Coast Guard Yard News

A new council aiming to improve the way U.S. government does business in ship acquisition and ship maintenance convened at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore on Thursday.In kicking off the inaugural meeting of the Government Shipbuilders Council (GSC), Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro underscored the council’s mission to address common and singular challenges among those that contract in shipbuilding; identify opportunities to leverage each organization’s resources to maximize government savings in costs…

The demand for warships is strong, and the Navy continues to receive support from the Congress to build more ships. The Navy is working to achieve a fleet of about 355 ships, plus a fleet of about 150 unmanned vesselsBut to achieve something close to that goal requires more than demand, and even more than money. For one thing, it requires an industrial base that can build, repair and sustain that fleet.While Navy leadership acknowledges the challenges of a stressed supply chain…

As a rudderless U.S. Navy debates maritime strategy, fleet futures and platform performance, America’s naval shipbuilding industry can look forward to another year of relative stasis.Barring a major geopolitical incident or unexpected maritime provocation, government shipbuilding isn’t going to change course. With Admiral Michael Gilday approaching the final “lame duck” year of his four-year term as Chief of Naval Operations and the 2024 election season looming, the prospect for major changes in the Navy’s demand signal seems limited.Aside from the U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard said its In-Service Vessel Sustainment (ISVS) Program has passed the halfway point in its effort to upgrade the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems on the service’s 140-foot bay-class icebreaking tugs.The HVAC upgrade on Coast Guard Cutter Katmai Bay was completed on June 1—20 days ahead of schedule—in Cheboygan, Mich., near the tug’s homeport of Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.Meanwhile, Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay arrived at Coast Guard Yard…

The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned its 47th Sentinel-class cutter, USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr. (WPC 1147), into service on ThursdayBuilt by Bollinger Shipyards and officially delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard on January 6 in Key West, Fla., Clarence Sutphin Jr. is Patrol Forces Southwest Asia's (PATFORSWA) sixth 154-foot Sentinel-class cutter.Vice Adm. Steven Poulin, U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area commander, presided over the commissioning ceremony at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.

The crew of the US Coast Guard Cutter James Rankin has finished replacing the summer buoys with seasonal winter buoys on the Chesapeake Bay, Md., Friday.Throughout the month of December the crew replaced 66 summer buoys and removed the Francis Scott Key buoy in preparation for the winter season. The seasonal buoys are kept in until late February or early March.Ice and snow have the potential to damage, displace and submerge the large summer buoys, which would leave the channel unmarked and could create a substantial hazard to mariners.

Even Mother Nature Can’t Dent the Enthusiasm at this Year’s MACC.Curtis Bay, MD: On the morning after the Baltimore, MD area received a record 3.5 inches of torrential rain in just 90 minutes, this year’s Multi-Agency Craft Conference (MACC) kicked off without a hitch at the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, MD. That may sound easy, but for those flying in Tuesday afternoon (or like myself, driving in through DC at exactly the moment that the George Washington Parkway flooded badly near the DCA Airport), it was touch and go.Although a proud (although badly aging) graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and a licensed mariner – Chief Mate (any gross tons) and a 1600 Ton Master – this officially was my first command at sea.

The 20-year-old U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Elm is scheduled to make its way to the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore this month for a planned major dry dock overhaul. The cutter’s departure from Atlantic Beach, N.C. will mark its last from its current homeport. After the overhaul work is completed, the Elm will report to a new homeport in Astoria, Oregon. Coast Guard Cutter Maple, which is presently undergoing a midlife overhaul of its own, will replace the Elm in Atlantic Beach this April.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kukui arrived at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, Feb. 21, 2017, to begin its midlife maintenance availability (MMA) as part of the In-Service Vessel Sustainment (ISVS) Program. The MMA work on the buoy tenders includes an overhaul of the deck equipment and weight handling gear, updates to the machinery control system and HVAC systems, topside preservation and a stability assessment. Kukui is the third of 16 225-foot seagoing buoy tenders to undergo MMA work through ISVS. Work on the first tender, Coast Guard Cutter Oak, was completed October 26, 2016.

BMT Designers & Planners, a subsidiary of BMT Group, an international maritime design, engineering and risk management consultancy, is leading the effort to repower the historic U.S. Coast Guard training barque, EAGLE. The $1.5M (approx.) project involves engineering, design, supply and logistics support to install a new MTU 8V4000 engine, ZF gearbox, propeller, automation system and other related components. While the vessel is frequently operated under sail by U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets…

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Matthew Lake assumed command of the U.S. Coast Guard Yard on July 1, 2016. He is the 42nd Commanding Officer in the 117-year history of the yard, the only shipbuilding and major ship repair facility of the U.S. Coast Guard. Captain Lake took charge from Captain George Lesher who served as Yard Commanding Officer from June 2013 to July 2016. Captain Lesher departed the yard to assume duties as the Ship Design Manager at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Plans for a second heavy icebreaker for service on the Great Lakes have taken another step toward reality with Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) including $2 million for initial survey and design work for a vessel that is at least as capable as the current icebreaker Mackinaw in the committee report on the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill. The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015 had previously authorized a new heavy icebreaker for Lakes service. Senator Baldwin’s…

