Category Archives: USCG

‘Hungry Horse’ Put to Pasture after 40 Years

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USCGC MUSTANG (WPB 1310)

An early “A-series” 110-foot Island-class patrol boat, USCGC Mustang (WPB 1310), was the 10th of her class to join the service and had a 15-year design lifespan.

Commissioned in September 1986, she was named after Mustang Island off the coast of Corpus Christi, Texas but, in typical Government logic, was immediately sent to the Pacific and was the first of her class stationed on the West Coast. Stationed at Seward, Alaska ever since, she is one of the few cutters to have remained at the same homeport their entire career.

Seward, Alaska (Feb. 15, 1996)–The Coast Guard Cutter Mustang (WPB 1310) is moored at a Seward, Alaska, pier. USCG photo by SS2 Mike Brasch

She even went to the call of other cutters.

Juneau, AK (Apr.4, 2000)–The 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Mustang (WPB 1310) tows the Homer-based Island Class patrol boat Roanoke Island (WPB 1346) to Juneau after the Roanoke Island’s engines were shut down in the Gulf of Alaska, resulting from pumps that overheated. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy Cutter Roanoke Island)

After nearly 40 years patrolling the Gulf of Alaska and Prince William Sound and responding to an average of 200 SAR calls and 2,000 LE sorties, the USCG is finished with the cutter. She was decommissioned at Seward on Tuesday. 

Her fellow A-series sistership, USCGC Naushon (WPB-1311), was retired in Homer last month. Between just 2016 when she was moved there and her decommissioning, Naushon chalked up 50 SAR cases and 900 LE sorties out of Homer.

Coast Guard Cutter Naushon (WPB 1311) moored at a pier during the cutter’s decommissioning ceremony in Homer, Alaska, March 21, 2025. Naushon has been stationed in Homer since 2016 and has since responded to over 50 search-and-rescue cases and completed nearly 900 law enforcement sorties. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Sydney Sharpe

The last of the 110s in Alaska is USCGC Liberty (WPB-1334), which has spent her 33-year career at Juneau and Valdez.

The Coast Guard is replacing the aging Island-class patrol boats with the new 158-foot Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs), which feature enhanced capability to meet service needs. There are currently four FRC’s homeported in Alaska (USCGC John McCormick, Anthony Petit, and Bailey Barco at Ketchikan and John Witherspoon at Kodiak), with two more scheduled for delivery in the near future.

It is expected that both Mustang and Naushon will be sent to the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore and refitted for further service, heading down to South America as military aid for a second career.

It seems, after decades of polar service, a stint in warmer waters for these old cutters is overdue.

With that, check out this recent video of the Coast Guard Waterfront Operations and Training Center (WOTC) that sits across Curtis Creek from CG Yard, which has recently finished all scheduled FY24 decommissionings and lay-ups in support of the Force Alignment Initiative, which took 13 badly needed cutters out of operation.

Visible are at least three Reliance-class 210s, eight 87s, and six 110s

Spencer Finishes 20-Month Downgrade

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The 270-foot Famous (Bear) class medium endurance cutter USCGC Spencer (WMEC-905) commissioned 28 June 1986. A fighting little cutter designed and built in the final stretch of the Cold War, she was fundamentally designed to serve as a patrol frigate of sorts on convoy work should WWIII break out.

The class was built with an OTO Melara Mk 75 76mm/62cal mount installed forward as well as six positions for M2 .50 cals. The sensors were decent for the mid-1980s, including a receive-only AN/SLQ-32A(V)2 EW system, a pair of Mark 36 SRBOC launchers, an Mk 92 (Mod 1) FCS, an SPS-64 surface search radar (later updated to SPS-78), URN-25 Tacan, WSC-3 UHF Satcom, etc.

Further, space and weight were reserved for a single Mk 15 20mm CIWS and two quadruple Harpoon missile-launch canisters, giving the Bears some real teeth and at least a modicum of counter-air/missile capability.

The plan at the time of order/construction, would be for the 270s to carry van-mounted towed passive sonar array on fantail but that stalled and by 1988, $20 million had been allotted for a test on WMEC-907 to carry SQR-18A TASS, a SQR-17A sonobuoy analyzer, an APR-78 sonobuoy receiver, and a SKR-4 helicopter data-link receiver which would have made the ship LAMPS III (SH-60) compatible– making them not a bad little ASW platform.

