Summer of 1910, Cordova, Alaska: An armed naval landing party dispatched from the U.S. Revenue Service Cutter Rush— which is seen in her gleaming white and buff livery tied up to the pier behind the group. It should be noted that during this period in the Territory’s history, the USRCS served largely the same role as the Army’s horse cavalry during the settlement of the Old West, being typically the only armed federal force in most of the region.
Photo by: U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office, VIRIN: 221215-G-G0000-109.
With a typical complement of eight officers, a USPHS surgeon, and 40 ratings, you are looking at a big hunk of the 175-foot cutter’s manpower. Note a boxcar of the short-lived Copper River Railway, a line that only ran from the copper mines at Kennecott to Cordova.
Of interest, besides the Navy-pattern jumpers, leggings, and dixie cups, the “Revenuers” are armed with Army Krag pattern .30-40 caliber bolt-action rifles and clad in SpanAm period USMC Mills cartridge belts, sans suspenders, as better seen in this inset:
The Marines had used the 12-pocket M1895 belt for the old clip-fed straight-pull Lee-Navy 6mm rifle, which was retired by the Navy in 1907.
The circa 1895 belts, originally black, aged to more charcoal and then gray tone, especially after long periods in salt air
The 4th Revenue Cutter named after Richard Rush, John Quincy Adams’s Secretary of the Treasury, our 300-ton hermaphrodite steam schooner was built in 1885 by Hall Brothers of San Francisco for $74,000.
The service, always pinching pennies, recycled the old boiler and 400 h.p. compound-expansion steam engine of the previous 140-foot circa 1874 cutter of the same name, of which she was officially a “reconstruction.”
U.S. Revenue Cutter Rush rides at anchor off Seattle in the early 1900s
Stationed on the West Coast, she roamed the next 27 years from Alaska– where she typically made an annual summer Bearing Sea Patrol– to Washington and California where she cruised during the winter.
Her service included operating under Navy control during the Spanish-American War– when she likely picked up the Krags for her small arms locker to augment her trio of 6-pounders. During the conflict, Rush served with the understrength Pacific Squadron protecting vessels traveling between San Francisco and the Klondike gold fields.
As detailed by the USCG Historian’s Office:
She became famous for her dogged pursuit and prosecution of seal poachers who quickly learned that if they wanted to get in a large hunt, they’d have better “Get there ahead of the Rush!”. The term is also “Get there early to avoid the Rush” and “Beat the Rush“, but all date back to this single ship and the work of her crews in Alaskan waters.
She retired in 1912 and sold to the Alaska Junk Company for $8.500 on 22 January 1913.
The later USCG would recycle the name Rush two additional times, for a Prohibition-era 125-foot “Buck and a Quarter” (WSC-151) that would continue to serve until 1947 including WWII service as a subchaser, and the Hamilton-class 378-foot cutter (WHEC-723) which commissioned in 1969 and continued to serve until 2015 including stints off Vietnam where she delivered naval gunfire support to troops ashore and interdicted weapon-carrying North Vietnamese junks.
Signal boost for CAPT Greg Thomas (Ret) who is placing plaques in the Doherty HS Navy JROTC’s “Hall of Honor.” They have currently saved 90 unwanted plaques, many bought by Thomas off eBay. They have room for 50 more. Thanks in advance.
The last couple of weeks saw three different medium endurance cutters return to their East/Gulf Coast homeports after extensive tours in support of Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-South), which included clocking in with Homeland Security Task Force-Southeast (HSTF-SE) and Operation Vigilant Sentry.
While OVS, which targets Caribbean maritime mass migration, was first approved in 2004 and is not country-specific, it has gone into overdrive with the recent lawlessness in Haiti following the collapse of that country’s military and police, resulting in a paltry 400 Kenyan police being dropped in by the UN to fight the gangs.
To show just how busy the USCG is in trying to stem the tide of Haitians trying to make it anywhere but Haiti, take these snippets into consideration.
USCGC Mohawk (WMEC 913) completed a 62-day migrant interdiction operations patrol in the Florida Straits on 11 October, interdicted and rescued 41 migrants from unseaworthy vessels, and ultimately repatriated 53, having taken custody of 12 from smaller cutters.
