The U.S. Coast Guard Is Playing A Bigger Role In Asian Waters

US Coast Guard cutter Munro transits the Taiwan Strait with US Navy destroyer USS Kidd in August.US Navy 

Business Insider: On the front lines against China, the US Coast Guard is taking on missions the US Navy can't do 

* The US military has turned more of its attention to the Pacific amid competition with China. 

* The Coast Guard has been key, conducting missions other services aren't equipped or allowed to do. 

* But it already has worldwide commitments, and higher demand in the Pacific could tax its resources. 

Competition with China has drawn more Pentagon resources to the Pacific, but the most visible US military presence there might be the branch that is outside of the Defense Department. 

The ships and personnel of the US Coast Guard, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, are spending more time in the region conducting missions for which other branches aren't well suited, balancing that increasing demand with a lengthy list of other responsibilities.  

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Update: US Coast Guard Touts Expanded Role in Pacific, Says China Gets ‘Excited’ During Training With Taiwan (Sputnik)  

WNU Editor: The U.S. Navy is also busy .... US Navy official says service is going ‘head to head with our adversaries’ all over the world (Navy Times).

U.S. Coast Guard And National Guard Will Follow Department Of Defense In Mandating Vaccines

Photo from U.S. Coast Guard  

Federal News Network: Coast Guard, National Guard will follow DoD in mandating vaccines 

Both the Coast Guard and the National Guard are planning to follow the Defense Department in requiring service members to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, impacting about half a million people. 

DoD announced on Monday that it would seek approval from the president to require vaccines for 1.4 million active duty troops by mid-September at the latest. 

President Joe Biden already said he will support the measure once it reaches his office. The Coast Guard is considered part of the Department of Homeland Security, but often follows suit with what the Pentagon orders. 

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WNU Eitor: Personnel can get an exemption, but there is a bureaucratic process that they must go through .... Pentagon: Service Members Can Request Exemptions From COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate (Zero Hedge/Epoch times).

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Enters The Black Sea To Face The Russian Fleet

 

Warzone/The Drive: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Enters The Tense Black Sea Highlighting The Service's Overseas Presence  

The USCGC Hamilton is the first Coast Guard ship to enter the Black Sea in more than a decade. 

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter has entered the Black Sea for the first time in 12 years, underscoring a resurgence in the significance of the service's presence around the world in recent years. The Legend class National Security Cutter USCGC Hamilton arrived in that important body of water less than a week after Russia claimed it had started to reverse course on a worrisome military buildup along its border with Ukraine. The flood of Russian forces into the region, starting in March, had prompted fears that a new crisis was imminent.  

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WNU Editor: For some reason the image of a mouse roaring comes to my mind.

U.S., Taiwan Sign Coast Guard Deal To Counter Chinese Naval Pressure

In this May 4, 2019, file photo, Taiwan Coast Guard ships and a helicopter take part in a search-and-rescue operation during an offshore anti-terrorism drill at a harbor in New Taipei City, Taiwan. China on Friday denounced an agreement between the U.S. and Taiwanese coast guards that underscores growing ties between Washington and the self-governing island democracy. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File) 

Taiwan News: Taiwan-US coast guard agreement aims to halt Chinese military expansion 

Analyst Su Tzu-yun recommends flexible countermeasures like sonic weapons to deter Chinese ships 

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Commenting on the Taiwan-U.S. coast guard cooperation memorandum of cooperation that will be signed today, a senior analyst at the Institute of National Defense and Security Research, Su Tzu-yun said on Thursday (March 25) the agreement aims to counter China’s expansion and symbolizes the clarification of America’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific. 

Su said that with the passing of its Coast Guard Law in late January, Beijing is attempting to strengthen its control over surrounding waters and the disputed islands in the South China Sea. The new law grants the coast guard “all necessary means” to stop foreign vessels, including the use of weapons aboard Chinese ships in the area. 

