Tag Archives: USCGC Mohawk (WMEC-913)

So I went to Sail 250 in New Orleans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The crowds were bonkers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy!

MK 75 OTO Echoes

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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)

As we have discussed, the MK 75 OTO Melera 76/62C Compact gun has been sunset by the U.S. Navy and USCG after a 50-year-run, with the Ordnance Shop at the Coast Guard Yard taking ownership of the remnants of the program, tapped to support the guns on FFG-7 frigates and 378-foot cutters transferred overseas.

The CG Yard Ordnance Repair Facility recently completed a five-month overhaul of an MK75 gun mount for an international partner.

“This effort is part of a larger Foreign Military Sale Program, which prioritizes robust national security partnerships and U.S. global leadership.

The Yard is the only certified MK75 overhaul facility in the U.S. The Ordnance shop manufacturers and repairs critical components from decommissioned Navy donor guns, since these parts are no longer manufactured. After the overhaul, the weapon is boxed and shipped for transit to the international partner.”

Before:

After:

And packed up for return shipment.

Death in a box!

As to why it takes five months to refirb one of these mounts:

It takes that long because the shop has to remove/ship it, pre test, completely tear down, sand blasted all parts, send part for plating, source or get parts made that are no longer in the stock system, repair all corrosion, overhaul all hydraulic components with new gaskets/hardware, paint / repair everything, start assembling have QI come in for major sub component test, finish assembly, start the ISMAT / ISMEP testing, round 100 rounds, package the system, ship it, install it on new cutter/ship then Test it again on the ship and this is completed with up to a 3-4 man team while training new workers. It’s a big team effort, but rewarding the workers in that shop are really top-notch.

The Unsung Vigilant Sentry Patrol Line

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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)

Goodbye, MK 75: A 50 Year Love-Hate Story

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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.

If the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard on Lake Erie ever gets their retired Perry from the Navy, they could showcase one as well.

As it is, the only one on public display is at the USS Recruit landship in San Diego.