is John D. Murphy, Aviation Electronics man, 3rd class, working in close coordination with his navigator and the observer. By means of Loran, the navigator plots the plane’s position frequently over the fog-wrapped area under survey. Loran fixes enable the observer to check the exact location of icebergs along the course after they have been sighted. Working out from a Coast Guard attachment located at Argentia, Newfoundland, a four-engine PB-1G’s ordinary search flight lasts 10 or 11 hours and covers approximately 1,500 linear miles. The 1954 International Ice Patrol season began in February and extended into August.” NARA 026-g-051-005-001
Original caption: “Framed in the plexiglass nose of a Coast Guard PB-1G (B17) ice patrol plane, Ensign Theodore J. Wojner, USCG, Observer, with binoculars scans the ocean for field ice, growlers, and icebergs, in the vicinity of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. In this position, the observer has unrestricted visibility from beam to beam. Although Radar and Loran are used on International Ice Patrol aerial surveys, the observer knows that the human eye is still the most dependable instrument for detecting icebergs. Only after he sights an iceberg does he use the radar instrument shown here at his elbow, to determine the distance of the berg, which he enters in his log with the time. After the flight, the observer’s log entries are checked against the Loran fixes obtained by the navigator along the flight track. From this data, the location of the bergs is accurately determined. Working out of the Coast Guard Air Detachment at Argentia, Newfoundland, a PB-1G’s normal flight lasts 10 or 11 hours. During that time the observer constantly watches the area under survey.” NARA 026-g-051-003-001
The Forts were replaced by C-130s in the early 1960s, and the USCG still rocks the big Hercules.
Original caption: “The SC-130B is the first turbin[e]-propelled aircraft to enter U.S. Coast Guard Aviation. Built by Lockheed, this was the second accepted early in 1960 as the first step in the Coast Guard’s program of modernizing its air fleet and is station in Honolulu. A four-engine, all-weather, high-speed, long-range land plane, its primary mission is search and rescue but can also be used for transporting personnel, emergency equipment, and cargo. The “Hercules” replaces the old PB-1G (B-17) long-ranged model planes used since World War II.” National Archives Identifier 205576270
The final flight of the last PB-1G in Coast Guard service ended at 1:46 p.m. on Wednesday 14 October 1959 when PB-1G 77254 landed at AIRSTA Elizabeth City. She had faithfully served the nation’s oldest continuous sea service for fourteen years.
Ingalls has been busy in the past couple of weeks.
The 10th national security cutter Calhoun (WMSL 759) was signed over to the U.S. Coast Guard last Friday.
How about some great images from Ingalls on the cutter’s sea trials earlier this summer?
Calhoun (WMSL 759) pictured in the Gulf of Mexico during builder’s trials in June 2023. HII photo
Calhoun (WMSL 759) pictured in the Gulf of Mexico during builder’s trials in June 2023. HII photo
Calhoun (WMSL 759) pictured in the Gulf of Mexico during builder’s trials in June 2023. HII photo
NSC 10 is named to honor Charles L. Calhoun, the first master chief petty Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard. Calhoun served in the U.S. Navy for three years during World War II and was honorably discharged in 1946 as a torpedoman’s mate petty officer 2nd class. He enlisted in the Coast Guard that same year and held varying positions of leadership over the course of his career.
The 11th NSC, the future USCGC Friedman (WMSL 760) is under construction and long lead materials for an unfunded 12th NSC have been purchased, although some $300 million was included in last year’s NDAA for the thus-far-unordered cutter. As the line is still hot and the first of the planned Constellation-class FFGs are expected to start hitting the water until at least late 2026, pulling the trigger on NSC 12 just makes sense.
Bougainville hits the water
The Navy’s third America-class amphibious assault ship (and the first with a well deck) the future USS Bougainville (LHA 8) was launched from its floating dock into the Pascagoula River earlier this month after the 40,000-ton vessel translated from land to the company’s floating dry dock using translation railcars to support the ship in September.
As noted by Ingalls:
Bougainville is the first ship in the America class to be built with a well deck. The ship will retain aviation capabilities while adding the surface assault capability of a well deck and a larger flight deck configured for F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and MV-22 Osprey aircraft. These large-deck amphibious assault ships also include top-of-the-line medical facilities with full operating suites and triage capabilities.