But, with the end of he Cold War, and the Coast Guard told they wouldn’t have to fight any naval wars for at least the time being, all the cool stuff never materialized.

And even the stuff the cutters had keeps disappearing.

Spencer just wrapped up a 20-month service life extension program (SLEP) at the USCGY in Baltimore that “includes updates and replacements of electrical power generation and distribution systems, main diesel propulsion engines, and gun weapon systems.”

Spencer’s No. 1 Diesel had 100,000 hours on it. 

It was the first major work effort since all of the 270s went through a 12-month Mission Effectiveness Project (MEP) in two stages between 2007 and 2014, at which point they were all in their 20s.

While two sister ships, Harriet Lane (WMEC-903) and Seneca (WMEC-906), previously served as prototypes for the electrical and structural work, they did not get new engines, but Lane did get the weapons downgrade, which dumped the old familiar MK 75 OTO for a MK 38 Mod 3 25mm gun.

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, on April 9, 2024. Note the 25mm in the place of the old 75. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Senior Chief Petty Officer Charly Tautfest)

The Slick 32 and Mk 92 remains, while the radar has been stepped down.

As detailed by the CG Acquisition Directorate (CG-9), “Spencer is the first of six medium endurance cutters scheduled to receive all major system overhauls including new main propulsion engines.” The rest of those half-dozen upgraded by 2030 will be Escanaba (WMEC-907), Tahoma (WMEC-908), Campbell (WMEC-909), Forward (WMEC-911), and Legare (WMEC-912).

As for the un-updated 270s– Bear (WMEC-901), Tampa (WMEC-902), Northland (WMEC-904), Thetis (WMEC-910), and Mohawk (WMEC-13)– I guess they will just carry on until tapped out although the service has announced they have fired the MK 75 for the last (planned) time. 

The SLEP will allow the upgraded 270s to go back to work for another decade until replaced by the building Offshore Patrol Cutter, which will at least have a Mk 110 57mm gun forward with a MK 38 Mod 3 25mm gun over the stern HH60-sized hangar, and four M2 .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, and call it a day.

A little 5.56 will jam an outboard right up

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The downright elderly (60 years in commission) 210-foot Reliance-class USCGC Valiant (WMEC 621) recently offloaded approximately 12,470 pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated $141.4 million, at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach after wrapping up a patrol of the Florida Straits and Caribbean.

Valiant’s crew secured the illegal drugs after six interdictions in international waters, including one incident on 17 February some 50 miles northeast of the Dominican Republic, that included the crew of her 26-foot RHIB zapping a go-fast with M4s.

Now, being the Coast Guard, they aimed for the outboards, not the crew, and brought said coke boat to a halt.

Law enforcement crew members from USCGC Valiant (WMEC 621) stand in front of interdicted narcotics and engine covers at Base Miami Beach, Florida, Mar. 6, 2025. (U.S. Coast Guard photo 250306-G-FL647-1055 by Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicholas Strasburg)

A USCGC Valiant (WMEC 621) law enforcement team is underway with interdicted narcotics approximately 50 miles northeast of the Dominican Republic, Feb. 17, 2025. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations aircrew detected the suspicious vessel and vectored in the Valiant crew who apprehended five suspected smugglers and seized approximately 1,280 pounds of cocaine. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Reese Fishbaugh)

Roll that beautiful bean footage:

Oldest Cutter Not Looking Too Bad at 61 Years Young

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The seniormost blue-water cutter, the USCGC Reliance (WMEC-615), has been in service almost continuously since she was commissioned on 20 June 1964, with the only break being regular yard periods and a 20-month Major Maintenance Availability from April 1987 to January 1989.

Constructed across a 22-month period for the sum of $4,920,804 by the Todd Houston Shipbuilding Corporation, the country has gotten its money’s worth out of Hull 615.

The lead ship of her class of 16 cutters, she originally carried a CODAG propulsion system and a 3″/50 gun forward as well as weight and space reserved for ASW weapons to serve as a patrol escort in the event of WWIII.

This black and white photo shows newly the commissioned Reliance (WMEC-615) 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 Mousttraps, a towed sonar, and Mk.32 ASW tubes, although they were never fitted. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

After her $16 million MMA in the late 80s, she lost her 3-incher, replaced with an early model manned MK38 25mm chain gun, while her engines were replaced with twin Alco diesels. Keep in mind that the MMA was supposed to just add 10-to-15 years to her lifespan, with a planned retirement along those lines in 2009-2015.