She worked alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection – Air and Marine Operations air and boat crews along with the Puerto Rico-based 158-foot Sentinel class Cutters Charles Sexton (WPC 1108), Raymond Evans (WPC 1110), Isaac Mayo (WPC 1112), and the buoy tender Maple (WLB 297).
A Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk (WMEC 913) small boat crew rescues 25 migrants from a disabled vessel, on Aug. 20, 2024, while underway in the Florida Straits. Mohawk’s crew conducted a 57-day deployment to carry out maritime safety and security missions in the Seventh Coast Guard District’s area of responsibility. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Ensign Brian Morel)
USCGC Resolute (WMEC-620)worked with the crews of Coast Guard Cutters William Trump and Reliance to interdict an overloaded and unseaworthy vessel with 181 migrants off the coast of Haiti. “Resolute’s crew worked throughout the night to safely transport Haitian migrants to Coast Guard Cutter Reliance, allowing the crew to provide timely shelter and care to dozens of men, women, and children.” This was in addition to bagging 9,690 pounds of cocaine and 5,490 pounds of marijuana on intercepted go-fasts and sailing vessels and transferred from the Dutch OPV Holland which had a team from U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 102 embarked.
Not a bad 38-day haul for this elderly 210-foot cutter.
Resolute’s crew sported some interesting threads for the cruise, highlighting their counter-drug ops.
The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Resolute unloaded interdicted narcotics onto Sector St. Petersburg South Moorings, Florida, on Oct. 23, 2024. Armed Coast Guardsmen stood watch over the interdicted drugs to ensure security and accountability of the seized contraband. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Riley Perkofski)
USCGC Bear (WMEC 901)wrapped up a 58-day homeland security and counter-drug patrol in the Windward Passage on 7 October. “While on patrol, Bear crew members successfully deterred over 200 migrants aboard an overloaded vessel from reaching the United States unlawfully by sea, safely ensuring their return to Haiti.
Bear’s crew also intercepted 107 migrants in a joint operation with Coast Guard Cutter Kathleen Moore (WPC 1109). And during two separate events, Bear’s crew repatriated 169 migrants to Haiti.”
A Coast Guard Cutter Bear (WMEC 901) small boat crew interdicts an overloaded vessel unlawfully bound for the United States by sea with over 100 migrants on board, Sept. 15, 2024, while underway north of Haiti. Operation Vigilant Sentry’s mission is to deter unlawful migration while also making sure that dangerously overloaded vessels are stopped to prevent loss of life at sea. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Jeremy Wilbanks)
A vintage deck gun system that was once a staple of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard has quietly fired its final shots.
Designed by the famed munitions firm of OTO Melara of La Spezia, Italy, and marketed from 1963 onward as the 76/62C Compact, the remote-controlled 76mm (3-inch) gun with its characteristic bubble dome was an immediate hit with NATO and Western fleets, eventually seeing service with 60 nations.
West German Type 148 missile boats show their 76mm OTO guns during a visit to the UK, in 1977
The reason it was so popular was that using aluminum alloys, a water-cooled gun barrel, and an automatic loader with an 80-round magazine, it delivered much better performance than any manned 3-inch gun mount in service at the time while weighing much less. Guided by the ship’s onboard radar and fire control system, it could engage air targets as high as 13,000 feet and surface targets out to 20,000 yards.
The 76/62 designation comes from the bore (76mm) and barrel length (62 caliber), the latter figure denoting a 4,724mm long barrel, which translates to 15.5 feet.
The 76/62C Compact, seen in its components from a 1980 U.S. Navy training publication:
Note the gun control panel which was mounted in the ammunition handling room below deck under the mount. The mount captain fired the gun from the panel while two ammunition loaders stood by to reload the magazine.
A look under the hood so to speak, showing off the details of the gun itself and its magazine.
The mag used two concentric rings of shells, each holding 35 rounds, with a hydraulic motor rotating the screw feeder– which held another six rounds not unlike that of a common “six-shooter” revolver. Together with the four rounds held in the loader drum, the gun held 80 shells, which could be expended in just under one minute.
A view of the magazine rings of the MK-75 gun aboard USCGC Mohawk (WMEC 913) while underway in the Atlantic Ocean, Sept. 1, 2022. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jessica Fontenette)
The types of “war shot” rounds in U.S. service included High Explosive Point Detonating (HE-PD), High Explosive Infrared (HE-IR), Variable Time Non-fragmenting (VT-NF), High Explosive Variable Time (HE-VT), and High Explosive Radio Frequency proximity (HE-RF).