Ingalls has delivered 15 large-deck amphibious ships to the U.S. Navy. The shipyard delivered the first in the new America class of amphibious assault ships (LHA 6) in 2014. The second ship in the America class, USS Tripoli (LHA 7), was delivered to the Navy in early 2020. In addition to Bougainville, Fallujah (LHA 9) is also under construction, and the company authenticated the keel during a ceremony in September 2023.
First Flight III Burke joins the fleet
The U.S. Navy commissioned the first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, the Pascagoula-built USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), on Sat., Oct. 7, 2023, in Tampa, Florida. The shipbuilder has delivered 35 Burke-class destroyers to the U.S. Navy, with four currently under construction.
Sailors man the rails during the commissioning ceremony for the Arleigh Burke class Flight III guided-missile destroyer USS Jack H Lucas (DDG 125) in Tampa, Florida Oct. 7, 2023. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)
The new destroyer carries a superb name.
Jacklyn Harold “Jack” Lucas was a great man, earning the MoH at age 17 as a Marine on Iwo Jima. I met him years ago at an event in Hattiesburg and he was humble and gregarious.
Two recent USCG reports from the Far North have some great imagery associated with them. Like recruiting poster-level stuff, here.
First, the 270-foot Famous (Bear) class medium endurance cutter (basically a 1980s patrol frigate) USCGC Forward (WMEC 911) recently returned to her home port in Portsmouth following a 10,500-nm/78-day deployment in the high North Atlantic Ocean that had some very chilly vibes and an interesting UUV deployment in the region.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Forward (WMEC 911) steams near an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, on Aug. 22, 2023. Forward deployed in support of Op Nanook, an annual Canadian-led exercise that offers an opportunity to work with partners to advance shared maritime objectives. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Mikaela McGee)
Throughout the deployment, Forward supported the U.S. Coast Guard’s Arctic Strategy and partnered with allied nations and agencies during Operation Nanook 2023, an annual Canadian-led military exercise to strengthen maritime objectives in the high northern latitudes.
Alongside Canadian and French forces navigating the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, Forward’s crew performed training evolutions including towing and formation steaming, replenishment at sea, visual communications tactical signaling, and cross-deck exercises. In addition, an attached team from Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team Pacific conducted a boarding exercise with French Navy vessel BSAM Garonne to demonstrate at-sea capabilities and assist in enhancing partner training curriculums.
Forward collaborated with embarked U.S. Navy personnel from the Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Flotilla-1 team to launch their Razorback UUV. The undersea vehicle, equipped with mapping and sonar capabilities, deployed deeper than any U.S. Navy submersible and traveled to a depth of nearly 2,000 feet (600 meters).
Members from the U.S. Navy’s Afloat Training Group Atlantic were also embarked aboard Forward to help build their service’s Arctic Vision Initiative, which will serve to inform U.S. Navy training entities of seamanship, navigation, engineering, and medical considerations necessary for operating naval vessels in the polar regions.
Plus, how about this massed shot of 270s collected pierside at Portsmouth. Keep in mind just 13 of these vessels were completed.
Family and friends of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Forward’s (WMEC 911) crew watch the cutter approach the pier, Sept. 26, in Portsmouth, Virginia. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Hillard)
Next, the one-of-a-kind medium (as in, it’s not going to clear a path to McMurdo) icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB 20) has been on a five-week-long NSF mission from Kodiak, Alaska to Norway over the top of the world supporting the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System (NABOS). She just called at Tromso in Norway, and prior to that rendezvoused with the Norwegian Coast Guard Vessel Svalbard in the ice-covered waters northwest of the Svalbard archipelago.
The two ships transited together toward Tromsø while crew members participated in an exchange on each other’s vessel to foster a deeper understanding of the other service’s operations.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) transits the Tromsøysundet Strait alongside the Norwegian Coast Guard Vessel Svalbard near Tromsø, Norway, Oct. 1, 2023. The U.S. shares a decades-long stalwart partnership with Norway built upon shared values, experiences, and vision. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Senior Chief Petty Officer Charly Tautfest)
Speaking of Svalbard, aka Spitsbergen, the frozen archipelago that was once the stomping grounds of the Tirpitz and is the current home to the end-of-the-world seed bank, life has been getting tense due to the co-located Soviet err Russian mining outpost there as of late.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations recently concluded its first joint naval exercises that, importantly, did not include a big outside power.