Post MMA

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, 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)

She has earned at least four Coast Guard Unit Commendations, a Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation, multiple Joint Meritorious Unit Awards, and numerous USCG “E” ribbons. She has put out oilrig fires, saved at least four ships adrift on the sea, served on the Campeche Patrols for three years, picked up thousands of Haitian and Cuban migrants in the Florida Straits, bagged over 400 tons of MJ and $50M worth of cocaine, and just generally been a floating mensch.

Reliance just completed a 60-day patrol in the Florida Straits, Windward Passage, and Gulf of America, and managed to have a short video captured of her underway in the Gulf.

At some point in the coming years, she will be replaced by the future USCGC Reliance (WMSM-925), a Heritage-class 360-foot Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPCs), and will be the fifth vessel to bear the distinguished name going back to 1861.

Perhaps the old girl will be retained as a museum, with the new National USCG Museum in New London being a good candidate.

Polar ops at both ends of the Globe

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Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL 750) transits through Glacier Bay, Alaska, Oct. 24, 2024. During the patrol, Bertholf’s crew operated as far north as the Arctic Circle, patrolling along the maritime boundary line between the United States and Russia and supporting U.S. strategic interests in the North Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Troy Spence.)

The Legend-class national security cutter USCGC Bertholf (WMSL 750) and crew returned to Alameda recently after completing a 130-day deployment patrolling the Bering Sea, providing real-time presence along the maritime boundary line between Alaska and Siberia. They earned their Blue Nose certificates while providing SAR coverage of the Bering Sea– including responding to a disabled fishing vessel– conducting 24 boardings, and engaging in joint operations with medium icebreaker USCGC  Healy (WAGB 20) and MH-60s out of CGAS Kodiak.

Meanwhile, down south (all the way down…)

The country’s only heavy icebreaker, USCGC Polar Star (WAGB 10), departed the Antarctic region on 4 March after 65 days south of the Antarctic Circle in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2025, her crew picking up the rare Antarctica Service Medal. Commissioned in 1976, the 399-foot icebreaker is elderly but is still getting the job done. She doesn’t have a choice as she is the only polar bear in the stable.

As noted by USCG PAO: 

The crew has transited nearly 16,000 miles since departing its Seattle homeport in November with stops in Honolulu, Sydney, and McMurdo Station. Polar Star celebrated its 49th year of Service to the Nation and visited Cape Polar Star in the northern part of the Ross Sea. Cape Polar Star was named after Polar Star for the scientific support provided by the cutter in the area during Operation Deep Freeze 86.

 

The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) stand for a photo while the cutter is hove-to in McMurdo Sound during Operation Deep Freeze, Jan. 7, 2025. Polar Star is conducting ice-breaking operations in Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze, a joint service, inter-agency support operation for the National Science Foundation, which manages the United States Antarctic Program.  (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Briana Carter)

T-AGSEs Surface

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An interesting addition to the Bollinger-built 87-foot Marine Protector class patrol boats for the Coast Guard in 2008 was four units– paid for wholly by the Navy– that would serve in two special Maritime Force Protection Units, assigned to the Submarine bases at Kings Bay and Kitsap, tasked to escort submarines (particularly SSBNs) heading in and out on patrol.

Each MFPU, which numbers 150-200 personnel, also has a dozen smaller craft (33-foot RIBs, etc).

In a nod to their taskings, these Navy-paid-for/assigned and CG-manned patrol boats carried the names of historic fleet boats of WWII fame:

  • USCGC Sea Dragon (WPB-87367) MFPU Kitsap
  • USCGC Sea Devil (WPB-87368) MFPU Kings Bay
  • USCGC Sea Dog (WPB-87373) MFPU Kitsap
  • USCGC Sea Fox (WPB-87374) MFPU Kings Bay

Armed with three 50 cal. machine guns (instead of the standard two for the class) these MFPUs carried their “extra” BMG in a permanently installed forward mount that was stabilized and remotely controlled.