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WNU Editor: China has responded to this U.S.-Taiwan Coast Guard agreement .... China denounces US-Taiwan coast guard cooperation agreement (AP) 

 More News On The U.S. And Taiwan Signing A Coast Guard Deal 

U.S., Taiwan Sign Coast Guard Deal to Counter China Pressure -- Bloomberg 

U.S. and Taiwan Team Up Amid Looming China Coast Guard Threat -- Newsweek 

Taiwan, U.S. to strengthen maritime coordination as China looms -- Reuters

Coast guard cooperation signifies strong Taiwan-US relations: FM -- Focus Taiwan

U.S. Coast Guard Has Gotten Increasingly Active In The Western Pacific

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Myrtle Hazard on its way to Guam last September. PHOTO: MACADAM KANE WEISSMAN/U.S. NAVY 

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Deploys Coast Guard Far From Home to Counter China 

The service has gotten increasingly active in the Western Pacific as Chinese fishing fleets expand into new waters 

Early last December, the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Myrtle Hazard sailed through the night, anchored off the Pacific island nation of Palau and boarded a group of Chinese boats to help seize tens of thousands of dollars worth of sea cucumber that had allegedly been harvested illegally. 

The fast-response cutter, operating around 6,600 miles from the continental U.S. and roughly 750 miles from its home port in the U.S. territory of Guam, is part of the Coast Guard’s newest growth area: helping counter China’s growing naval power in the Pacific. 

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WNU Editor: The US Coast Guard is now holding joint drills with Japan .... Japan, US coast guards hold joint drill amid China's assertiveness (Jakarta Post/Kyodo News).

This Is How The U.S. Coast Guard Replaces Its Largest Ship's Motor (Photo-Gallery)

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard 

Jalopnik: The Way The U.S. Coast Guard Replaces Its Largest Ship's Motor Is Mind-Blowing 

A fire broke out on the United States Coast Guard’s largest ship last summer, destroying one of the vessel’s enormous electric motors. Now the Coast Guard, one of the five service branches of the U.S. military, is replacing that motor and documenting the entire process, which involves cutting a giant hole in the hull. The whole thing is fascinating. Check it out. 

The USCGC Healy is the biggest and most advanced ship in the Coast Guard’s fleet, capable of breaking 4.5 feet of ice at three knots, and it’s equipped with over 4,000 square feet of laboratory space. On August 18, during an Arctic research mission, a fire broke out and ruined a propulsion motor, forcing the research ship to return to Washington State. The Coast Guard breaks down what happened in its memo: 

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WNU Editor: That's one big job just to remove one large electric motor.

U.S. To Deploy Coast Guard Cutters To The Western Pacific In Response To China's 'Illegal' Fishing

Reuters: U.S. to base Coast Guard cutters in western Pacific in response to China 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. national security adviser said on Friday the U.S Coast Guard was basing Enhanced Response Cutters in the western Pacific for maritime security missions, citing illegal fishing and harassment of vessels by China. 

In a statement, Robert O’Brien also said the Coast Guard planned to evaluate next fiscal year the feasibility of basing Fast Response Cutters in American Samoa in the South Pacific. 

The statement described the United States as a Pacific power and added that China’s “illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and harassment of vessels operating in the exclusive economic zones of other countries in the Indo-Pacific threatens our sovereignty, as well as the sovereignty of our Pacific neighbors and endangers regional stability.” 

Read more .... 

More News On The U.S. Deploying Coast Guard Cutters To The Western Pacific

US Coast Guard to tackle China 'illegal' fishing in Pacific -- AFP 

US to tackle China’s ‘illegal’ fishing in Pacific -- Asia Times 

US Coast Guard to tackle China's 'illegal' fishing in Pacific -- DW 

US to base Coast Guard ships in western Pacific to tackle China -- Al Jazeera 

US Coast Guard May Post Patrol Cutters in Western Pacific to Deter Chinese Boats - O'Brien -- Sputnik

US Coast Guard Cutter Waesche Suffers Serious Fire While Deployed With The Seventh Fleet

A fire broke out Sunday aboard the U.S. Coast Guard national security cutter Waesche while the ship was underway in the U.S. 7th Fleet. Five members sustained minor injuries, but the crew saved their ship and got it to Japan. (Coast Guard)

Navy Times: Coast Guard crew saves ship from fire while underway in 7th Fleet

The crew of the Waesche, a national security cutter, battled heroically to save their ship after a fire broke out while it was underway in U.S. 7th Fleet Sunday.

Five Coast Guard members sustained minor injuries, but the crew was able to get the blaze under control in about 90 minutes and the stricken 418-foot-long cutter arrived at the Navy’s Fleet Forces Yokosuka, Japan, facility Tuesday, according to a Coast Guard statement.