Crew Singapore’s RSS Vigour (92), a Victory-class corvette, waving their ballcaps during the sailpast to the Royal Brunei Navy’s KDB Darulehsan (left, background) and the Sudirohusodo-class hospital ship KRI dr. Radjiman Wedyodiningrat of the Indonesian Navy. (Singapore Navy Photo)
The exercise included ships from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, while the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and East Timor sent observers.
The ASEAN naval ex included Singapore transferring a refurbished 500-ton Fearless-class patrol vessel, ex- RSS Dauntless (99) to Brunei as Al Faruq. (Singapore Navy Photo)
Simultaneously, the 30th edition of the Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) was successfully completed over the weekend.
RSS Stalwart, RSS Tenacious, and RSS Valour participated in a series of exercises in the southern reaches of the South China Sea within international waters alongside Indian Navy frigates INS Ranvijay and INS Kavaratti. (Singapore Navy Photo)
Also, of note, the white hull U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL 755) has been in the region at the same time, playing well in the South China Sea with the rebooted British Pacific naval force in the area, as part of CARAT 2023 with ASEAN member Brunei.
Royal Navy vessel HMS Spey (P234) (foreground) conducts coordinated ship maneuvers with U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL 755) on Sept. 17, 2023, in the South China Sea. Munro is deployed to the Indo-Pacific to advance relationships with ally and partner nations to build a more stable, free, open, and resilient region with unrestricted, lawful access to the maritime commons. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Brett Cote)
Of interest to small boat naval gun guys is this notice from Thursday’s and Friday’s DOD Contracts announcements (emphasis mine):
MSI Defence Systems US LLC, Rock Hill, South Carolina, is awarded a $23,463,149 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 15 MK88 MOD4 Gun Mounts, associated hardware, and spares. Work will be performed in the United Kingdom (90%) and Rock Hill, South Carolina (10%) and is expected to be completed by March 2025. Fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,621,453 (50%); fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,991,450 (38%); and fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Coast Guard) funds in the amount of $2,850,246 (12%), will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1), (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.) Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00174-23-C-0015).
MSI-Defence Systems US LLC,* Rock Hill, South Carolina, is awarded a $29,263,267 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement of the MK 48 Mod 2 Electro-Optical Sight (EOS), EOS spare parts and transportation cases, and evaluation and repair of EOS subassemblies in support of the MK 38 Mod 4 Machine Gun System for the Navy, Coast Guard, and Military Sealift Command. Work will be performed in Norwich, United Kingdom (56%); and Rock Hill, South Carolina (44%), and is expected to be completed by September 2026. Fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,601,246 (57%); and fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,700,936 (43%), will be obligated at time of award; the funding will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured via the sam.gov website, with one offer received. This is a sole source action in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1, only one responsible source. MSI-Defence Systems US LLC is the original equipment manufacturer of the systems and the only company who can provide the systems and perform the required evaluation and repairs. No other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N0016423DJQ13).
MSI makes the MK38 Mod 4 on a standard M88 mount, perhaps the best version of the Bushmaster. Whereas the first version was crew-manned, this one is a “fully integrated Naval Gun controlled via a Combat Management System (CMS) or Electro-Optic Fire Control System (FCS) using a remote independent Electro-Optical Sight System (EOSS)” which really ups the hit factor.
Plus, rather than just a M242 25mm cannon, the Mod 4 carries the MK44S 30mm cannon with the option to coaxially mount the 12.7mm M2HB Heavy Machine Gun to the main gun, providing additional engagement capability.
The 30mm MK44S has 70% of the same parts as the M242 while increasing the firepower by as much as 50% with the 20% increase in caliber size, making it a much more powerful option with a 4,000m range versus the 25mm’s 2,000m range.