TAMPA, Fla. – Coast Guard Cutter Sea Dog, a newly-designed 87-foot coastal patrol boat, transits Tampa Bay, Fla.,, Wednesday, May 6, 2009, during sea trials. The Sea dog is scheduled to be commissioned July 2, 2009, and is homeported in Kings Bay, Ga. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/PA3 Rob Simpson)

However, last year all four of these still rather young WPBs were withdrawn from CG service, decommissioned, disarmed, and relegated to auxiliary service with the Navy and Marine Corps.

For instance, the two Kings Bay-based boats were transferred to MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina to be used as range/target towing boats.

Disarmed and without her racing stripe, the ex-USCGC Sea Dragon WPB-87367 at MCAS Cherry Point for target support

Their replacements?

Meet T-AGSEs

The civilian mariner crewed Military Sealift Command has a small flotilla of eight vessels tasked with “Submarine and Special Warfare Support.”

These vessels, typically oilfield supply boats operated by Louisiana-based Hornbeck Offshore Services, include a quartet of 250-foot EDF type who have been christened as U.S. Naval Ships with hull numbers.

They also carry fixed armament, something extremely rare for the MSC, namely two Mk. 38 25mm mounts, operated by a USCG Tactical Boatcrew. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had MANPADs, AT4s, and M2s stowed as well

  • USNS Black Powder (T-AGSE 1)
  • USNS Westwind (T-AGSE 2)
  • USNS Eagleview (T-AGSE 3)
  • USNS Arrowhead (T-AGSE 4)

Built by Leevac Industries of Jenerette, these four brand-new 250EDFs were operated by HOS between 2009 and 2015 on a Navy contract and then purchased outright for $152 million.

The MSC has their file pictures all still in their HOS livery:

HOS Black Powder 200819-N-IS698-0004

HOS Eagle View 200819-N-IS698-0007

HOS Arrowhead

Since 2015, these craft have been Navy (MSC) owned and operated by HOS, typically for 215 days per year at a rate of about $30,000 per day.

Arrowhead and Eagleview are out of Kitsap while Black Powder and Westwind are out of Kings Bay.

Being some 250 feet in length, they are often referred to as “Blocking Vessels” in operations.

They rarely get any attention, with the USCG operating their guns and providing an MLE team for intervention/boarding if an escort gets…weird. Why the Coasties pull the gig is that they are federal law enforcement with a pretty far-reaching jurisdiction around U.S. flagged vessels in U.S. waters. 

USNS Black Powder and USNS Westwind. Note the 25mm Mk 38 Mod 2 mounts, and the MSC blue and yellow stripes around Westwind’s pilothouse. Wiki commons

Ohio class USS West Virginia (SSBN-736) USNS Black Powder

U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., escorted ballistic missile submarine USS Wyoming (SSBN 742), July 15, 2024. The aircraft conducted a live fire exercise and U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Force Protection Unit Kings Bay, USNS Black Powder (T-AGSE-1), and USNS Westwind (T-AGSE-2) also participated in the escort of the submarine. Joint operations, such as this one which involved the Air Force, Coast Guard, and Navy, ensure the U.S. military is ready to meet its security commitments at home and abroad

Being three times the size of the 87s, they can also help serve as mini-tenders and, during Covid, were used to swap out Blue/Gold crews on SSBNs at sea, as well as replenishment for parts and stores transfers via a moving brow.

Note the USCG ensign on Black Powder’s mast and her USNS designator on her bow. 

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 24, 2022) Sailors assigned to the Blue Crew of the Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Wyoming (SSBN 742) prepare to execute an exchange of command and crews at sea. This regularly scheduled exchange of command at sea demonstrates the continuity and operational flexibility of our sea-based nuclear deterrent operations and our ready, reliable ballistic submarine force. The efficiency of exchanges of crews at sea allows Sailors to reunite with their families and provides a ready, resilient submarine force. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Aaron Xavier Saldana/Released)

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 24, 2022) USNS Black Powder supports the Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Wyoming’s (SSBN 742) exchange of command and crews at sea. This regularly scheduled exchange of command at sea demonstrates the continuity and operational flexibility of our sea-based nuclear deterrent operations and our ready, reliable ballistic submarine force. The efficiency of exchanges of crews at sea allows Sailors to reunite with their families and provides a ready, resilient submarine force. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Aaron Xavier Saldana/Released)