Those injured suffered smoke inhalation, heat exhaustion and an injured knee, Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Brickey said Wednesday.

The “shipboard engineering fire” was reported at about 5:15 p.m. local time after crew members found fire in the exhaust stack and nearby spaces.

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WNU Editor: This fire happened last week. They could have lost the ship. Here are the photos .... Check Out These Dramatic Photos Of The Recent Fire Aboard Coast Guard Cutter Waesche (Warzone/The Drive)

More News On The US Coast Guard Cutter Waesche Suffering A Fire While Deployed With The Seventh Fleet

Coast Guard Crew Stamps Out Fire Aboard Cutter Waesche -- Military.com
Photos: USCG Cutter Waesche Suffers Stack Fire at Sea -- Maritime Executive
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Suffers Engineering Fire in Indo-Pacific -- gCaptain
Coast Guard Cutter Arrives in Japan Following an Onboard Fire -- Seapower Magazine
Coast Guard Cutter Waesche Suffers Fire, Arrives In Port For Inspection -- Defense Daily

Dramatic Video Shows U.S. Coats Guard Intercepting A Submarine Carrying Tons Of Cocaine

ABC News: Members of the US Coast Guard board alleged drug-smuggling vessel: Video

Dramatic video shows a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the Munro, pursuing a speeding semi-submersible suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the middle of international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

In footage taken on June 18, a Coast Guard crew member repeatedly shouts "Stop the boat!" in Spanish at the submersible.

The crew member -- a member part of a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment -- calls out, “It’s going to be hard to get on.”

Read more ....

More News On A Dramatic Video Showing The U.S. Coats Guard Intercepting A Submarine Carrying Tons Of Cocaine

Dramatic video shows Coast Guard leaping onto submarine carrying 17,000 pounds of cocaine -- NBC
Dramatic moment Coast Guard sailors leap from their boat onto moving submarine smuggling 17,000lbs of cocaine across the Pacific ocean and open the hatch to stunned traffickers inside -- Daily Mail
Video shows dramatic jump by Guardsmen onto vessel laden with cocaine: officials -- FOX News
USCGC Munro Returns from Patrol with Record Cocaine Haul -- USNI News

U.S. Coastguard Faces The Chinese Navy In Asia

Captain John Driscoll next to the US Coast Guard vessel Bertholf during a port stop in Hong Kong this month. SCMP / K. Y. Cheng

SCMP/Washington Post: ‘Oversubscribed’ US Navy leans more on coastguard to help counter China

* As the Defence Department shifts its focus to competing with Russia and China, the coastguard ‘brings some authorities below the threshold of war’
* ‘Realities in the South China Sea’ and the loss of two Navy destroyers in 2017 are helping to drive the shift

As a US coastguard cutter sailed through the East China Sea last month, Chinese vessels shadowed it on the high seas, service officials said. It was a reminder to the Americans of where they were: in a strategic area a couple hundred miles from China’s shores.

The situation underscored the evolving US response to the rise of China and the coastguard’s role operating missions typically closer to home. The coastguard is increasingly orienting itself toward China, senior officials said, by deploying new cutters, repositioning older ones and dispatching service members to countries such as Vietnam and Sri Lanka to help train those nations’ coastguards.

Admiral Karl Schultz, the coastguard commandant, said that as the Defence Department shifts its focus to competing with Russia and China, the Navy is “oversubscribed”.

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WNU Editor: One U.S. coastguard cutter in Asia is not going to intimidate China.

This Is Why The US Coast Guard's Snipers Are Some Of The Best In The World

Petty Officer 1st Class Jesse Pitrelli and Petty Officer 1st Class Peter Purcell at Army Sniper School at Fort Benning, Georgia, February 16, 2016. Pitrelli and Purcell are the first active-duty Coast Guardsmen in history to graduate from Army Sniper school. US Coast Guard

Business Insider: These photos show why the US Coast Guard's snipers are some of the best in the business

FT. LAUDERDALE, Florida — Once the Coast Guard has a suspect vessel in its sights on the high seas, there's usually nowhere for it to go, but getting it to stop isn't always easy.

The crew of the Coast Guard cutter James returned to Florida last week with nearly 38,000 pounds of cocaine seized by it and other Coast Guard ships in the Pacific. Stacked on some of the bales of cocaine were clear signs of the Coast Guard's precision.