Exercise and training shells included the Blind-Loaded and Plugged (BL&P) round with a live round that had an inert projectile while wholly inert rammable and non-rammable dummy and gauging rounds were also available.
Crew load 76mm rounds into the magazine of the MK-75 gun aboard USCGC Mohawk (WMEC 913) while underway in the Atlantic Ocean, Sept. 1, 2022. HE-PD rounds can be seen in the outer ring and blue-colored BLP target rounds are peeking out of the inner ring. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jessica Fontenette)
The gun control panel below-deck under the mount, complete with its view of the magazine rings. Seen on the USCGC Midgett (WHEC 721) in June 1999. USCG photo by PA2 Alice Sennott
Shells were brought on and off the packed in grey shipping containers, loaded old-school via chain gangs.
Sailors aboard the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG 60) move 76mm rounds during an ammunition onload. Rodney M. Davis, based out of Everett, Wash., is on patrol in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Derek A. Harkins/Released)
For a great look at the inner guts of the 76/62C Compact, check out this short video from the German Navy, which has used the gun since 1965. Don’t worry if your German is rusty, the video speaks for itself.
With the U.S. Navy opting to mount a smaller 3-inch gun on its planned Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates in the 1970s– a big change from the manned 5-inch guns mounted on the Knox-class frigates that preceded them– the Pentagon went with the Italian “robot gun” design.
A destroyer escort, USS Talbot (DEG-4), in late 1974 had an Italian-produced 76/62C Compact installed on her bow forward of the superstructure in place of the ship’s original 5-inch manned mount which used a design that dated to World War II.
USS Talbot seen circa 1974-75 with an OTO Melara 76/62C Compact installed. (Photos: U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command)
The Naval Systems Division of the FMC Corporation in 1975 won the U.S. contract to build the 76/62C Compact in Pennsylvania under license from OTO Melara and delivered the first American-built model in August 1978. The Navy, which designated the gun the MK 75, went on to install them in 51 Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates built between 1975 and 1989, along with six Pegasus-class hydrofoil fast attack craft and on the Coast Guard’s 13 new Bear-class cutters that were constructed in the same era.
Likewise, when the Coast Guard’s 12 Vietnam-era Hamilton-class cutters were modernized starting in 1987, they received the MK 75 to replace their outdated 5-inch mounts. The guns were also installed on a series of warships built in the U.S. for overseas customers (Israel, Egypt, Australia, et.al).
The frigates carried the MK 75 atop their superstructure as the bow, the traditional location, was occupied by a missile launcher and its below-deck magazine.
October 2002. USS Sides (FFG 14) fires her 76mm dual-purpose gun at ex-USS Towers (DDG 9) during a SINKEX near San Diego. (Photo: U.S. Navy)
May 2011. The Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Thach (FFG 43) fires its MK-75 76mm mounted gun while underway off the coast of Brazil. (Photo: U.S. Navy)
August 2014. The Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG 60) conducts a live-fire exercise of its MK 75 76mm/62 caliber gun. (Photo: U.S. Navy)
One of the frigates, USS Simpson (FFG-56), part of Surface Action Group Charlie, had the first combat use of the MK 75 in U.S. service when, in April 1988, used the gun to destroy Iranian naval and intelligence facilities on the Sirri oil platform during Operation Praying Mantis.
Another frigate, USS Nicholas (FFG-47)used her MK 75 during Desert Storm in January 1991 to clear Iraqi troops placed on nine oil platforms in the northern Persian Gulf off of occupied Kuwait. As reported at the time, the frigate “fired three shots at each platform to set the range, followed by about 20 rounds of high-explosive shells, ‘for effect.’ The effect was to demolish quickly all the remaining bunkers.”
The speedy hydrofoils, meanwhile, wore their MK 75 as a hood ornament.
As did the Coast Guard cutters.
Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane firing a commemorative shot on 30 May 2019 to honor the 158th anniversary of its namesake’s action near Fort Sumter, South Carolina. (Photo: USCG)
The water-cooled barrel, using salt water during the firing process and a freshwater flush from the ship’s onboard supply after the firing ceased, led to often extreme muzzle shots with the intersection of steam and propellant.