The Mk 48 Mod 2 MSI-DS Electro-Optical Sight System (EOSS) includes long-range Day/Night All Weather sensors, has an auto-tracking mode for long endurance surveillance of targets, can be mounted on superstructure or mast positions, and interfaces with the ship’s Combat Management System or Integrated Bridge via existing common consoles or a standalone Remote Operator Console and HD display monitor. Plus, since it is not on the gun mount itself, it doesn’t spook those it observes. Meanwhile, as it is all-optical/IR it doesn’t light up a radar warning receiver/ECM set, which could be a nice benefit in ambush attacks
As for where they are going, the USCG has gone on record as saying they plan on mounting one or two of these on each of the new icebreakers (Polar Security Cutter) but, as these mounts are only negligibly heavier and fit the same footprint as earlier MK38s, there is a definite logic in mounting these on the 154-foot Sentinel (Webber) class Fast Response Cutters operating in the Persian Gulf and Western Pacific, swapping out the MK38 Mod 2s currently fitted on the bow.
As 15 mounts are on order, maybe that is the plan…plus the MSC notation is very interesting.
U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam’s Fast Response Cutters conducted four patrols over 44 days, enhancing safety and prosperity in the Pacific Islands region while combatting illicit maritime activity, including illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing and the illegal and unsafe transport of passengers.
Lt. j.g. Sims and Ensign Salang welcome the Marine Corps Detachment in Chuuk for Operation Koa Moana aboard the USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143) for a tour while visiting Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia, on July 28, 2023. The crew conducted a patrol in FSM in support of Operation Rematau. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
The crews of USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143), USCGC Myrtle Hazard (WPC 1139), and USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140):
Conducted seven boardings and five observation reports.
Completed over 20 training evolutions.
Qualified 18 new shipboard members.
Supported the investigation into the transport of 11 people aboard an overloaded vessel transiting to Guam from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on an illegal charter following their rescue by DoD partners.
Supported operations such as Operation Blue Pacific, Operation Rematau, Operation Nasse, and Operation Koa Moana.
Operational Achievements and Highlights
USCGC Frederick Hatch (June 21 – July 2 and July 18 – Aug. 3): Enhanced international relations, streamlined boarding processes, qualified new personnel, and improved communication with FSM Maritime Police.
USCGC Myrtle Hazard (July 3 – 16): Strengthened connection with CNMI, ensured maritime law enforcement presence in less patrolled areas, and enhanced collaboration with customs and public safety departments.
USCGC Oliver Henry (July 18 – 23): Increased U.S. presence, enforced fishing regulations, and fostered crew readiness with weapons proficiency and collaboration.
Myrtle Hazardhas also been invited by Papua New Guinea (PNG) to join their lead in maritime operations to combat illegal fishing and safeguard maritime resources during August 2023. This comes after Oliver Henry became the first U.S. Coast Guard Fast Response Cutter to call on port in Papua New Guinea during their southern expeditionary patrol in the fall of 2022 to build relations, conduct engagements, and resupply and the two countries inked a security agreement a couple of months ago.
The crew of the USCGC Myrtle Hazard (WPC 1139) arrive in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on Aug. 20, 2023. The U.S. Coast Guard is in Papua New Guinea at the invitation of the PNG government to join their lead in maritime operations to combat illegal fishing and safeguard maritime resources following the recent signing and ratification of the bilateral agreement between the United States and Papua New Guinea. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Warrant Officer Sara Muir)
Via USCG:
This collaborative effort marks the first time a joint patrol effort will be executed at sea since the signing and ratification of the recent bilateral defense agreement between PNG and the United States, which allows the U.S. to embark ship riders from PNG agencies aboard the ship to conduct at sea boardings on other vessels operating in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under their national agency authority. This is the U.S. Coast Guard vessel deployment first announced during Secretary of Defense Austin’s engagement with Prime Minister James Marape in July.
The Coast Guard has ordered 65 Sentinel (Webber)- class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) to date.
With the recent commissioning of USCGC Patterson (WPB 1153) in Portland Maine earlier this month–the fourth of six FRCs to be stationed in Boston– 53 FRCs are in service: 13 in Florida; seven in Puerto Rico; six in Bahrain with PATFORSWA; four each in California and Massachusetts; three each in Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, Texas and New Jersey; and two each in Mississippi and North Carolina. Future FRC homeports include Astoria, Oregon; and Kodiak and Seward, Alaska.
At least one more FRC will be sent to Guam, where she will no doubt be put to good use.
Built by Boeing in 1962, she was the first of a series of hydrofoil craft designed to evaluate the performance of this kind of propulsion in the modern Navy, one that ultimately led to the design (by Boeing) of the Pegasus-class patrol combatant missile hydrofoils, or PHMs.