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 24, 2022) Sailors assigned to the Blue and Gold Crews of the Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Wyoming (SSBN 742) execute an exchange of command and crews at sea. This regularly scheduled exchange of command at sea demonstrates the continuity and operational flexibility of our sea-based nuclear deterrent operations and our ready, reliable ballistic submarine force. The efficiency of exchanges of crews at sea allows Sailors to reunite with their families and provides a ready, resilient submarine force. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Aaron Xavier Saldana/Released)

They just popped up in a DOD Contract list this week, as noted below, with the current daily rate being more like $50K per vessel including operation and maintenance:

Hornbeck Offshore Operators, Covington, Louisiana, is being awarded a $48,360,544 firm-fixed-price contract (N3220525C4134) for the operation and maintenance of four government-owned Transportation Auxiliary General Submarine Escort (T-AGSE) vessels. The vessels under this award include USNS Arrowhead, USNS Eagleview, USNS Westwind, and USNS Black Powder. The contract includes a six-month base period with a six-month option. The contract will be performed in Kings Bay, Georgia; and Bangor, Washington, beginning March 1, 2025, based on the availability of funds clause at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.232-18 and will utilize fiscal 2025 working capital funds (Navy), and will conclude Feb. 28, 2026, if the option is exercised. This contract is a Sole Source Bridge and was not competitively procured, under the authority of 41 U.S. Code 3304(a)(2), as implemented by FAR 6.302-2 Unusual and compelling urgency. Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Fresh 154 Action in Alaska

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The 17th Coast Guard District is now just over halfway through its slow-motion upgrade from its squadron of elderly Reagan-era 110-foot Island-class patrol cutters to the much more capable new 154-foot Sentinel (Webber) class Fast Response Cutters.

The future USCGC John Witherspoon (WPC 1158) arrived at the cutter’s new homeport in Kodiak on Tuesday, following an unescorted 7,000-mile self-deployment from Key West.

The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter John Witherspoon (WPC 1158) arrives at their homeport in Kodiak, Alaska, aboard their cutter for the first time, on Jan. 28, 2025. The Witherspoon is the first of three new cutters to be stationed in Kodiak, has a crew of 24 people, and has a range of approximately 2,500 miles. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Shannon Kearney)

Witherspoon joins three Ketchikan-based sisters: USCGC John McCormick (WPC-1121)— the first Sentinel-class stationed in Alaska in 2017– USCGC Anthony Petit, and USCGC Bailey Barco— in Alaskan waters and will be the first of three of her class based at Kodiak.

USCGC John McCormick (WPC-1121), the first Sentinel-class cutter stationed in Alaska in 2017

Scheduled to be “officially” commissioned during a ceremony in April when things warm up, Witherspoon’s crew spent the past three months in shakedown and training in the Gulf of Mexico (America?). She is the 58th FRC delivered by Bollinger under the U.S. Coast Guard’s current program.

Armament includes a Mk 38 Mod 2 25mm gun forward and four flex mounts for M2 .50 caliber BMGs (or anything else that can be put on those pintles) along with assorted small arms. These vessels have been operating small UAVs as of late. 

As referenced by the builder:

FRCs have conducted operations as far as the Marshall Islands—a 4,400 nautical mile trip from their homeport. Measuring in 154 feet, FRCs have a flank speed of 28 knots, state of the art C4ISR suite (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance), and stern launch and recovery ramp for a 26-foot, over-the-horizon interceptor cutter boat.

Stacking the two classes against each other is dramatic. 

110-foot Island class cutters compared to the new 154-foot Sentinel (Webber) class FRCs

The Coast Guard had a force of six 110-foot Island-class cutters stationed in Alaska in the late 1980s-2020s, of which two remain in service:

  • USCGC Liberty (WPB-1334) has spent her 33-year career at Juneau and Valdez.
  • USCGC Mustang (WPB-1310) has spent her 39-year career stationed in Seward.
  • USCGC Naushon (WPB-1311), which has been in Homer since 2016. 

The Coast Guard Cutter Liberty crew prepares to moor at their homeport of Juneau, Alaska, on March 13, 2018. The crew of the Cutter Liberty, a 110-foot patrol boat homeported in Juneau, Alaska, was completing tailored ship’s training availability, a biennial readiness assessment of the cutter and crew. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Brian Dykens.