The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Northland conducts a live firing of the MK 75 76mm weapons system while underway, on September 20, 2020, in the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo: USCG)
March 2000. The Coast Guard Cutter Tampa’s 76mm gun blasts a projectile at a moving target during live-fire exercises. Participants took turns firing at “robo-ski,” a small, remote-controlled jet ski. Tampa gunners hit the target every time. USCG Photo by ET3 Shane Taylor.
The gun uses a saltwater cooling system and a freshwater cleaning run after firing concludes, seen here on USCGC Escanaba in 2028.
All things come to an end
However, there has been a slow-motion end to this story that started with the retirement of the hydrofoils in 1993, and the frigates losing their MK 75s by 2015 in a series of refits. This left the Navy, who “owns” the installed weapons on Coast Guard cutters, still on the hook for logistics contracts with BAE systems and OTO Melara (now Leonardo) for parts and support.
Those days are gone as the 76/62C is out of production both in the U.S. and Italy, with Leonardo replacing the system in its catalog with the faster-firing (though still with only an 80-round ready magazine) and more stealthy 76/62 Super Rapid (SR) Gun Mount.
Eventually, the Ordnance Shop at the Coast Guard yard took ownership of the MK 75 program and was even tapped to support the guns on frigates and cutters transferred overseas.
Since then, the Hamilton class has all retired and has been transferred overseas and now the Bear class cutters are in the process of being stripped of their MK 75s during refits, and replaced by smaller (albeit currently produced) MK 38 25mm guns. Overseas allies are similarly phasing out the gun.
This brings us to the coda of the Bear-class USCGC Mohawk (WMEC 913) firing her MK 75 for the last time this summer, an event that was held during a gunnery exercise in the Florida Straits. The service said in a press release this week that it was a “significant historical event” as Mohawk was “the last in its class to fire the onboard Mk 75 gun weapon system.”
Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk’s (WMEC 613) Mk 75 weapon system fires, Aug. 16, 2024, during a gunnery exercise in the Florida Straits. Mohawk was the last Famous-class medium endurance cutter to fire the onboard Mk 75 mm gun weapon system as large caliber weapon systems onboard these cutters are being modernized for the service life extension program. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Ensign Brian Morel)
Perhaps once the mount is phased out for good, the USS Aries Museum, the only preserved U.S. Navy hydrofoil, can pick up one of the old MK 75s to help complete her Cold War profile.
Official Caption: “Homeward Bound. Sicily, Salerno, and Normandy are on the log of this LCI flotilla making its triumphant homecoming at an East Coast port. Invasion craft sailed for the European coast nearly two years ago. Twenty of the original 24 craft returned—four were knocked out during the Normandy invasion. Vessels are manned by Coast Guard crews.”
Coast Guard photo from the Allison collection, MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.
The slow-moving self-escorting convoy left Falmouth, England, on 5 October for Charleston, where they arrived on the 24th. The convoy included the 20 surviving USCG-manned Landing Craft Infantry (Large) of LCI Flotilla Four (Capt. M. E. Imlay, USCG), which were returning from Europe, where the further likelihood of U.S. amphibious landings was slim.
Of the above landing craft, 13 were found to be worth being refurbished and sent on to the Pacific to join the all-USCG LCI Flotilla Thirty-Five. They would perform well in the Okinawa campaign, where one, USS LCI(L)-90, would take a kamikaze to the bridge in June 1945.
The once 24-strong flotilla had entered service with the Tunisian operation in June 1943. Then came the Husky Landings off Sicily in July 1943, the Avalanche Landings in Salerno, and the Overlord Landings in Normandy, where four: USS LCI(L)-85, 91, 92, and 93 would be lost to a combination of mines and German coastal artillery.
USCG LCI Invasion craft, in camouflage, sailing in convoy formation during WWII 80-G-42482
LCIs, including several of the USCG’s LCI Flotilla Four, massed at Bizerte, Tunisia, on 6 July 1943 while loading troops for the invasion of Sicily. The shallow-draft 158-footers could carry a reinforced company to the surf line, capable of beaching their bows in water just 32 inches deep. US Army Signal Corps photo # 176486, now in the collections of the National Archives.