Decommissioned by the Navy in March 1975 after a decade of testing, High Point was used briefly by the Coast Guard until her main turbine exploded, then was stricken in 1980.
428-GX-K108129 Patrol Craft, Hydrofoil, USS High Point (PCH-1) underway during a search and rescue exercise off San Francisco by JOC(AC) Warren Grass, 25 April 1975
Powered just by her auxiliary Detriot Diesel, she was retained as a non-commissioned experimental hulk until finally disposed of by MARAD in 1991. She passed through a series of private owners until she came up for sale once again for $70,000– with no takers.
All is not totally lost as a number of relics from the vessel were apparently passed on to a local, free cannery museum on the condition they set up and display the foil propeller.
A Requiem for a Ship that Could Fly; A Ship of local notoriety, USS HIGH POINT PCH-1
There were no flags flying, no bands playing on the pier, no dress uniforms with gold braids waiting to congratulate the captain and crew for a successful mission. No, there was none of that. Only an excavator with a hydraulic crusher awaited. And over a period of four days, in the middle of August, this once proud foilborne warrior was reduced to a heap of scrap and hauled away.
She deserved better, but you can’t save them all.
The only American “fighting foil” left afloat is the ex-USS Aries (PHM-5) museum in Gasconade, Missouri. Please pay them a visit or at least throw them a few dollars.
Above we see the Department of Commerce’s United States Lighthouse Service’s Violet-class coast-wise tender Lilac standing by the wreck of a derelict sailing ship in New York harbor, circa 1930s, with Lady Liberty in the background, likely during one of the vessel’s regular trips to the Service’s St. George Depot on Staten Island. If you look closely, you’ll note the USLHS’s brass lighthouse emblem bolted to her bow.
Lilac would later go on to serve, including a spell in haze gray, for another 40 years, and continues to clock in today.
The last tenders of the USLHS
The U.S Lighthouse Establishment was founded in 1789 and morphed across several iterations until, as the U.S Lighthouse Board in the 1890s, developed a basic design for its largest steam tenders that would remain little changed for a century. Between 1892 and 1939, no less than 33 such large coast-wise tenders were built, typically ranging in length from 164 to 174 feet and outfitted to carry about two dozen crew to work a series of large steam-powered booms to service a growing array of federally maintained aids to navigation– 11,713 in 1910 when the USLHS was formed swelling to 30,420 by 1939. These included lighted aids (lighthouses, lightships, and buoys), fog signals, radio beacons, unlighted buoys, and daymarks.
The trio of Violet class tenders (joined by the near-sister Arbutus) was led by the Manitowoc-built USLHT Violet, contracted in September 1929, followed by our Pusey & Jones Co. built Lilac and Mistletoe. Modern vessels, they were built almost entirely of riveted steel, including hulls, decks, deckhouses, and masts, edged with wood as a protective against heavy buoys, chains, and cement anchors. They had electric lights throughout and refrigerated storerooms.
Some 173 feet in length (163 feet six inches on the waterline) the class had a molded breadth of 32 feet, and the minimum depth of hull at the side, from the top of the main deck to the top of the keel, of 14 feet 6 inches. At a displacement of approximately 770 tons (799 is full load), the draft is 10 feet seven inches in salt water, essential to being able to tread in hazardous shoals.
Early plans of near-sister Arbutus, which was of the same overall type although slightly deeper of hold and with Foster-Wheeler boilers rather than Babcock & Wilcox as used by the Violets.
Arbutus out of the water before launch at Pusey & Jones. Note the wooden strakes to protect her hull while working buoys and the USLHS lighthouse insignia on her bow. (USCG photo)
The fuel capacity of the class was 29,000 gallons of fuel oil for their pair of Babcock & Wilcox boilers, each driving a triple expansion engine. The designed top speed of the class was approximately 13.7 knots at 1,000 hp– although later maximum speed was in the typically 11.5 knot range. They were not built as racehorses. The range, at 10 knots, was 1,734 nm which allowed them to range along the coast and keep station for weeks if needed.
