Beachcombers in the Highland Beach area came across a 20-foot long submersible like object stuck just offshore.  A Texas man saw it on Oct. 26 and, thinking it was a buoy, swam out 150 yards and photographed it, seeing a 6cyl engine and battery inside and a prop at the tail. Two hatches were open but no one was inside. Then he alerted police and the USCG who investigated it but left it in place.

Putting a light on the object to mark it, a few days later it washed ashore, where others photographed it before it was moved by a tractor off the beach where DHS is picking up the investigation.

Narco boat? Part of a migrant vessel? North Korean supersub? Who knows.

From the Sun Sentinel

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Eric Pare said the vessel could have been used to smuggle drugs into the country, though Pare said that is very unlikely.

“We have had these cases in the past,” Pare said, referring to drug submarines. “But they’re usually in the deep Caribbean, off the coast of South America or the eastern Pacific on the Mexican side; [or] the Pacific coast. It’s extremely rare to see something like this this far north.”

Another 378 is being sent to pasture with the looming retirement and decommissioning of USCGC Boutwell (WHEC-719), who returned from her final patrol last week, a 41-day run around the Bearing Sea.

Based out of San Diego and named for Grant’s Treasury secretary, Boutwell was laid down in 1967 during a very different time in history than we know now.

(5676 × 4580)

The 3250-ton Hamilton-class cutter has put in 47 years of hard service that included standing by the disabled Soviet H-2 nuclear-powered submarine in 1972, the Prinsendam ocean liner rescue in 1980, the crazy Orca incident,  shelled the Fukuyoshi Maru No. 85 ghost ship under the waves with her 5-inch deck gun (back when the USCG had 5-inch guns), and spent much time on six-week long Alaska Patrols during which she conducted surveillance operations and enforced international treaties and U.S. laws during the heart of the Cold War– often tracking multiple Soviet sonar contacts at the same time (back when the Coasties ran ASW).

More on her long and illustrious service here

She is scheduled to be modified and handed over to the Philippine Navy in coming months.

Although 36 cutters of this class were originally planned, only 12 were ever built. So far six Hamiltons have been retired and passed on to Allied navies including The Philippines who operate Gregorio del Pilar (ex-Hamilton) and Ramon Alcaraz (ex-Dallas), the Nigerians who run Okpabana (ex-Gallatin) and Thunder (ex-Chase) and the Bangladesh Navy with their Somudro Joy (ex-Jarvis) and Somudro Avijan (ex-Rush).

Boutwell‘s decommissioning will leave the USCG with only Mellon, Sherman, Morgenthau, Munro and Midgett in service (for now) from this vintage line.

Fair winds and full sails, Boutwell.

090210-N-4774B-017 SINGAPORE (Feb. 10, 2009) A full moon rises above the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Boutwell (WHEC 719) at anchor at Changi Naval Base, Singapore. Boutwell is part of the Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group and is on a scheduled deployment to the western Pacific Ocean supporting global maritime security. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Barker/Released)

Via the 1st USCG District PAO:

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Juniper ‘s first log entry of the new year. In rhyme, of course, according to the time-honored nautical tradition.

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter with a yellow paint scheme lands at Coast Guard Air Station Astoria, Ore., Jan. 15, 2016. The yellow Jayhawk helicopter is one of two centennial aircraft that will be stationed in the Pacific Northwest along with an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter that will be located at Air Station North Bend, Ore. in celebration of 100 years of Coast Guard aviation (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg)

(U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg)

The yellow Jayhawk helicopter is the first specially painted aircraft delivered by the Coast Guard to an operational unit during the centennial celebration of Coast Guard aviation, and will operate out of the Warrenton base for the next 4 years. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg)

The Jayhawk helicopter is painted yellow to represent the chrome yellow paint scheme that Coast Guard and Navy helicopters used in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Examples include the Sikorsky HO3S-1G used from 1946 to 1955 and the Sikorsky HO4S used from 1951 to 1966.

Preserved Sikorsky HO3S-1G at USS Intrepid Museum with vintage chrome yellow scheme.

The yellow Jayhawk helicopter is one of two centennial aircraft that will be stationed in the Pacific Northwest. An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter is scheduled to be delivered to Air Station North Bend later this month. These two aircraft are the first of the 16 centennial painted aircraft in the country. Altogether, three different Coast Guard aircraft types, including the Jayhawk and Dolphin helicopters as well as the HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane, are receiving historic paint schemes representing various eras of Coast Guard aviation.

Coast Guard Aviator #1, Elmer Stone

Coast Guard aviation officially began April 1, 1916, when 3rd Lt. Elmer Stone reported to flight training in Pensacola, Florida and later embarked on the epic NC-4 flight across the Atlantic. The Coast Guard is celebrating the centennial of Coast Guard aviation throughout 2016, with a variety of activities honoring the accomplishments and sacrifices of the men and women throughout the past 100 years

If you have read this insipid blog long enough you know that I am a fan of icebreakers (the ships, not the chat-up)  and bemoaned the long-running lack of such vessels in U.S. maritime service.

Well it seems Congress is finally doing something about it.

“A Coast Guard Icebreaker on patrol in the Antarctic, moves through the ice floe.” WAGB Southwind by Thomas Carr (ID# 87112) USCG Image. (Click to bigup, very nice image)

The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015  passed by voice vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday, Feb. 1, approving a bill the Senate passed in December. It now moves to President Barack Obama’s desk for a signature.

