Amerikansk kustbevaknings kutter fattade eld i västra Stilla Havet

[Perman]

Amerikanska kustbevakningens fartyg USCGC Waesche fattade eld den 19 sept när hon befann sig i västra Stilla havet. Branden varade i 1,5 tim och fem besättningsmedlemmar fick lätta skador. Den klassificeras som en “shipboard engineering fire”, och verkar ha uppstått i eller i närheten av skorstenen. Fartyget lyckades ta sig till hamnen i Yokosuka, Japan.

 

Check Out These Dramatic Photos Of The Recent Fire Aboard Coast Guard Cutter Waesche

 

/Per

Edited September 29, 2020 by Perman

[vikingman]

1 hour ago, Perman said:

Amerikanska kustbevakningens fartyg USCGC Waesche fattade eld den 19 sept när hon befann sig i västra Stilla havet. Branden varade i 1,5 tim och fem besättningsmedlemmar fick lätta skador. Den klassificeras som en “shipboard engineering fire”, och verkar ha uppstått i eller i närheten av skorstenen. Fartyget lyckades ta sig till hamnen i Yokosuka, Japan.

 

Check Out These Dramatic Photos Of The Recent Fire Aboard Coast Guard Cutter Waesche

 

/Per

Citat: The Waesche departed Alameda on August 22 for its patrol of the Western Pacific. According to the Coast Guard, it was in the region “to engage in professional exchanges and capacity-building exercises with partner nations.” 

Det är ju inte precis hemmavatten för US Coast Guard. Känns märkligt att skicka fartyget så långt? Har US Coast Guard verkligen kapacitet och pengar att delta i sådana här övningar långt borta?

Visserligen har de väl Guam att övervaka.

Edited September 29, 2020 by vikingman

[Perman]

US Coast Guard har under efterkrigstiden ofta använts för att stödja US Navys operationer. Kustbevakningsfartyg kan uppträda i omtvistade farvatten utan att kanske provocera på samma sätt som örlogsfartyg. Även under Vietnamkriget så deltog den amerikanska kustbevakningen och stödde flottans operationer.

 

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With a range of 12,000 nautical miles, the vessel can support U.S. Navy operations in the wider Indo-Pacific region, where the Waesche comes under the tactical control of the Seventh Fleet, which is headquartered at Yokosuka. In a statement, the Coast Guard said that the cutter had been underway on “routine presence operations in support of the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific."

 

The Waesche departed Alameda on August 22 for its patrol of the Western Pacific. According to the Coast Guard, it was in the region “to engage in professional exchanges and capacity-building exercises with partner nations.” 

 

In addition, in the past year or so, Coast Guard cutters have been increasingly assisting with other missions in the Western Pacific. In 2019, the Waesche’s sister ships USCGC Bertholf and Stratton spent 326 days between them monitoring and gathering intelligence on vessels conducting ship-to-ship transfers in the East China, South China, and Yellow Seas to skirt sanctions on North Korea. The Bertholf was also involved in transitting through the Taiwan Strait in April 2019, together with the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur.

 

 

Framför allt är det kustbevakningens High Endurance cutters som används och som har använts för att stödja flottan. De nya kuttrarna av Legend klassen benämns nu National Security Cutter och i kraven så ingick:

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"environmental protection, search and rescue, fisheries protection, PWCS (Ports, waterways, and coastal security), counter-terrorism activities, law enforcement, drug interdiction, defense operations, and other military/naval operations, including assigned naval warfare tasks with the U.S. Navy".

 

Man la även till att fartygen skulle klara vissa ytterligare försvarsuppgifter:

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These cutters are envisioned by the Coast Guard as being able to undertake the entire range of the high endurance cutter roles with additional upgrades to make it more of an asset to the Department of Defense during declared national emergency contingencies. To facilitate intercept missions, the Legend class can carry and launch both the Short Range Prosecutor and the Long Range Interceptor rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs). The cutters are configured to be able to survive in Low Threat Environments, factors of which include an enemy having a poorly equipped military, some coastal patrol craft, and few to none anti-ship cruise missiles. Operations in this environment can also be general defense operations including theater security, port protection, ship escort, anti-piracy, and maritime interception operations. The cutters can also survive in Medium Threat Environments, which can include a fairly well equipped military of ships and aircraft with weapons and radar coverage well offshore, higher numbers of anti-ship cruise missiles and a possible submarine threat. Operations in this threat environment could include defense operations, naval surface fire support, and the evacuation of non-combatants. The cutters are not expected to survive in a high threat environment with their current configuration.

 

Man har tidigare under en period t o m bestyckat Hamilton klassen med sjöroboten Harpoon och man skulle kunna göra det igen:

 

 

Coast Guard Cutters Once Carried Harpoon Anti-Ship Missiles And They Could Again
 

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Coast Guard ships are deployed around the globe, from the volatile Persian Gulf to the disputed waters of the South China Sea to the very tense Taiwan Strait, to execute higher-end missions sometimes alongside their more heavily armed U.S. Navy counterparts. As so-called "great power competition" among peer state adversaries heats up, the Coast Guard is getting called on to fill more of these types of missions traditionally executed by Navy surface combatants.

 

 

US Coast Guard har också nyligen beslutat att basera tre av sina nya Fast Response Cutters på Guam för att stödja små önationer och som ett svar på Kinas uppträdande i regionen. Det verkar som om man har snabbat på detta eftersom ett fartyg redan har anlänt.

 

Coast Guard planning to base three fast-response cutters on Guam, commandant says

 

/Per

Edited September 30, 2020 by Perman