Lilac, seen here ready for launch at Wilmington Delaware in 1933. She was moved through the water by twin four-bladed propellers 7 feet 5 inches in diameter. Each propeller was driven by a triple expansion, reciprocating steam engine developing 500 indicated horsepower at 160 revolutions per minute. The engines were built by the ship’s builders, Pusey & Jones of Wilmington, Delaware, and had high, intermediate, and low-pressure cylinders 11 1/2, 19, and 32 inches in diameter respectively with a 24-inch stroke. Steam to operate the engines and booms was supplied at 200 pounds per square inch by two Babcock & Wilcox oil-fired watertube boilers. (Hagley Library)
The deck gear included a 20-ton capacity boom with a steam-powered hoist, here seen in action aboard Lilac in 1948. (Philadelphia Inquirer archives)
Besides normal crew berthing of about six officers and 20 crew while on USHLS orders, the class also had spare accommodations to allow ferrying rotating crew members to lightships and keepers to lighthouses as well as providing space for district and national officials on periodic inspection tours.
Meet Lilac
Our subject had been planned to be named Azalea, contracted on 13 April 1931 to Hampton Roads Shipbuilding of Portsmouth, Virginia. However, Pusey & Jones subsequently underbid Hampton Roads, and the former was awarded the contract, after which the USLHS changed the new tender’s name to Lilac.
The name “Lilac” was the second in the USLHS, with the first being a 155-foot tender built in 1892 that served in the Navy during the Great War on patrol off the East Coast and in the Caribbean.
Ordered for $334,900 from Pusey & Jones on 16 August 1932, she was launched on 26 May 1933 and entered service with the service later that same year under the command of Capt. Andrew J. Davidson, a man who began his long career 42 years prior as a ship’s carpenter aboard the lighthouse tender Zizania and would be her skipper for five years.
Lilac was assigned to the Fourth Lighthouse District, which covered the Delaware River, from Trenton, New Jersey south to the mouth of the Delaware Bay. She replaced the old (c. 1899) tender Iris and was based in Edgemoor, Delaware, just north of the mouth of the Christina River, where she would spend the next 15 years. Among her more famous charges was the Breakwater Lighthouse, founded in 1885 and now part of the Cape Henlopen State Park.
The Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse. LOC.
Joining the Coast Guard
On 1 July 1939, with the world edging towards war, the USLHS merged with the U.S. Coast Guard, which is still in charge of the maintenance and operation of all U.S. lighthouses, lightships, and aids to navigation. Lilac and her sisters were among 63 existing and building tenders of all sorts transferred to the USCG. With that, the triangular pennant of the Lighthouse Service was lowered for the last time on 7 July and the Coast Guard pennant ran up.
Upon commissioning into the Coast Guard, the vessels were given the WAGL designation meaning “auxiliary vessel, lighthouse tender” with the “W” being the USCG’s service differentiator. Lilac’s pennant number, therefore, became WAGL-227.
Other changes included repainting the all-black stacks to the standard Coast Guard buff with a black cap and removing the brass USHLS lighthouse emblems from the bows. Internally, the complement switched to two officers, two warrant officers, and 34 enlisted. Room for a small arms locker was set aside and plans were made to mount a topside armament drawn up.
When the Coast Guard was transferred to the Navy under Executive Order 8929 of 1 November 1941, out came the guns and thick haze grey paint. The Violets would pick up a single 3″/50 DP mount on the foc’sle, a pair of 20mm/80 Oerlikon single mount amidships behind the wheelhouse, and a pair of depth charge tracks over the stern. They would also, late in the war, pick up an SO-1 (Violet, Lilac, and Arbutus) or SO-8 (Mistletoe) detection radar on the top of their masts and WEA-2 sonars.
Mistletoe seen in 1943 during WWII before she had her SO-8 radar fit.
Lilac seen in late Sept. 1945, with her armament apparently landed but still wearing her “war paint.” 4th Naval District Photographer WC Dendal
Lilac would spend her war in the 5th Naval District on orders in the Delaware River system and would be fitted with a degaussing system for protection against magnetic mines laid off the mouth of the Delaware Bay by German U-boats. She would stand by when they brought in the surrendered U-858 in May 1945 and docked her at Fort Mills.
Mistletoe and Violet, also under 5th District Orders based in Norfolk and Baltimore, respectively, would work in Chesapeake Bay during the war.