As part of the $1.9 billion included with the bill is money for a new polar icebreaker and one for the Great Lakes.

“This bipartisan bill authorizes the Coast Guard for two years and strengthens its ability to recapitalize an aging fleet of cutters and aircraft that are decades past their prime,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California.

Now hold your breath and wait for the ships to pop out, which may be a totally different thing altogether.

The Coast Guard’s latest 418-foot National Security Cutter, James (WSML 754), is underway in the Atlantic Ocean, Thursday, July 30, 2015. The James is the fifth of eight planned National Security Cutters – the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutters in the Coast Guard’s fleet.  (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Auxiliarist David Lau)

A report by the GAO issued last month has gripes with the USCG’s new 418-foot National Security Cutters which have been slowly joining the fleet. While quantum leaps over the old 378s they are replacing on a 1:1.5 ratio due to the fact they have longer legs, better accommodations, stern launched small boats, capabilities for both a Dolphin and a UAV at the same time as well as more up-to-date EW, ELINT, radar and commo gear, they are still having problems with making their weapons suite do what it is designed for.

Now keep in mind that the weapons on Coast Guard cutters are actually “owned” by the Navy so there has always been a degree of disconnect, but there are still some pretty bad things that have surfaced over the course of Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) and Combat System Ship Qualification Trials (CSSQT).

While the CIWS, NULKA launcher, and air search radar were all repaired following IOT&E, post operational reports indicate that problems persist with these systems as they were often unavailable during operations. For example, the CIWS was inoperable on the Stratton for at least 61 days in 2014; the NULKA was inoperable on the Stratton from October 2013 through April 2014; and, according to Coast Guard officials, the air search radar has had 18 casualties, or failures, across the three operational NSCs over the past 19 months, with a lead time for repairs of up to 18 months. Further, the ship was not tested to see if it could achieve a hard and soft kill against a subsonic anti-ship cruise missile due to a moratorium on using target drones.

Also, getting ammo to the CIWS is a bitch:

The ammunition hoists are difficult to use in their current configuration, and the crew of the NSC prefers to carry ammunition for the CIWS by hand rather than use the hoist.

Then there are engine problems which include overheating engines in tropical waters and cracked heads at an alarming rate:

The NSC has encountered casualties with the engines’ cylinder heads at a higher than expected rate, averaging four cracked cylinder heads per cutter per year. According to Coast Guard officials, cylinder heads are not normally expected to fail at this rate. The equipment manufacturer has redesigned the cylinder heads in an effort to prevent them from cracking, and all of the operational NSCs have been equipped with the re-designed part, but the NSCs have continued to experience cracked cylinder heads even with the new design, which can result in an inability to conduct operations. For example, in 2014, the Waesche missed 11 planned operational days as a result of this problem.

However, as the report states, a series of mods, upgrades and “we’re working on it(s)” are planned.

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday: Feb. 10, 2016, The Long Serving Chinco

USS Chincoteague (AVP-24) Photographed in mid-1945 following a West Coast overhaul. Her quadruple 40mm mount has been moved forward, but she retains an unshielded 5/38 gun on the fantail. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Catalog #: 19-N-88909

Here we see an overhead shot of the Barnegat-class seaplane tender USS Chincoteague (AVP-24). This hardy but unsung vessel would see myriad service in both the Atlantic and Pacific under numerous flags for some 60 years.

Back in the days before helicopters, the fleets of the world used seaplanes and floatplanes for search and rescue, scouting, long distance naval gunfire artillery spotting and general duties such as running mail and high value passengers from ship to shore. Large seaplanes such as PBYs and PBMs could be forward deployed to any shallow water calm bay or atoll where a tender would support them.

Originally seaplane tenders were converted destroyers or large transport type ships, but in 1938 the Navy sought out a purpose-built “small seaplane tender” (AVP) class, the Barnegats, who could support a squadron of flying boats while forward deployed and provide fuel (storage for 80,000 gallons of Avgas), bombs, depth charges, repairs and general depot tasks for both the planes and their crews while being capable of surviving in a mildly hostile environment.

The United States Navy Barnegat-class seaplane tender USS Timbalier (AVP-54) with two Martin PBM-3D Mariner flying boats from the Pelicans of Patrol Squadron 45 in the late 1948. Timbaler´s quadruple 40mm gun mount on the fantail was added in around 1948. National Archives #80-G-483681

The 41 Barnegats were 2500-ton, 311-foot long armed auxiliaries capable of floating in 12 feet of water. They had room for not only seaplane stores but also 150 aviators and aircrew. Their diesel suite wasn’t fast, but they could travel 8,000 miles at 15.6 knots. Originally designed for two 5-inch/38-caliber guns, this could be doubled if needed (and often was) which complemented a decent AAA armament helped out by radar and even depth charges and sonar for busting subs.

All pretty sweet for an auxiliary.

The hero of our study, Chincoteague, was laid down 23 July 1941 at Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington. Commissioned 12 April 1943, she sailed immediately for Saboe Bay in the Santa Cruz Islands where the Navy was slugging it out with the Japanese and the Empire was striking back on its own. She was assigned to be the mothership to Patrol Squadron 71’s (VP-71) new PBY-5 Catalinas near the island of Vanikoro.

There, on 16-17 July, she underwent eleven bombing attacks ranging from single airplane strikes to the onslaught of nine bombers at a time. While she beat off many of these, they left their toll.