"So what you see here are some engine cowlings," said Capt. Jeffrey Randall, commander of the James, referring to the half-dozen plastic covers perched on bales of seized drugs like trophies.

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WNU Editor: I guess you have to be very good to be able to shoot and disable a boat's engine from a helicopter.

The Shipyard Building The U.S. Coast Guard's $10 billion Offshore Patrol Cutter Program Was Destroyed By Hurricane Michael

A Coast Guard rendering of its new Offshore Patrol Cutter.

Breaking Defense: Hurricane Michael Hits Coast Guard’s Largest Program, Leaving Devastation

The shipyard building the Coast Guard's biggest program, the $10 billion Offshore Patrol Cutter program, has been leveled by Hurricane Michael.

WASHINGTON Amid the devastation wrought by Hurricane Michael last week is a family-owned shipyard the Coast Guard had just picked to work on the $10 billion Offshore Patrol Cutter program, the largest acquisition project in the service’s history.

The Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City took what amounts to a direct hit from the deadly storm. It overturned completed boats and damaged buildings and heavy equipment in the yard, and left the company’s 800-strong workforce scattered, with some homeless. Officials in Florida estimate that 33 people have died from the storm and that toll is likely to keep rising.

It is unclear what effect the storm will have on the program, but the amount of damage inflicted and the repair work on several ships nearing completion in the company’s yard would seem to indicate the path back will take some time.

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WNU Editor: This is what happens when you put your eggs in one basket.

The Coast Guard's Only Heavy Icebreaker Is Breaking Down (In The Antarctic)

Business Insider: The Coast Guard's only heavy icebreaker has been fighting engine failure and flooding in the frigid Antarctic

* The Polar Star travels south every year to break open a resupply channel to McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
* The aging Polar Star encountered several problems during the journey this year.
* The crew resolved the issues, but the harsh conditions take a heavy toll on the 41-year-old icebreaker.

The US Coast Guard's only operational heavy icebreaker, the Polar Star, recently completed a mission to cut a resupply channel through Antarctic ice in the Ross Sea, but the ship's 150-strong crew grappled with engine failure and flooding during the trip.

The Seattle-based Polar Star left port in December for Antarctica to support Operation Deep Freeze 2018, the US military's contribution to the US Antarctic Program, which is run by the National Science Foundation. The Polar Star was charged with clearing a path through 15 miles of ice — some of it up to 10 feet thick.

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Update #1: Only U.S. Heavy Icebreaker Is Falling Apart On Antarctic Mission (Warzone/The Drive)
Update #2: US Icebreaker Suffers Flooding, Engine Failure in Antarctic (Marine Link)

WNU Editor: Maybe there is some money here for some new heavy icebreakers .... A budget the likes of which the Pentagon has never seen (AP).

U.S. Coast Guard Operate Floating Prisons In The Pacific Ocean

USA Today: U.S. Coast Guard operating secret floating prisons in Pacific Ocean

If you've followed the War on Terror at all, you're almost certainly familiar with the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — a U.S. prison that exists outside the realm of the U.S. justice system.

Now, it turns out, there's a secret U.S. detention system in the War on Drugs, too — and this one is aboard U.S. Coast Guard cutters sailing in the Pacific Ocean.

In an effort to staunch the flow of cocaine and other hard drugs from South America to Central America and points north, Coast Guard cutters have been deployed farther and farther from the shore in the Pacific Ocean. When these cutters capture a boat carrying drugs, the smugglers are brought onto the ships and kept shackled to the deck, sometimes outside in the elements, until the Coast Guard makes arrangements for them to be transported back to the U.S. for trial.

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WNU Editor:  One can have a debate that maybe the US Coast Guard does not need to operate in waters a thousand miles from the U.S. .... or to intercept these drug shipments that may be going somewhere else. But bottom line to those who smuggle drugs ....it is simply not worth it, even if you are in dire straits.

The U.S. Coast Guard Want Their Own Unique Stealth Spy Plane

The improved RU-38A Twin Condor. USCG

The Drive/Warzone: The U.S. Coast Guard May Be Flying a Unique Stealthy Spy Plane

The service's Manned Covert Surveillance Aircraft project has connections to decades of secretive work on "quiet aircraft."

