laststandonzombieisland

The U.S. Coast Guard Arctic Strategy has been in a holding pattern for the past decade.

In that time, no (as in zero) new ice-capable ships have been added to the fleet or even progressed so far as to be christened. This while the country’s only medium polar icebreaker has suffered a fire that forced her to abort her latest NSF mission and the country’s only heavy polar icebreaker going through never-ending cycles of rebuilding the 50-year-old ship for 240 days a year to be able to accomplish the annual Deep Freeze resupply mission to Antarctica.

While the agency is spending $125 million on the troubled but supposedly “off the shelf” ice-capable oil field supply boat Aiviq and plans to base it in Alaska, the “The Service anticipates the vessel will reach initial operational capability in two years.”

Likewise, the multi-billion dollar effort to build the planned class of Polar Security Cutters seems to be almost for naught, with GAO griping that the design hasn’t even been finished yet despite the contract being awarded in 2019. While three of these big (22,000-ton) WMSPs are authorized, the first one will not hit its Seattle homeport until at least 2028– and don’t hold your breath on that.

Meanwhile, the only blue water cutter based in Alaska, the nearly 60-year-old USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC 39)— which often bumps into Russian naval assets in the Bearing Sea-– isn’t getting any younger. She needs a rapid replacement. 

The solution? Pump to brakes on the PSC to make sure we get it right and order a few Harry DeWolf-class offshore patrol vessels from Canada to help walk the beat.

The Canadians have four of these 6,600-ton/340-foot vessels in service and two under construction with two more on order for the RCN and two unarmed near-sister Arctic and offshore patrol ships (AOPS) for the Canadian Coast Guard which are currently under construction. The eighth and final ship will be delivered in 2028. The cost is about $700 million U.S. per hull. 

The Wolfs are ugly, but have a good bit of capability, being capable of operating year-round in Polar Class 4-5 ice (up to 3.9 feet of first-year ice), while embarking a big helicopter (the 30,000-pound Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone, which goes four tons heavier than the HH/SH/MH-60) and UAVs along with two large 28-foot cutters and a 40-foot landing craft.

Slow (17 knots) they have long legs (6,800nm unrefueled), able to cover the entire 1,900-mile span of the Northwest Passage, or the shorter Seattle-to-Kodiak or Boston-to-Thule runs with ease. The complement is 65, with spare berthing for embarked heli/drone dets and scientific nerds.

Armed for a constabulary “presence” and sovereignty mission they carry an enclosed Mk 38 Mod 3A 25 mm cannon and provision for a few .50 caliber mounts. In USCG service, this could be repeated and the Mk 38 updated to a 30mm gun– which is already planned for the Polar Security Cutter. I say add some Naval Strike Missiles for some serious teeth.

Produced by Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax, Nova Scotia, they are a tweak of the Norwegian Coast Guard NoCGV’s Svalbard (W303), a 6,400-ton/340-foot icebreaker and offshore patrol vessel that entered service in 2001.

Ordering while the line is hot speeds up delivery and reaps the benefit of the RCN being the beta tester on the first flight ships, allowing improvements and lessons learned to be folded into the new USCG hulls. Crews could be spun up quickly by deploying chiefs and junior officers on RCN vessels. 

Further, the Trudeau government would likely be open to selling 2-3 of the ships already under construction to the U.S. to speed up the acquisition process then “forgetting” to replace them for RCN, and CCG. If nothing else, they could be launched at Irving and finished in American yards (or at the USCG Yard) with Irving’s assistance to soothe the “not made here/American jobs” noise in Congress. 

Trudeau probably would have canceled them anyway.