Too few icebreakers and lack of a second Poe-sized lock threaten shipping on the Great Lakes and St. Insufficient U.S. and Canadian icebreakers and reliance on a single Poe-sized lock to connect Lake Superior to the Lower Lakes and Seaway threaten the future of shipping on America’s Fourth Sea Coast warns Great Lakes Maritime Task Force (GLMTF) in its 2015 Annual Report released today. “Another near arctic winter significantly impacted navigation, and then a 20-day closure of…

Coast Guard Cutter Morro Bay returned to homeport in Cleveland Tuesday following a 14-month service life extension project (SLEP) at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, the U.S. Coast Guard announced. SLEP is a major midlife overhaul which is expected to extend the cutter's service life 15 years. Morro Bay is one of nine 140-foot WTGB icebreaking tugs built between the late 1970s and early 1980s in Tacoma, Wash. Having served on the Great Lakes, mid-Atlantic and New England waterways for more than three decades, the WTGBs were due for a mid-life overhaul.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Craig J. Wieschhorster took command of the medium-endurance Cutter Mohawk during a ceremony Thursday at Coast Guard Sector Key West. Coast Guard Atlantic Area chief of staff, Capt. Doug Fears presided over the change of command ceremony as Wieschhorster relieved Cmdr. Adam B. Morrison of the duties and responsibilities as 14th commanding officer of the Cutter Mohawk. “Although I leave the Cutter Mohawk with a heavy heart,” said Morrison, “I have trust in Cmdr. Morrison was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal recognizing his service and performance of duty. During Morrison’s successful two-year command, Cutter Mohawk’s crew achieved a number of operational successes.

Cargo movement in U.S.-flag Great Lakes freighters (lakers) in March fell to its lowest level since 2009., the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) reported. Shipments totaled only 825,000 tons, a decrease of more than 60 percent compared to the month’s five-year average. Another brutal winter, coupled with a number of casualties to U.S. and Canadian icebreakers, slowed the resumption of navigation. A number of vessels delayed their fit-out because of the heavy ice. Only 26 U.S.-flag lakers were in service on April 1. In some years, nearly 50 hulls are underway by that date.

Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled just 800,000 tons in March, the lowest level for the month since 2010 and nearly 60 percent below the month’s five-year average, the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) reported. Heavy ice and lack of icebreaking resources on both sides of the border were the culprits,  according to  the LCA. “The winter of 2014/2015 was again brutal,” said James H.I. Weakley, President of Lake Carriers’ Association. “The ice formations were so formidable that a number of LCA’s members chose to delay getting underway rather than risk a repeat of last spring when ice caused more than $6 million in damage to the vessels. Compounding the problem is that both U.S. and Canadian icebreakers have experienced a number of mechanical issues. The Mackinaw, the U.S.

The ice that brought shipping on the Great Lakes to a virtual standstill last winter cost the economy more than $700 million and nearly 4,000 jobs and has prompted Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) to call for construction of a second heavy icebreaker to partner with the U.S. Coast Guard’s Mackinaw to keep the shipping lanes open in the harshest of conditions. The winter of 2013-14 was so brutal that U.S.-flag cargo movement between December 1, 2013 and May 30, 2014 to plummet nearly 7 million tons compared the same period in 2012-13, LCA reported.

The Wilmington, N.C.-based Cutter Diligence recently entered the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Yard in Curtis Bay, Md. for drydock availability. The 50-year-old medium endurance cutter will spend the next three months drydocked for approximately $2 million worth of “critical maintenance work,” the USCG said. Shortly after arriving in Curtis Bay, Diligence, a 210-foot medium endurance cutter permanently homeported in Wilmington, N.C. with a crew of approximately 70, was lifted out of the water on the Coast Guard Yard’s new synchronized lift platform drydock.

Senior leaders from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) signed a Fleet Plan and Officer Exchange memorandum of understanding Wednesday at a ceremony at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Charles Michel, deputy commandant for operations, and NOAA Vice Adm. Michael Devany, deputy under secretary for operations, were the signing officials for the joint letter of promulgation. The Coast Guard and NOAA have collaborated for more than 200 years.

Coast Guard Barque Eagle returned to New London, Conn. yesterday after spending the last three and a half months undergoing dockside maintenance and a foremast overhaul at the Coast Guard Yard facility in Baltimore. The Eagle will be inport in New London during February and early March conducting crew training and continuing all required annual maintenance. In mid-March, the Eagle will sail along the eastern seaboard conducting training for the Coast Guard and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Officer Candidates.

The Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, America's Tall Ship and seagoing classroom for future officers in training, is scheduled to arrive March 26 in Morehead City, N.C. From its homeport in New London, Conn., the cutter will sail along the eastern seaboard and transit through Morehead as part of its spring training for Coast Guard and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officer candidates. Eagle's spring deployment is the first underway training for 2014 after the cutter…

The seemingly glacial ice that brought shipping on the Great Lakes to a virtual standstill last winter cost the economy more than $700 million and nearly 4,000 jobs, the Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) reported, promting the group to to call for construction of a second heavy icebreaker to partner with the U.S. Coast Guard’s MACKINAW to keep the shipping lanes open in the harshest of conditions. According to LCA, the winter of 2013/2014 was so brutal that U.S.-flag cargo movement between December 1, 2013 and May 30, 2014, plummeted nearly 7 million tons compared the same period in 2012/2013.