Legacy 110s on the Alaska beat included:

  • USCGC Anacapa (WPB-1335), which was decommissioned in 2024, spent 32 of her 34 years stationed in Petersburg, Alaska, and famously sank by NGF a Japanese “zombie trawler” a few years back that had drifted across the Pacific from Fukushima in 2012.
  • USCGC Farallon (WPB-1301), which was in Valdez from 2015 to 2019
  • USCGC Chandeleur (WPB 1319), which was at Ketchikan until decommissioned in 2021.
  • USCGC Sapelo (WPB-1314,) which was at Homer from 2015 to 2022.
  • USCGC Roanoke Island (WPB-1346,) which was at Homer from 1992 to 2015.

Four recently decommissioned CENTCOM Islands— ex-Adak (WPB-1333), Aquidneck (WPB-1309), Monomoy (WPB-1326), and Wrangell (WPB-1332)— were just handed over to the Greek Navy earlier this month.

A much smaller 87-footer, USCGC Reef Shark (WPB-87371), has been stationed in Auke Bay since 2022 while her sister, USCGC Pike (WPB-87365) is in Petersburg.

USCGC Reef Shark (WPB-87371), on patrol in Alaska (USCG photo)

 

Floating History

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Great comparison of old vs. new, bookends of the service, so to speak.

Here we see the 210-foot Reliance class USCGC Venturous (WMEC 625), outboard of the 418-foot Legend (Bertholf) class USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753), at a rendezvous at sea, 21 November 2024, in the Eastern Pacific Ocean while in support of Joint Interagency Task Force – South. Both notably have MH-65C Dolphins of the Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) squadron aboard, and are East/Gulf Coast-based cutters deployed a few thousand miles from home.

(U.S. Coast Guard photo 21-2024-241121-g-g0100-1002)

For reference, Venturous, based in St. Petersburg, Florida, was commissioned on 12 September 1968, making her 56 years young!

Meanwhile, Hamilton— the sixth cutter (after circa 1830, 1871, 1921, 1937, and 1967 vessels) to bear the name of the first secretary of the treasury and the “father of the Coast Guard”– is based in Charleston, South Carolina and commissioned 6 December 2014.

Floating Dispensary

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Some 70 years ago. With her 5″/38 hood ornament up front, the white-hulled 255-foot Oswego-class USCGC Klamath (WPG-66, later WHEC-66) is shown winning hearts and minds while on her inaugural Being Sea Patrol in the late summer of 1955.

USCG Photo. NARA 26-G-5700. National Archives Identifier 205573861

Official period caption:

Anchored off Unalakleet, Alaska, under a late summer sky, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Klamath (WPG-66) prepares for the health mission phase of the 1955 Bering Sea Patrol. To the locals living here, she delivers the annually awaited medical and dental services, not readily had in this region. In serving here as a floating dispensary, the Klamath assisted the Territorial Department of Health and the Alaska Native Service in their health program for natives in isolated areas. Aboard the Klamath, Public Health Service officers attached to the Coast Guard, Thomas W. Dixon, surgeon, and Fred Abramson, dentist, dispensed treatments from modernly equipped medical and dental offices.

During her four months of work on the patrol, just recently completed, the Klamath stopped at villages in the Aleutian chain, Pribilof Island, Nunivak, St. Lawrence, and others along the main coastline as far as Wainwright near the top of Alaska. Lieut. Commander Gerhard K. Kels, USCG, commanded the 255-foot cutter and acted as roving commissioner. A crew of 14 officers and 115 enlisted men manned the ship for the patrol.

Arriving at her homeport in Seattle, before the Arctic sun began hibernating, the Klamath became one of many cutters that have been familiar and welcome sight to natives along the 26,000-mile coast of Alaska since its purchase in 1867. This was the Klamath’s first Bering Sea Patrol.

(The main U.S. Coast Guard functions performed by the Klamath on the annually conducted Bering Sea Patrol consisted of law enforcement duties. The cutter also furnished supplies, exchange services, equipment, medical and dental aid to Coast Guard men at installations along the way. In addition, the Klamath accommodated other government services in whatever way possible, such as assisting in the health program for Alaskan natives.)

Built during the tail-end of WWII at the Western Pipe & Steel Co., San Pedro, to replace cutters that had been given by FDR to the Royal Navy in 1940, Klamath was homeported at Seattle her entire career from 19 June 1946 to 1 May 1973, during which she frequently pulled Bering Sea Patrols.