Arbutus, assigned to the 1st Naval District, was used as a net tender at Newport RI. Her armament would be much the same with the exception of a smaller 3″/23 rather than a 3″/50 and a BK series radar initially fitted as early as 1943.
The men who tended the lights and buoys were in the war as well, and it should be remembered the USLHS lightship LV-71 was sunk in the Great War by the German submarine U-104 near Diamond Shoals, North Carolina while the unarmed USCG Speedwell-class buoy tender Acacia (which had joined the old USLHS in 1927) was sent to the bottom by gunfire from U-161 in 1942 during WWII. Another tender, the former 173-foot circa 1904 USLHT Magnolia, was lost in USCG/Navy service in 1945 when the American Mail Line freighter SS Marguerite Leland in Mobile Bay ran her down.
Postwar
Postwar, Lilac and her sisters would return to a more typical life, reverting to their peacetime livery. At first this would be a black hull with a white superstructure and bow eyebrow and buff stack with a black cap.
Tender Lilac 5 Sept 1946 near Burlington NJ Photographer McKisky
Tender Lilac 5 Sept 1946 at Harbor of Refuge. Note the radar fit on her mast top. Photographer McKisky
Mistletoe, 1947, note her SO-8 radar on her top mast. USLHS Digital Archive
Then this would change to an all-black hull, losing the eyebrow, and wearing large white hull numbers.
Tender Lilac 5 W227 1950s
Lilac underway circa 1940s (U.S. Coast Guard)
Lilac with unidentified light
In 1948, Lilac was transferred to Gloucester City, New Jersey, where, in addition to her ATON work, would be remarkably busy in a series of SAR cases.
As detailed by the Coast Guard Historian’s Office, here is just a two year-run down:
On 15 to 17 May 1952, she assisted following the collision between the motor vessels Barbara Lykes and F. L. Hayes in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
On 22 May 1952, she assisted the tug Pateo and the Atlantic Dealer in the Delaware River.
On 26 May 1952, she assisted following the collision between the tanker Michael and the motor barge A. C. Dodge near Ready Island.
On 30 January 1953, she assisted the fishing vessel Benjamin Brothers in the Delaware River.
From 6 to 12 June 1953, she assisted following the collision between the tankers Pan Massachusetts and the Phoenix in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
On 24 and 25 June 1953 she fought the fire on board the tanker Pan Georgia and searched for survivors in the Christina River.
On 30 December 1953, she assisted the motor vessels Atlantic Dealer and Atlantic Engineer in the Delaware River.
On 13 July 1955, she assisted the yacht Nip and Tuck in the Delaware River.
LILAC underway circa 1950s (U.S. Coast Guard)
Taking buoy on board Lilac (Philadelphia Enquirer)
Bridge, buoy tender LILAC 220211-G-G0000-011
Wheelhouse of Lilac (Philadelphia Enquirer)
In a 1961 refit for a further decade of service, she would be equipped with an SPN-11 radar and UNQ-1 sonar.
By 1965, the USCG switched the WAGL designation to WLM for “‘medium or coastal buoy tender” and Lilac became WLM-227.
She would pick up the now-classic Coast Guard racing stripe after 1967.
She was decommissioned on 3 February 1972, capping just under 40 years with the USLHS/Navy/USCG.
Tender Lilac decommissioning
Her sisters Arbutus, Mistletoe, and Violet had been taken out of service already, decommissioned and disposed of between 1963 and 1969. None are afloat.
Arbutus met her end in Florida in the 1980s after serving as one of treasure hunter Mel Fisher’s “sentry” vessels over the Atocha wreck site.
The Arbutus wreck was celebrated, and she was later used by Jimmy Buffett for a back cover shot for his 1985 album ‘Songs You Should Know By Heart’.”
Switching careers
Just a few months after she was decommissioned, ex-USCGC Lilac was donated to the Harry Lundeberg Seafarers International Union seamanship school in Maryland, where she was used as a stationary pier side training vessel until 1984. In this role, she provided accommodation and class space to mariners upgrading their ratings across both bridge, deck, and engine room departments.
After 1984, she passed hands a few times and was used as a salvage company’s office for a spell, grounded in a dredged berth along the James River outside of Richmond, before she was listed in 1999 for scrap value, still relatively intact but showing her age.