“The Coast Guard-manned landing craft LCI(L)-85 approached the beach at 12 knots. Her crew winced as they heard repeated thuds against the vessel’s hull made by the wooden stakes covering the beach like a crazy, tilted, man-made forest… The Coast Guard LCI(L)-85, battered by enemy fire after approaching Omaha Beach, prepares to evacuate the troops she was transporting to an awaiting transport. The “85” sank shortly after this photograph was taken. The LCI(L)-85 was one of four Coast Guard LCIs that were destroyed on D-Day.”
Crews from the other returning ETO landing craft, after rehabilitation leave, were dolled out as “old salts” to the 36 newly commissioned USCG-manned LSTs added to the fleet between August and November 1944 that formed LST Flotilla Twenty-Nine, under Capt. C. H. Peterson USCG (’25) in the Pacific.
USS LST-831 is seen approaching the beachhead at Okinawa on D-Day, 1 April 1945. (Note: the unauthorized letters “USCG” are stenciled on her inner hull above the main ramp. US Coast Guard photo from the collections of the Office of the US Coast Guard Historian.
LSTFlot29 would be destined to take part in the landings in the Detachment Landings (Iwo Jima) and Iceberg Landings (Okinawa) in 1945.
Official caption: “Sailors shoot a Mark 38 25mm machine gun during a live-fire exercise on the fantail of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) in the Pacific Ocean, Oct. 14, 2024. Nimitz is underway in 3rd Fleet conducting routine training operations.”
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Timothy Meyer
To be clear, the mount is a stabilized BAE Mk38 Mod2/3, which can be fired remotely and reportedly has a two to three-fold increase in Probability of Hit (POH) versus the old Mod 1. It has a cyclic rate of 175-to-200 rounds per minute, at least until its onboard 150 linked rounds run out.
Nimitz and her sisters, for the past decade, have carried at least four MK38s for use against surface targets as needed.
The Navy’s program of record for the Mk38 is 501 guns, which may or may not include the USCG that uses the mount on its remaining handful of 210-foot Reliance class cutters (where they replaced the last WWII-era 3″/50 DP wet mounts in U.S. service) and 60+ 158-foot Sentinel-class patrol boats.
Keep in mind that all installed armament on cutters “belongs” to the Navy while the Coasties are on their own to purchase small arms, hence their use of Glocks rather than SIG P320 M17/M18s.
USCGC Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132), note her Navy-owned MK38 forward
You may have missed a series of incidents and noteworthy news from the 17th Coast Guard District, Alaskan Command (ALCOM), Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, and the Eleventh Air Force in the past couple of weeks.
USCG Bumps into Chinese Coast Guard, Russian Border Guard patrol in Bering Sea
An HC-130J Super Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak observes two Russian Border Guard ships and two Chinese Coast Guard ships approximately 440 miles southwest of St. Lawrence Island on Sept. 28, 2024. This marked the northernmost location where Chinese Coast Guard vessels have been observed by the U.S. Coast Guard. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)
1 October: JUNEAU, Alaska – The U.S. Coast Guard located four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard conducting a joint patrol in the Bering Sea, on Saturday.
While patrolling the maritime boundary between the United States and Russia on routine patrol in the Bering Sea, an HC-130J Super Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak observed two Russian Border Guard ships and two Chinese Coast Guard ships approximately 440 miles southwest of St. Lawrence Island.
The vessels were transiting in formation in a northeast direction, remaining approximately five miles inside the Russian Exclusive Economic Zone. This marked the northernmost location where Chinese Coast Guard vessels have been observed by the U.S. Coast Guard.
“This recent activity demonstrates the increased interest in the Arctic by our strategic competitors,” said Rear Adm. Megan Dean, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District. “The demand for Coast Guard services across the region continues to grow, requiring continuous investment in our capabilities to meet our strategic competitors’ presence and fulfill our statutory missions across an expanding operational area.”
The HC-130 aircrew operated under Operation Frontier Sentinel, an operation designed to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around U.S. waters. The Coast Guard’s presence strengthens the international rules-based order and promotes the conduct of operations in a manner that follows international law and norms.
In its own statement, the CCG issued images of the 3,450-ton Zhaoyu-class patrol cutter Haijing 2303 and noted it was the first time the service has entered the Arctic Ocean– but keep in mind the 16,000-member force was only formed in 2013:
The 3,450-ton Zhaoyus, which are frequently seen in the South China Sea harassing Philipino ships, is armed with a H/PJ-26 76 mm naval gun, two 30mm guns, and two anti-aircraft machine guns.