From the Navy’s extensive report of Sept 1944.

-At 0738, on 17 July, two bombs missed the ship and landed in the water about 50 feet from the starboard side, detonating a short distance below the surface. Numerous fragments pierced the shell, some below the waterline. Several fires were ignited, including a gasoline fire, but these were effectively extinguished. Flooding through the fragment holes below the waterline reduced the GM of the vessel from about 3.2 feet to about 1.6 feet. In spite of this reduction in GM, the stability characteristics were still satisfactory for keeping the vessel upright in case of some additional damage or flooding…

-At 1150, some four hours later, a small general-purpose bomb* with a short delay in the fuze struck and penetrated the superstructure, main and second decks and detonated in the after engine room. The hull was not ruptured, but the engine room was flooded through a broken 8-inch sea suction line supplying cooling water to the main propulsion diesel engine. As the draft increased, water entered the ship through the fragment holes above the second deck, which had not been plugged effectively. Large free surface areas were created on the second deck…

-At 1420, another bomb landed in the water about 15 feet from the port side, detonating underwater. This did not rupture the hull, but the shell was indented in way of the forward engine room. The forward main engines stopped due to shock, leaving the vessel dead in the water…

Bomb damage diagram of USS Chincoteague (AVP-24) suffered on 17 July 1943 at Saboe Bay off the Santa Cruz Islands. Navy Department Library, USS Chincoteague (AVP-24) War Damage Report No. 47. Plate I

Chincoteague was able to get underway, suffered nine dead, and was towed to California for overhaul after just 12 weeks of active service.

The Corsairs of VMF-214 helped a bit with air cover and sucker punch a few Jap planes coming back for round 12.

Frank Murphy later chronicled this in USS Chincoteague: The Ship That Wouldn’t Sink. As for VP-71, they were reassigned and moved to Halavo, in the Florida Island chain to continue operations there.

Emerging at Christmas 1943 with her repairs effected, her AAA suite was modified slightly.

USS Chincoteague (AVP-24) A port side view of the forward portion of the ship taken on 15 December 1943 at the Mare Island Navy Yard. The ship was completing repair of severe battle damage incurred in July 1943. Circled changes include new antennas on the foremast and just forward of the stack. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 97709

USS Chincoteague (AVP-24) Photographed on 27 December 1943 off the Mare Island Navy Yard following repairs to severe battle damage incurred in July 1943. One of the four 5/38 guns in her original armament has been replaced by a quadruple 40mm mount. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Catalog #: 19-N-57482

Returning to the fleet in 1944, she saw heavy duty in the Solomon Islands around Bougainville, the occupation of the Marshall Islands, action in the Treasury Islands, then tended seaplanes at Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Kossol Roads in the Palau Islands, Guam, Ulithi Atoll, and Iwo Jima, earning six battlestars the hard way for her wartime service.

This included supporting the lumbering PB2Y-3 Coronados of VP-13 and the “Black Cat” PBY-5s of VP-91 in 1944, then the huge PBM-3D Mariners of VP-25 the next year.

A PB2Y-3 of VP-13 at Midway in 1944. The Chinco supported the planes from this squadron during anti-shipping operations in the Marshal Islands from 26 Feb–22 Jun 1944 with the big boats conducting two 600-900 mile patrols each day, the longest search sectors ever flown by a PB2Y-3 to that date. The 66,000 pound PB2Y-3 could carry six tons of bombs and had a massive 115-foot wingspan

When the war ended, she poked around Chinese waters into 1946 conducting occupation and mopping up duties.

USS Chincoteague (AVP-24) Photographed in mid-1945 following a West Coast overhaul. Her quadruple 40mm mount has been moved forward, but she retains an unshielded 5/38 gun on the fantail. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Catalog #: 19-N-88911

Like most of her 35 completed sisterships (the other six planned were canceled), she was decommissioned shortly after the war on 21 December 1946 and laid up at the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Texas Group, Beaumont.

Also, like a number of her sisters (Absecon, Biscayne, Casco, Mackinac, Humboldt, Matagorda, Absecon, Coos Bay, Half Moon, Rockaway, Unimak, Yakutat, Barataria, Bering Strait, Castle Rock, Cook Inlet, Wachapreague, and Willoughby) she was loaned to the US Coast Guard where the vessels were known collectively as the Casco-class cutters, or commonly just referred to in Coastie fashion as “311” class vessels for their oal length.

Note most of her guns are gone but she has a new air-search radar on her aft mast which has a balloon hangar at its base. Also note the Hedgehog ASW device boxes just forward of the bridge.

On 7 March 1949, with her armament greatly reduced, her seaplane gear landed, and her paint scheme switched to white and buff, she was commissioned as USCGC Chincoteague (WAVP-375). She was actually the second such cutter to carry the name, following on the heels of an 88-foot armed tug used in the 1920s.

To be used in ocean station duty, Chincoteague and her sisters were given a balloon shelter aft and spaces formerly used to house aviators were devoted to oceanographic equipment while a hydrographic and an oceanographic winch were added. For wartime use against Soviet subs, she was later given an updated sonar and Mk 32 Mod 5 torpedo tubes.

Sisters Absecon and Chincoteague USCG Base Portsmouth VA circa 1964. Note one has racing stripe and other does not.