She also got some trigger time in, spending 10.5 months deployed with CGRON Three off Vietnam from 14 May 1969 to 31 January 1970.

Klamath was decommissioned on 1 May 1973 and was sold for scrap on 18 November 1974.

Of Giant Mittens and Broom Jockeys: BoBo’s Flying Circus

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For the men of Patrol Bombing Squadron SIX (CG) who spent their entire stint in WWII in Greenland, the care and maintenance of their PBY-5A Catalinas was a bit different from the experience had by “Catmen” serving in the South Pacific.

Original caption, 23 February 1944: “A bearded U.S. Coast Guardsman clears snow from the wings of a PBY patrol plane assigned to a Coast Guard-manned air base on the bleak coast of Greenland. The plane is kept in top running order for its sky sweeps against enemy craft daring to penetrate into the northern wastes.” NARA 26-G-02-23-44(6)

Original caption. February 23, 1944: Purr of a sewing machine gives a domestic touch to the life of this Coast Guardsman on duty at a U.S. Coast Guard airplane patrol base in Greenland. He is making wing covers to protect the plane against the winter storms that blow out of the Atlantic. NARA 26-G-02-23-44(2)

Established 5 October 1943 at NAS Argentia, Newfoundland, as a dedicated USCG-manned squadron under the Navy’s FAW-9 (NorthLant) operational control, they took over from the Navy’s VB-126 and immediately began operations out of Narsarssuak, Greenland (Bluie West 1). With ten aircraft (one designated as a spare), 22 officers, and 145 enlisted, including eight enlisted pilots, operational flights from Greenland began on 13 October after the first three PBYs arrived at BW-1.

As noted by the DANVS:

These aircraft and crews were rotated frequently to allow maintenance and repair work to be done on the other seven. At Narsarssuak all the squadron’s aircraft sat outside and all maintenance, refueling, and arming took place in the open regardless of weather conditions because it was found that moving aircraft from warm hangars to the cold outside resulted in condensation and subsequent freezing in fuel pumps, controls, and instruments. Herman Nelson F-1 portable heaters were needed to warm the engines and the aircraft interiors before starting. Crews were relieved every 12 months, with relief crews staggered every four months. The U.S. Army provided aerology support and daily weather briefings.

Maintenance was done outside – If a hangar was needed the aircraft was flown to Argentia.

Greenland Patrol USCG PBY Catalina crew refueling in the water, note the rubber suits on the fuel men. NARA 26-G-10-07-42(4)

The Squadron’s patch, a frozen cat on a depth charge. Their nickname was “BoBo’s Flying Circus”

By November 1944, in searching for German U-boats and weather teams, CG Bombing Six had flown 638,99 miles in 6,325 hours, covering over 3 million square miles of frozen ocean and ice.

One of their most important finds was the disabled British trawler HMT Strathella, which was floating disabled west of Cape Farewell with a damaged shaft and dead batteries. With the crew down to their last tin of bully beef after drifting for weeks, they were spotted in the nick of time, and the USCGC Modoc was vectored to their rescue.

USCG PBY Catalina of Bombing Six Bluie West-1, Greenland 1944

VBP-6 gave hard service, often sending planes on detached service throughout the region, and effected multiple air-sea rescues for bomber and fighter crews lost on trans-Atlantic ferry flights over Greenland’s unforgiving remote ice cap.

Original caption: May 19, 1944. “Over the barren expanse of the 2,000-foot-high Greenland Ice Cap speeds a Coast Guard PBY Flying Boat. Thousands of years old, the Ice Cap looms as a forbidding menace to fliers. One of the most daring plane rescues in history was recorded in the winter of 1942, when Coast Guard Lieutenant John A. Pritchard, Jr., of Burbank, Calif., landed his PBY on the treacherous surface of the Ice Cap and took off successfully to rescue two of three Army fliers, stranded there when their Flying Fortress crashed. The next day, attempting to rescue the third Army airman, Lieutenant Pritchard’s plan was wrecked. The pilot, his co-pilot, and the Army flier were killed.” NARA 26-G-05-19-44(2)

VPB-6 was transferred to the USCG on 10 July 1945 and was subsequently disbanded.

The service kept flying the type on SAR missions from U.S. bases through 1956. 

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