This is the first time that Chinese Coast Guard ships have entered the Arctic Ocean, which effectively expanded the scope of the Coast Guard’s ocean-going navigation, comprehensively tested the Coast Guard ships’ ability to carry out missions in unfamiliar waters, and provided strong support for active participation in international and regional ocean governance.
A NORAD F-16 Fighting Falcon intercepts a Russian IL-38 in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone in September 2024 under Operation Noble Eagle. NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars, and fighter aircraft in seamless interoperability to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions. NORAD remains ready to employ several response options in defense of North America.
There have been lots of incursions from Russian aircraft into the Alaska Air Defense Indication Zone (ADIZ) in the past few weeks.
Notable incidents include:
Two unspecified Russian military aircraft on Sept. 11.
Four aircraft including Tu-95 Bears escorted by Su-35s on Sept. 23.
Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, spoke on the latter event, stating:
“On Monday (Sept. 23), NORAD aircraft flew a safe and disciplined intercept of Russian military aircraft in the Alaskan ADIZ. The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all – not what you’d see in a professional air force.”
Healy Heads Back to the Arctic
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20) transits with assist tugs through Elliott Bay near Seattle following its departure from Base Seattle, Oct. 1, 2024. The crew of the Healy are scheduled to resume their scientific mission that was cut short due to an onboard fire in late July. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Steve Strohmaier)
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (WAGB 20)departed Seattle on Tuesday, beginning her months-long Arctic deployment.
Healy’s earlier science mission was cut short due to a high-profile fire while underway in July. The icebreaker– the country’s only medium polar capable breaker– returned to Seattle in August for a thorough inspection and repairs but is now back on her mission.
While essentially unarmed other than the contents of her small arms locker, she at least has 16,000 tons of presence, a decent common suite, and a helicopter/UAV capability.
She will support NSF/UNOLS scientists and NOAA survey personnel conducting three distinct science missions:
The first mission supports the Arctic Port Access Route Study (PARS). During this mission, the cutter will perform bathymetric mapping in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The Coast Guard has initiated an Arctic PARS to analyze current vessel patterns, predict future vessel needs, and balance the needs of all waterway users by developing and recommending vessel routing measures for the Arctic. The Arctic PARS may lead to future rulemaking or international agreements that consider coastal communities, fishing, commercial traffic, military needs, resource development, wildlife presence and habit, tribal activities, and recreational uses.
For the second mission, Healy will embark 20 early career polar scientists and their mentors on an Arctic Chief Scientists Training Cruise sponsored by the National Science Foundation and University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System. These early career scientists will conduct multidisciplinary research, including mapping to fill critical bathymetric gaps and scientific sampling across various disciplines, in addition to developing skills in shipboard leadership, coordination, and execution.
The final mission of the deployment will support other science of opportunity to include sea floor mapping for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Coast Survey.
A piece of military kit seldom seen in U.S. military service, especially while underway in dress whites:
Officers of United States Revenue Cutter Tahoma, 1909: CAPT Johnstone Quinan, Commanding (second row, seated second from left) 1st LT Charles Satterlee, Executive Officer (second row, far left) 2nd LT Edward S. Addison, 2nd LT Archibald H. Scally, 2nd LT (future WWII USCG Commandant) Russell R. Waesche (front row, center) 1st LT of Engineers Harry M. Hepburn, 3rd LT of Engineers Frank E. Bagger, Passed Assistant Surgeon J. S. Boggess, U.S. Public Health Service.
USCG Historian Office’s image. 201210-G-G0000-001
After 1908-09 construction by the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey, the brand new 191-foot steel-hulled cutter with her quartet of 6-pounder rapid-fire breechloaders set out for her permanent homeport at Port Townsend, Washington– which made sense, as she was named for Mount Tahoma (Mount Rainier).
Her initial east-to-west round-the-world cruise from New York to Port Townsend saw her cross through the Suez Canal and saw her make port calls at Gibraltar, Malta, Iskenderun (where she stood by for 13 days to protect U.S. interests in Turkey), Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Manila, and Yokohama– hence her officer’s tropical use of pith helmets.
Based in the Pacific Northwest, she would winter in Washington and spend each summer, typically March through October, in Alaska waters on the annual Bering Sea Patrol.
USRC Tahoma off Alaska; scanned from original in Satterlee Collection, U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office Special Collections.