Homeported in Norfolk, she spent long and boring weeks on station far out to the Atlantic. This was broken up by an epic rescue in high seas when, on 30 October 1956, Chincoteague rescued 33 crewmen from the German freighter Helga Bolten in the middle of the North Atlantic by using two inflatable lifeboats, landing them in the Azores.

November 12, 1956 While on patrol weather station DELTA the cutter CHINCOTEAGUE rescued the crew of the stricken German freighter HELGA BOLTON

By the late 1960s, the Navy was divesting itself of their remaining Barnegat-class vessels as they were getting long in the tooth and seaplanes were being withdrawn. Further, with the new Hamilton-class 378-foot High Endurance Cutters coming online, the Coast Guard didn’t need these ships either.

Nevertheless, someone else did.

A beautiful image of sistership USS Cook Inlet in Coast Guard service as WAVP-384. She would be transferred to the Vietnamese Navy as RVNS Tran Quoc Toan (HQ-06) in 1971

Between 1971-1972 Chincoteague and 6 of her sisters in Coast Guard service (Wachapreague, Absecon, Yakutat, Bering Strait, Castle Rock, and Cook Inlet) were transferred to the Navy of the Republic of Vietnam. Chincoteague became RVNS Ly Thuong Kiet (HQ-16) on 21 June 1972.

However, her war service in Vietnamese waters was short lived.

When Saigon fell in April 1975, she sailed along with Yakutat (RVNS Tran Nhat Duat), Bering Strait (RVNS Tran Quang Khai), Castle Rock (RVNS Tran Binh Trong), Cook Inlet (RVNS Tran Quoc Toan) and Wachapreague (RVNS Ngo Quyen) to the Philippines as a navy in exile filled with not only service members but also their families.  Absecon remained behind and served in the People’s Navy for a number of years.

The Philippine government disarmed the seaplane tenders-turned-frigates and interned them, then finally took custody of them after a few weeks to forestall efforts by the new government in Vietnam to get them back. As the U.S. still “owned” the ships, they were sold for a song to the PI in 1976.

In poor condition, some were laid up and stripped of usable parts to keep those in better shape in service. As such, Chincoteague sailed in Philippine Navy as patrol vessel BRP Andres Bonifacto (PF-7), the flagship of the fleet, for another decade along with her faithful sisters BRP Gregorio Del Pilar (Wachapreague), BRP Diego Silang (Bering Strait) and BRP Francisco Dagohoy (Castle Rock) along for the ride.

The Philippines planned to give these ships new radar systems (SPS53s) and Harpoons in the 1980s but the latter never came to fruition. Despite this, the aft deck which supported seaplanes for the U.S. Navy and weather balloons for the Coast Guard was replaced by a helipad for one MBB BO-105 light helicopter– continuing an aviation tradition even in her old age.

Left in a reserve status after 1985, Chincoteague/Ly Thuong Kiet/Andres Bonifacto was finally withdrawn from service in 1993, her three sisters already sold for scrap by then.

She endured as a pierside hulk used for the occasional training until she was sent to the breakers in 2003, the last of her class afloat. As such, she far outlasted the era of the military seaplane.

The closest thing to a monument for these vessels is the USS/USCGC Unimak (AVP-31/WAVP/WHEC/WTR-379), the last of the class in U.S. service, which was sunk in 1988 as an artificial reef off the Virginia coast in 150 feet of water.

Her name endures in the form of the USCGC Chincoteague (WPB-1320), an Island-class 110-foot cutter commissioned in 1988.

As for the four seaplane patrol squadrons that flew from the Chinco in WWII, (VP-13, VP-25, VP-71, and VP-91) they were disestablished in 1945, 1950, 1946 and 1991 respectively with PATRON91 flying Neptunes and later P-3s during the Cold War.

Specs:

Displacement 1,766 t.(lt) 2,800 t.(fl)
Length 311′ 6″
Beam 41′ 1″
Draft 12′ 5″
Speed 18.2 kts (trial)
Complement
USN
Officers 14
Enlisted 201
USN Aviation Squadrons
Officers 59
Enlisted 93
USCG
Officers 13
Enlisted 136
Largest Boom Capacity 10 t.
USCG Electronics
Radar: SPS-23, SPS-29D
Sonar: SQS-1
Philippine Navy electronics
Radar: AN/SPS-53, SPS-29D
Armament
USN
four single 5″/38 cal
one quad 40mm AA gun mount
two twin 40mm AA gun mounts
four twin 20mm AA gun mounts
USCG
one single 5″/38 cal. Mk 12, Mod 1 dual purpose gun mount
one Mk 52 Mod 3 director
one Mk 26 fire control radar
one Mk 11 A/S projector
two Mk 32 Mod 5 torpedo tubes (later deleted in 1972)
Fuel Capacities
Diesel 2,055 Bbls
Gasoline 84,340 Gals
Propulsion
Fairbanks-Morse, 38D8 1/2 Diesel engines
single Fairbanks-Morse Main Reduction Gears
Ship’s Service Generators
two Diesel-drive 100Kw 450V A.C.
two Diesel-drive 200Kw 450V A.C.
two propellers, 6,400shp
20 Kts max, 8,000 miles at 15.6 knots.

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The Coast Guard Historical Foundation posted this excellent find from Periscope Film from the cusp of WWII.