Preservation
The non-profit NYC-based Tug Pegasus Preservation Project became involved in the prospect of saving Lilac and she was refloated on 25 February 2003, then towed to a shipyard in Norfolk where, after a favorable report on the condition of the ship’s hull– she had spent most of her life in freshwater– she was purchased on 11 March 2003, with the intent to return her to operation as a steam vessel based in New York harbor.
After berthing at the Hudson River Park’s Pier 40 and transfered to the newly created non-profit LILAC Preservation Project, she was eventually moved to the newly built Pier 25 in Tribeca in 2011 and has since opened as a museum ship.
The last unaltered American steam-propelled and steam-hoisting lighthouse tender designed for work on the open sea and connecting bays and sounds, Lilac is special and, other than the diesel-powered tender Fir (which was still under construction when the service was absorbed by the USCG was preserved at the Liberty Maritime Museum in Sacramento for a half-decade and is now apparently looking for a new owner) is the only USLHS tender still around– and the only one on display.
She is the oldest Coast Guard “black hull” afloat.
If you have a chance to visit her, please do.
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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USCGC Mellon (WHEC 717) sits in full dress at the pier before a decommissioning ceremony in Seattle on Aug. 20, 2020. USCGC Mellon was a High Endurance Cutter homeported in Seattle and served as an asset in completing Coast Guard missions around the world for 52 years. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Clark)
The Hamilton class of Coast Guard cutters served the USCG well for over 50 years, including most working the Market Time gun line off Vietnam as well as standing toe-to-toe with the Soviet Navy in the Cold War.
Equipped from the beginning as a patrol frigate, they entered service starting in 1967 with a 5″/38 DP mount and an ASW suite that included the AN/SQS-38 sonar and Mk32 torpedo tubes for launching lightweight ASW torpedoes, first the Mk44, then the Mk46. They had to requal for both surface warfare and ASW every year and often bird-dogged Russki subs, especially off New England and in Alaska waters.
1972 Hamilton-class USCGC Boutwell (WHEC-719) close aboard a Soviet Submarine. USCG Historian’s Office. 230802-G-G0000-102.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s the Hamiltons a FRAM program that replaced the 5″/38 gun with the MK 75 76mm OTO, upgraded the MK 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes to Mod 7, installed MK 36 SRBOC launchers and the AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite, added a CIWS and Harpoon capability, and upgraded the cutters’ air and surface search radars. This came in tandem with the ability to operate a Navy LAMPS I (Sea Sprite) helicopter should they need to clock in as convoy escorts.
Then, in 1996, the USCG got out of the ASW biz, pulling its tubes and sonar suites. Everyone figured it would never be needed again. After all, the world was at peace and sub-busting was so WWII.
In recent years, the Coast Guard retired all 13 of its long-serving Hamiltons and Uncle Sam has since gifted them to overseas allies. This included three sent to the Philippines– the former USCGC Hamilton (WHEC-715), renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15); USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716) renamed BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16), and USCGC Boutwell (WHEC-719) as BRP Andres Bonifacio (FF-17).
Two Gregorio del Pilar-class frigates (former Hamilton-class cutters) of the Philippine Navy during naval exercises with the US Navy
And, it seems the Philippine Navy is fitting them for ASW once more, with ELAC SONAR GmbH, a German supplier of hydroacoustic systems, announcing recently that it completed sea acceptance tests of the HUNTER 2.0 hull-mounted sonar for the class.
The company notes:
HUNTER 2.0 is a hull-mounted sonar carrying out anti-submarine warfare (ASW) in active and passive modes in shallow and deep waters for panoramic detection of submarines and other objects.
As for teeth, the PI last year contacted with the UK SEA firm for its Torpedo Launcher System (TLS) for a class of corvettes being built in South Korea. It is not a stretch they could add a few more to the contract for the old Hamiltons, and in fact, the presser at the time said clearly: “The contract follows the successful delivery of SEA’s TLS for the Philippine Navy’s frigates.”
SEA’s TLS is a weapon-agnostic, close range and rapid-reaction system capable of firing a variety of NATO-compatible standard light weight torpedoes, including the US Mk44, Mk46 and Mk54 torpedoes, UK Sting Ray, Italian A244S, French MU90 and the Korean Blue Shark.