With her complement able to take to the cutter’s small boats, they were rescued by the nearby merchant steamer Cordova and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ship USC&GS Carlile P. Patterson.
She would be the last cutter lost by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service– formerly the U.S. Revenue Marine going back to 1790– as the service was amalgamated with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the U.S. Coast Guard in 1916.
The USCG has gone on to recycle her name twice, once for a 165-foot A-class cutter (WPG/WAGE-80) that served on convoy duty in WWII, and the second for a Bear-class 270-foot cuter (WMEC-908) that has been in service since 1988.
Leonardo celebrated a significant milestone with the 100th delivery of the TH-73A Thrasher helicopter to the United States Navy on September 17 at a ceremony in Northeast Philadelphia. Attendees included Vice Adm. Daniel L. Cheever, Commander, Naval Air Forces/Commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering, Deputy Commandant for Aviation for the U.S. Marine Corps, along with a crowd of over one hundred dignitaries representing government, military, and nonprofit institutions.
In early 2020, the Navy selected the Leonardo TH-73A, an advanced Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) rated version of the commercial AW119Kx, to replace its aging fleet of TH-57B/C Sea Rangers as the primary training helicopter to produce the next generation of rotary and tilt-rotor pilots for the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and selected allied nations.
The U.S. Coast Guard spotted four Russian Navy warships on Sunday, 57 miles northwest of Point Hope, Alaska.
The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) encountered and shadowed four Russian Federation Navy (RFN) vessels 57 miles northwest of Point Hope, Alaska, on Sept. 15, 2024. The Russian Surface Action Group consisted of a Severodvinsk-class submarine, a Dolgorukiy-class submarine, a Steregushchiy–class Frigate, and a Seliva-class tug. Stratton patrolled under Operation Frontier Sentinel, a Coast Guard operation designed to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around U.S. waters. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)
From USCG PAO:
While on a routine patrol in the Chukchi Sea, the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) observed the RFN vessels transiting southeast along the Russian side of the Maritime Boundary Line (MBL).
The crew of the Stratton witnessed the RFN vessels cross the MBL into the U.S. Arctic and moved to observe the vessels. The Russian vessels were assessed to avoid sea ice on the Russian side of the MBL and operated according to international rules and customs as they transited approximately 30 miles into the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.
“We are actively patrolling our maritime border in the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and the Chukchi Sea, with our largest and most capable cutters and aircraft, to protect U.S. sovereign interests, U.S. fish stocks, and to promote international maritime norms,” said Rear Adm. Megan Dean, Commander of Coast Guard District Seventeen. “Coast Guard Cutter Stratton ensured there were no disruptions to U.S. interests.”
The Russian Surface Action Group consisted of a Severodvinsk-class submarine, a Dolgorukiy-class submarine, a Steregushchiy–class Frigate, and a Seliva-class tug.
The Stratton is patrolling under Operation Frontier Sentinel, designed to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around U.S. waters. The Coast Guard’s presence strengthens the international rules-based order and promotes the conduct of operations in a manner that follows international law and norms.
Coast Guard Cutter Stratton is a 418-foot legend class national security cutter homeported in Alameda, Calif.
Meanwhile on Shemya Island…
The Russian naval group was spotted just after elements of the Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division surged a force projection task force to Shemya Island in the Western Aleutians.
The airmailed group included a HIMARS and AN/TPQ-53 (Q-53) Multi-Mission Radar, delivered via C-17 Globemaster.
HIMARS has a published range of 130 or so miles while the Q-53 is limited to closer to 30-40.
Still, it sends a message.
U.S. Army soldiers assigned to Radar Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division, orient a Q-53 Radar on Shemya Island, Alaska as part of a force projection operation, Sept. 13, 2024. The operation to the remote island in the North Pacific Ocean demonstrates the division’s ability to project power quickly and effectively, throughout the Indo-Pacific, assuring allies and partner nations in the region. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brandon Vasquez)
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to Alpha Battery, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment (Long Range Fires Battalion), 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, setup communication systems for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) as part of the 11th Airborne Division’s force projection operation to Shemya Island, Alaska Sept. 12, 2024. The division’s ability to project power quickly and effectively assures allies and partner nations in the Indo-Pacific, and is the key to the strength of partnerships and relationships in the region. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brandon Vasquez) (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Spc. Brandon Vasquez)