“Made in 1939 just before WWII, this short film shows the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, and a Cadet Cruise. The cruise begins in Cartagena, Colombia. There’s a visit to a Colombian warship and old town Cartagena. The cruise then progresses through the Panama Canal at the 3:18 mark, including the port of Balboa. Crossing the Equator, a special ceremony is conducted at the 4:10 mark. This is a shellback initiation. Next is a visit to Guayaquil, Ecuador at the 4:50 mark, and then a ride on a railroad in Peru (6:30), followed by Valparaiso, Chile and the Chilean Naval Academy. At Santiago (7:45), the Coastguardsmen are guests at a military review. The film ends with gunnery practice at sea.”

This led to a debate on their social page over which ship is shown in the film, in which I weighed in (from my sketchy fake Facebook account like the troll I am).

Bibb in later years, a much earlier less racing stripe version is seen extensively in the video above

In several shots its clear its a 327, and I have a pretty confirmed kill that its the USCGC Bibb (WPG-31) a 327-foot Treasury-class commissioned in 1936. At one point it shows an invitation with the ship’s name on it. Then at the 8.25 mark it shows the ship’s log with “Henry Coyle, Comdr, USCG” at the top as CO, which is the clencher.

Born in Portland, Maine in 1889, his father was John Brown Coyle (page 20) who was appointed to the Revenue Cutter Service in May 1888 as a 2Asteng (and retired in 1923 as a Chief Engineer).

The future Bibb commander Henry was appointed as a cadet to the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction (now the Coast Guard Academy) then at Curtis Bay, MD (now the Coast Guard Yard) on Oct. 14, 1907, resigned and was reappointed in 1910 then graduated from the academy– which by then had moved to the old Army base of Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut– and was promoted to ensign in June 1913 followed by Lieutenant (j.g.) in June 1918 stationed at Woods Hole, Mass., where he doubtless took part in the Attack on Orleans (more on this in an upcoming Warship Weds).

Post-WWI, Coyle made full lieutenant in January 1923 and LCDR in April 1924 (times moved fast in the days of Prohibition when the USCG was adding ships every week to fight the rum runners).

CDR Henry Coyle and Reporter W. E. Debnam, 1937 – Norfolk, Virginia Via Hampton Roads historical project

CDR Henry Coyle Describes Rescue of Survivors of the Shipwreck of the Tzenny Chandris, 1937 – Norfolk, Virginia. Via Hampton Roads historical project.

Commander Henry Coyle next commanded the Coast Guard cutter Mendota in 1937 which was involved in rescuing 21 survivors from the 5,815-ton Greek freighter Tzenny Chandris (ex-Eastern Packet) who were in the water for nearly a day and a half suffering from shark attacks.

Coyle, with 25 years at sea under him, then became skipper of the Bibb in 1938 for the above cadet cruise and the entry of the U.S. into WWII.

Coyle went on to command the Coast Guard-manned Navy transport USS General William Mitchell (AP-114) during WWII, was authorized to receive a decoration from Greece, retired as a full captain in 1952, and died the same year.

Interestingly, his slightly-modified M1852 Naval officer’s sword issued to the Revenue Cutter Service (from Sico Bros in Baltimore– remember the cadet academy was then in nearby Curtis Bay ) recently came up for auction.

From Cowans:

With 30″ blade retailed by the Sisco Bros./Baltimore having etched panels of nautical motifs and the name (without rank), Henry Coyle etched in a panel on the reverse. Shagreen and twisted brass wire wrapped handle. Brass pommel with chased oak leaves, brass knuckle bow with branches and earlier pre-1915 service designation, USRCS. Leather scabbard with brass bands and rope designed carrying rings. Throat inscribed with large fouled anchor. Brothers Charles T. and John E. Sisco operated “a regalia and military equipment” store in Baltimore until 1925. This uncommon sword dates to before 1915 when the numerically small United States Revenue Cutter Service was officially merged with the Life Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard.

As for the Bibb, she was decommissioned 30 September 1985 after 48 years of service and sunk as an artificial reef off the Florida Keys on 28 November 1987.

However, the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction that Coyle graduated from at Fort Trumbull in New London has since 1915 been the USCGA, where the cadets left from in the 1938 tour video at the top of this post, and is still very much in daily use.

This yellow Jayhawk helicopter is the second specially painted aircraft delivered by the Coast Guard to an operational unit during the centennial celebration of Coast Guard aviation, and will operate out of the base for the next 4 years.

In a followup to USCG MH-60T #6003 arriving at Warrenton last month, the second of the two throwback uniformed Jayhawks, #6006, arrived at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City this week.

The Jayhawk helicopter is painted yellow to represent the “chrome” yellow paint scheme that Coast Guard and Navy helicopters used in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Examples include the Sikorsky HO3S-1G used from 1946 to 1955 and the Sikorsky HO4S used from 1951 to 1966.

These two aircraft are the first of the 16 centennial painted aircraft in the country. Altogether, three different Coast Guard aircraft types, including the Jayhawk and Dolphin helicopters as well as the HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane, are receiving historic paint schemes representing various eras of Coast Guard aviation.

AIRSTA Elizabeth City itself just celebrated their 75th anniversary last year.

Makapu’u Lighthouse stands majestically atop the southeastern most point of Oahu, Hawaii. U.S. Coast Guard photo

From the Makapu’u Light on Oahu’s southeastern most point, the world’s largest lighthouse lens reflects a beam that can be seen from 19 nautical miles away.

The 12-foot-tall and 8-foot-wide Hyper-radiant Fresnel lens takes up more than a quarter of the space inside the 46-foot-tall lighthouse.