When you think of U.S. military and stealth aircraft what probably springs to mind is the U.S. Air Force and planes such as the F-117 Nighthawk, F-22 Raptor, and B-2 Spirit. But low-observable technology isn't limited just to cutting an aircraft's radar signature and can involve other factors, such reducing aircraft's infrared or visual profiles or cutting how much noise it makes in flight. As it turns out, the U.S. Coast Guard – which is technically a uniformed military service, despite not being part of the Department of Defense – has actually been a pretty serious operator of acoustically stealthy designs based on powered gliders, culminating in its most recent project, the Manned Covert Surveillance Aircraft (MCSA).

On July 30, 2013, Sikorsky Aviation completed the first MSCA prototype after years of delays and technical difficulties. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) budget for the 2005 fiscal year had first spelled out this requirement for a “covert surveillance aircraft.”

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WNU Editor: It is definitely a different aviation design.

Sequestration Will Gut The U.S. Coast Guard

Sequestration Will Also Gut The Coast Guard -- Dale Lumme, Washington Examiner

The aging US Coast Guard (USCG) cutter fleet spends a lot of time undergoing repairs -- and the large high endurance cutters are more likely to break down than stay afloat.

The condition of the cutter fleet was a major factor in the Coast Guard's failure to meet performance standards for three out of five of its homeland security missions in fiscal year 2011, according to a recent report from the inspector general (IG) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

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My Comment: If sequestration occurs .... I expect these problems to get worse.

The Shrinking U.S. Coast Guard

An SOS For The Coast Guard -- The Foundry/Heritage Foundation

The Coast Guard needs to call more attention to its undersized fleet, according to Congressional Research Service expert Ron O’Rourke. While the sea service has publicized its requirement list, “the other part [of the discussion] is the extent to which that program of record will permit the Coast Guard to perform its projected missions. That’s the part that doesn’t get talked about generally,” O’Rourke explained at the 2012 Sea-Air-Space convention in Washington, D.C.

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My Comment: Everyone is getting hit with budget cuts .... the U.S. Coast Guard included.

U.S. Coast Guard Celebrates Its 221st Birthday Today

Happy Birthday To The United States Coast Guard -- DoD Live

Two hundred and twenty one years ago today, Congress created the U.S. Revenue-Marine to protect a vulnerable young nation’s shores, on a date we now celebrate as the birthday of the United States Coast Guard.

Since then, generations of Americans have bravely served our oldest continuous seagoing service, keeping our homeland safe, protecting our maritime resources, and indeed benefitting every citizen regardless of whether we live on or near the water or far inland.

Read more ....

More News On The U.S. Coast Guard

President Obama’s Birthday Message to the CG -- Military.com
Happy 221st Birthday U.S. Coast Guard -- Military Times
United States Coast Guard to Celebrate 221st Birthday -- Maritime Executive
6 Fun U.S. Coast Guard Facts on Its 221st Birthday -- The Stir
U.S. Coast Guard -- Official Page
U.S. Coast Guard -- Wikipedia

Coast Guardsmen Become Service’s 1st SEALs

From The Navy Times:

Two Coast Guard officers became the first in their service to earn SEAL tridents Friday, according to Navy and Coast Guard officials. Another three are in the pipeline.

They will be the first uniformed personnel ever assigned to an operational SEAL team while a member of another branch of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Their graduation ceremony was scheduled for 11 a.m. Pacific time at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Calif.

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My Comment: My congratulations to these two .... and to those in the future.

Downsizing The US Coast Guard

Budget Cuts Proposed for Coast Guard -- First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The U.S. Coast Guard is facing $155 million in cuts to its capital spending budget, according to federal documents.

The cuts, described in documents from U.S. Rep. John Mica's office, came as a shock to Mica of Florida.

"We were stunned - both Republicans and Democrats - that the administration would propose dramatic cuts in the Coast Guard which is our first line of national security and domestic defense and safety," said Mica in a phone conversation Friday.

Mica said the proposed federal budget for 2011 would:

Read more ....

More News on the US Coast Guard

Coast Guard pick wants to refine homeland mission -- AP
Senators Oppose Coast Guard Budget Cut -- Global Security Newswire
Increasing Opposition to Coast Guard Budget Cuts -- HS Today
Obama's coast guard cuts: a recipe for disaster (Rep. John Mica) -- The Hill
Obama Coast Guard Budget Courts Disaster -- Cape May Herald County
Putting the Coast Guard Out to Sea -- New York Times