With more than a thousand prisms, the lens is almost five feet taller than the First Order Fresnel lens in America’s tallest lighthouse, the 207-foot-tall Cape Hatteras Light in the North Carolina Outer Banks. It is wide enough for several people to stand inside.

“It is, by far, the largest lens that I have ever seen,” said Chief Petty Officer Ernest W. Rucker, who leads the Honolulu-based U.S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team (ANT) that maintains the lens.

The Hyper-radiant lens was unveiled at the 1893 Chicago World Fair. Once it reached Hawaii, pieces of the giant lens were hoisted from a moving ship up the steep lava slope and reassembled in the lighthouse.

Displaying its impressive height, a man stands next to the Makapu’u fresnel light in this undated photo. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

Lit in 1909, the Makapu’u Lighthouse shines across the Kaiwi Channel between the islands of Oahu and Molokai.

More here

The Coast Guard’s 47 foot Motor Life Boat, introduced years ago, is much more advanced than the 41 and 30 foot motor life boats, is still a wild ride. (And show up on the surplus market from time to time)

You are looking at the maiden voyage of the new CG29247, a Response Boat Small, Generation two (RBS-II), at U.S. Coast Guard Station Apra Harbor, Guam, the Western-most USCG base in the world.

The RBS-II has an offshore racing hull design with trim tabs and was the competition winner by Metal Shark with their 29-foot Defiant-series deep V aluminum-hulled boat. The company won a $192 million contract in 2011 for (upto) 470 of these vessels to be used at Coast Guard stations as by large ocean going cutters. So far, 180 of 224 boats ordered and paid for have been delivered. Another 20 boats may be ordered by CBP and up to 10 by the U.S. Navy.

They are replacing the 400 remaining 25-foot SafeBoats Defender-class RB-S vessels– since 2001 the most common vessels in the Coast Guard, used by sectors, stations, MSRT/MSSTs, MSUs, training centers, and some AUXFACs.

However, the Defenders, the last of which were delivered in 2009, ironically replacing a myriad of aluminum-hulled Boston Whalers and RIBs used by the Guard, only have a 10-year lifespan as their hull/electronics and outboards all time out about the same.

The ‘Sharks have drop down windows for all-weather use, can pack upto 600 HP of outboards or twin Yanmar 6LPA-STP2 diesels mated to Hamilton 241 jet drives, have shock-mitigating seats just like the Navy’s SWCC boats, glass cockpits, can mount M2/M240s on two different towing points that double as pintle bases, surface search nav radar and lots of other neato features.

And, they will be coming to a station and waterway near you…

SUBJ: USCGC BOUTWELL (WHEC 719) 48 YEARS OF SERVICE

1. On 16 MAR 2016, after 48 years of faithful service to our nation, CGC BOUTWELL transitioned into commission special status. Throughout her service, CGC BOUTWELL embodied and defended her motto, the Best in the West.

2. Named in honor of Secretary George Sewall Boutwell, who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Ulysses S. Grant, WHEC 719 was the fifth ship in the Hamilton Class cutter fleet and the third cutter to bear the name BOUTWELL. CGC BOUTWELL was launched from Avondale Shipyards in Louisiana on 17 JUN 1967, and was commissioned on 24 JUN 1968 at New Orleans, LA. CGC BOUTWELL arrived at her first homeport in Boston, MA in 1968 and would remain there until JUL 1973 when she shifted homeport to Seattle, WA. BOUTWELL changed homeport once again to Alameda, CA in OCT 1990. Finally in 2011, following the decommissioning of CGC HAMILTON, the HAMILTON crew relieved BOUTWELL’s crew and changed homeport to San Diego, CA.

3. Throughout her distinguished career, BOUTWELL served in domestic and international theaters, flexing her might in dynamic and austere environments from the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Persian Gulf, to the North Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, and Bering Sea. As her time in the Coast Guard fleet comes to a close, BOUTWELL will be remembered as an ambassador for global maritime cooperation, combatant of narco-terrorism, protector of living marine resources, and safe haven for those in distress.

4. CGC BOUTWELL leaves a long proud legacy of honorable service to her country. In the early 1980s, CGC BOUTWELL participated in one of the greatest search and rescue operations when a fire broke out in the engine room of the cruise ship PRINSENDAM. The efforts of BOUTWELL and other entities led to the rescue of over 500 survivors from frigid Alaskan waters. In the late 1980s, BOUTWELL interdicted 72 tons of marijuana on the M/V ENCOUNTER BAY, a record for a single interdiction on the West Coast at that time. In 1997, CGC BOUTWELL participated in Operation BORDER SHIELD. During this patrol, CGC BOUTWELL, with the assistance of U.S. and Mexican Naval forces, interdicted 2.7 tons of cocaine. In 2009, CGC BOUTWELL earned the Coast Guard Unit Commendation for her work as a component of the USS BOXER Expeditionary Strike Group. While patrolling the Gulf of Aden, BOUTWELL successfully demonstrated the Coast Guard’s unique capabilities to combat full spectrum threats on the high seas. Furthermore, BOUTWELL made port in Libya, a first for a U.S.Naval warship in over 40 years.

5. During her last year of service, CGC BOUTWELL continued to support counter-narcotic operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and in 2014 was awarded the U.S. Interdiction Coordinator’s Award for Maritime Interdiction and Apprehension.

6. To current and past CGC BOUTWELL crews, plank owners, shellbacks (Golden, Emerald, Horned, or otherwise), subjects of the Golden Dragon, Blue Noses, and even Pollywogs: well done. Throughout 48 years of service, CGC BOUTWELL and her crews admirably served the Coast Guard and the Nation. Congratulations and Bravo Zulu.

7. Admiral Paul F. Zukunft, Commandant, sends.

8. Internet release is authorized.

Note: this is ALCOAST 094/16, COMDTNOTE 4500

U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Houston unveiled the latest addition to their Dolphin Stable: CG6581, a MH-65D complete in classic 1970s aviation scheme.

“CG6581 is painted with a throwback color scheme and tail logo in honor of Coast Guard Aviation’s 100th year anniversary. A big thank you goes out to the Aviation Logistics Center (ALC) for delivering this beauty. Also, this aircraft is not just for show but is fully operational, so keep a look out for CG6581 in the skies over Houston!”

It seems the senior sea service (the Coast Guard traces its origin back to 1790 while the modern Navy, not counting Washington’s cruisers and the Continental Navy, wasn’t authorized by Congress until 1795) has a lot more throwbacks in the pipeline.

Dig the HC-144 in 1930s blue and yellow scheme with meatball roundels to the left and the Vietnam camo to the far right.

(U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Air Station Traverse City)

Piper, the wildlife control canine at the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Mich., checks the area for pests as aircrews from Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City in an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and the Royal Canadian Air Force in a CH-146 Griffon take off during a joint search-and-rescue training exercise at the airport Oct. 17, 2015. The Coast Guard routinely partners with local and international agencies to ensure solidarity when conducting rescue operations together.

“K-9 Piper is a seven year old Border Collie  trained in and is charged with wildlife control while on duty. This includes chasing all sorts of birds and detecting/tracking mammals on/in the ground. K-9 Piper works tirelessly year round to ensure aircraft arrive/depart safely, including United States Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City assets.”

Piper has been nominated for this year’s American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards in the “Emerging Heroes” category and is a working dog.

However, he seems to be taking his newfound celebrity status in stride.

More on Piper here.

The U.S. Coast Guard has donated a pre-owned Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard helicopter that is set to be added to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The Museum’s first Coast Guard helicopter, the Seaguard, #1426, is scheduled go on display at the museum on April 14th, 2016, to coincide with Coast Guard aviation’s 100th anniversary.

1426 was recovered from the North Valley Occupational Center’s aviation facility in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles. She had been there since 1989, being used as a static trainer for helicopter mechanics, meaning everything on her was loose or had been taken apart at least 100 times.

#1426 as put out to pasture. She had seen better days. Note the 1980s “SAR Orange” paint scheme and “Pinocchio” radar dome

Going for a ride by CH-47

Their was a search for parts to make 1426 whole again.

Per USCG: “This was a location in Cochise, Arizona, where nine HH-52s were privately owned. The owner planned to convert the 52s to fight fires, but ran into issue making the conversion impractical. The Coast Guard Aviation Association worked with the owner to acquire parts for the restoration of the 1426”

The Museum’s first Coast Guard helicopter, 1426, as restored. Note that she was restored to her more commonly used 1970s high-viz pattern colors, with no radar proboscis. Image by John Siemens, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Image Number: WEB15436-2016

Used for years by Air Station Houston, #1426 in 1979 rescued 22 survivors from the burning tanker Burmah Agate and freighter Mimosa after the two vessels collided near Galveston, Texas.

Basically a scaled down SH-3 Sea King without the ordnance capability, the HH-52 was used extensively by the Coast Guard for SAR and LE duties throughout the 1960s and 70s, being replaced by the HH-65 Dolphin in the 1980s.

There are some two dozen remaining on display, but this is the first one in the Smithsonian.

Here we see the Mk 75 Oto Melera Super Rapid Mount on the Boston-based USCGC Spencer (WMEC-905).  These Italian-designed 76mm/62cal guns were made under license in the U.S. starting in 1978 by FMC Naval Systems Division and went on to arm the 51 Perry-class frigates and half-dozen Pegasus-class PHMs of the Navy as well as the 25 Medium (270′) and High (378′, replacing 5″ Mk38 guns) Endurance cutters of the Coast Guard.

Spencer ran her mount with Popeye in the 1990s…

As you will note, the mount carries a great Popeye logo, complete with 76mm shells and dope leaf tattoos.

You should well remember that ‘Pop was a Coastie from way back in the rumrunner days…

However, in recent years, Spencer has scrubbed the Spinach-eating icon from their forward mount, and it is more ship-shape today.

BTW, what is up with those wonky hull numbers? Deck Division! Come on…

Now, the Coast Guard is the lantern holder for the Mk 75 platform, with the USN formally ditching the Perrys and PHMs long ago.

Currently the USCG has less than 20~ platforms still carrying the now-legacy Carter-era guns, which are kept running by BAE Systems. Those will eventually be retired as the new Offshore Patrol Cutter program comes online in the next decade. Likely replaced by the current standard Mk 110 57mm Bofors popgun.

However, you can be sure there will be GMG shenanigans with these 76mm’s until that day.

Coast Guard Section Southwestern New England recently shared these images of an engine haul-out from the 110-foot Island-class patrol boat, USCGC Sanibel (WPB 1312). Stationed at Woods Hole, MA, Sanibel is an early “A” series 110 that was equipped with two Paxman-Valenta 16CM diesels along with two 99 KW Caterpillar 3304T diesel generators capable of parallel operation. The big engines are hauled out on occasion for rework and to check the engine mounts and refit.

Removal of the softpatch

And away we go…

Engine up

And out…

Engine room post removal

MK3 from Sector SENE inspecting the engine mounts

Built at Bollinger, Sanibel was commissioned in 1987, funded under a DoD Augmentation Appropriation, and has spent most of her career fighting with that cruel mistress, the North Atlantic, enforcing laws, conducting Homeland Security and defense missions and performing rescues. Among her other service, on 22 July 1999, Sanibel served as land-to-ship transport for members of the Kennedy and Bessette families for burial-at-sea services for John F. Kennedy, Jr.

USCGC SANIBEL (WPB 1312) 2014,. USCG Photo

Designed for a 20-year service life, Sanibel and the other earlier “off-the-shelf” 110s were given a SHIPALT that installed intermediate frames in-between her yard original ones and she will continue to serve well into her 30s.

Under Deepwater, all of the 110s were supposed to be replaced by 2009. But anyway…

HI Sutton, who has been kinda enough to mirror some of our posts from LSOZI before at his excellent Covert Shores blog (and I do recommend going over there and checking it out regularly) penned a piece for Foreign Brief on the evolution of Narco Subs, which included this dope (no pun intended) info graphic (click to very much big up!)

2400-x1152

From the article:

2016 looks set to be a bumper year for narco-sub incidents.

Just last month, Colombian security forces discovered a 15-metre narco-sub in the jungle near the Pacific coast. A few weeks earlier, the U.S. Coast Guard published footage of a narco-sub intercepted off the Panamanian coast with 5.5 tonnes of cocaine on board, valued at $200 million. In March, an abandoned narco-sub was found stranded on a reef off the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, its load of narcotics already unloaded by drug smugglers.

More here.

Much as once a week I like to take time off to cover warships (Wednesdays), on Sundays (when I feel like working), I like to cover military art and the painters, illustrators, sculptors, photographers and the like that produced them.

Combat Gallery Sunday: The Martial Art of Ferdinand Petrie

Born in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1925,  Ferdinand Ralph Petrie completed his art training at thet Parsons School of Design and The Famous Artist School of Illustration. He also studied painting with Frank Reilly at The Art Students League in New York.

Following World War II service, he worked for 20 years in advertising agencies and studios in New York City, then began painting full time, specializing in pencil and watercolors.

In 1972, he opened his own studio in Rockport, Massachusetts and created a number of contemporary works.

#3 High Street

The Cove

It was during this time that he began a series of studies for the Navy and Coast Guard over more than a decade which inspire and endure.

USCG Icebreaker by Ferdinand Petrie (ID# 87136). The Coast Guard medium harbor tug SNOHOMISH (WYTM-98) on a search and rescue mission in floating ice off Rockland, MA. Snohomish was a 110-foot armed tug commissioned 24 January 1944 and served in the Boston Naval District in WWII. Peacetime service saw everything from busting poachers and drug runners to saving Gotham from her own trash during the garbage collection strike in 1980. Decommissioned 1986, she endured as a yacht and commercial vessel for another 20 years, dropping off the radar in 2005.

Drug Patrol Duty by Ferdinand Petrie (ID# 87942). A Coast Guardsman mans an M60 machine gun on board a cutter out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, keeping a suspected drug runner under close observation.

Snohomish by Ferdinand Petrie (ID# 88015). The CGC SNOHOMISH looms in the background as crew members of a 44- foot patrol boat wave in passing.

Learning the Art of Tying Knots by Ferdinand Petrie (ID# 90405). Two young “Coasties” practice the skill of tying knots.

Ready for Patrol Duty by Ferdinand Petrie (ID# 88329). MK2 Rick Cremean’s equipment for patrol duty consists of an M-16, a 45, life jacket, flashlight and handcuffs at Coast Guard Station, Gloucester, Mass.

USCGC Ocracoke (WPB-1307) by Ferdinand Petrie (ID # 90233). A law enforcement team from the Cutter Ocracoke boards a suspected drug-runner’s vessel, the Dealer’s Choice in the Caribbean. Ocracoke has chalked up a number of big busts on her yearly Florida-Gitmo deployments including3,771 pounds (1.9 tons) aboard the La Toto off the northwest coast of St. Croix in 1987

Search and Rescue on the Great Lakes by Ferdinand Petrie (ID# 89510). The Coast Guard Icebreaker SNOHOMISH prepares to cast off a small boat for a search and rescue mission an HH3F “Pelican” helicopter stands by to assist.

Ladies in Waiting by Ferdinand Petrie. Two small boats tied up at pier awaiting duty off Gloucester, Mass.

Getting Aboard from USCGC Ocracoke by Ferdinand Petrie. A law enforcement team from the Cutter Ocracoke boards a suspected drug-runner’s vessel, the Omiaria , in the Caribbean. A 110-foot Island-class patrol cutter, she was commissioned in 1986 and has spent her career based out of Portland, Maine, earning a fair bit of notoriety for rescuing the Canadian sailing ship Liana’s Ransom. She is still on active duty.

Ferdinand Petrie died in 2007 but he has several books penned in the 1990s in circulation on the subject of art with a few still in publication. His art is in the Smithsonian, the Coast Guard Museum in New London, and in the Navy Art Collection.

Thank you for your work, sir.