Coast Guard SEALS

Back when I was writing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, I wrote about the first Coast Guardsmen to be admitted as candidates to become Navy SEALS.

Wondered what happened to all that in the year that I was away.


Turns out of 19 selected to what is unarguably the Armed Forces most grueling training, two made it in May after more than 18 months in intense training.

Both men became the first members of any other branch of the armed forces to become Navy SEALS. Three more members of the Coast Guard are in the pipeline to become SEALs.

A Coast Guard notice said:

For more than a year and a half, these Coast Guardsmen endured what many consider to be the most difficult training available in the Armed Forces. This includes, among other things, training in combat diving, demolitions, marksmanship, patrolling, cold weather survival, land warfare and parachute operations.

The two members – whose names are being withheld for security reasons – attended training as part of an historic Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2008 by the Commandant of the Coast Guard, the Chief of Naval Operations, and U.S. Special Operations Command. The MOU is scheduled to last for the next seven years, with the option to extend indefinitely if both services find value in the arrangement.

May be old news but I'm catching up. Like to follow up on what I've previously written.

Port Angeles Coast Guard first to arm helicopters

Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, the first Dolphin HH-65 helicopter unit in the nation to arm its helicopters, has completed its final training tests, CG District 13 headquarters announced.

The enhanced use of deadly force stems from demands for increased security after 9/11 to protect potential terror targets like bridges, ports and waterways, with large groups of people, after 9/11, the Coast Guard said in a press release. The helicopter's guns will not be used in routine law enforcement missions, Coast Guard officials said.

The Port Angeles aircrews who completed their final training tests last Thursday are "hand-selected, highly trained indivicuals specifically chosen for their maturity, judgement and sound decision making skills," the Coast Guard said in a press release.

The Coast Guard adds its aviation wing to the armed boats, cutters and maritime security boarding teams it already has.

Local Coast Guard officials said the Port Angeles air station crews have been conducting extensive land-based and open-ocean firing range training and hostile-boat intercept maneuvering drills since the initial phase of training began in the spring of 2008.

That was when the air station received upgraded MH-65C helicopters outfitted with M-14T rifles and M-240 machine guns.

By the way, you can download and watch a Coast Guard video of these aircrews in action, as an Astoria, Ore. MH-60 crew medevacks a sailor off of an unnamed, moving Navy submarine off the Washington Coast last Wednesday.

International humanitarian exercise underway in local waters

Our own Coast Guard District 13 this week is hosting Exercise Pacific Unity off Port Angeles and in Seattle this week, joined by various Coast Guards from nations around the North Pacific.

The exercise includes vessel from Japan, Russia and Canada, whils two members of the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum, China and South Korea, have sent observers.

Vessels, like the Russian Border Guard Vessel Vorovskiy, in the above Coast Guard photo taken while it was en route to the three-day exercise, will be coordinating search and rescue exercises, aids to navigation, law enforcement and security operations. Crews will have a chance to get together in some social and cultural activities as well, Coast Guard officials said.

Check out more info and photos at District 13s Web site.

Seafair Parade of Ships features first Coast Guard Legend-class cutter

The Everett-based guided-missile destroyers, USS Shoup and USS Momsen will arrive in Seattle's Elliott Bay on Tuesday to prepare to lead the Seafair fleet's "Parade of Ships" on Wednesday, among them the Coast Guard's newest and first "National Security Cutter."

The two Navy warships will be joined by the USCGC Bertholf based in San Francisco, and two Canadian vessels, HMCS Brandon and Nanaimo. The parade is expectd to sail past Pier 66 after 1:30 p.m.

It's a relatively small Seafair fleet compared to those of years past, but the ships are expected to attract crowds when they moor at Terminal 30 and open for visitors after the parade on Wednesday.

The Chief of Naval Operations and other Navy dignitaries are expected to be in Seattle for the parade.

The Shoup, named for former Marine Corps commandant Gen. David M. Shoup, who earned the Medal of Honor while leading Marines at Tarawa in WW II, is relatively new, having been commissioned in Seattle at Terminal 37 in 2002. It has been commanded since April 2008 by Cmdr. Michael J. Lehman, a 20-year Navy veteran whose first assignment was aboard the Everett-based aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

The newer USS Momsen, named for former Vice Adm. Charles B. Momsen of WW II fame, who also developed the submarine escape Momsen Lung breathing apparatus, was commissioned in 2004 in Florida. It is commanded by Cmdr. Robert W. Bodvake, a 19-year Navy veteran.

Each destroyer carries a crew of close to 275 sailors.

Both vessels, technically advanced Arleigh Burke-class modern guided missile destroyers, aren't the old "tin cans" of granpa's Navy.

When the first Arleigh Burke class destroyer was commissioned in 1991, the Navy says that at the time it was the most powerful surface combatant ship ever to put to sea. They are capable of carrying out air, surface and submarine warfare, but also in recent years have assisted in humanitarian missions.

Each ships' armament includes SM-2MR standard missiles, ASROC missiles; Tomahawk guided missiles; six MK-46 torpedoes; a close-in weapon system; a 5-inch MK 45 gun; an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile; and two LAMPS MK III MH-60 armed with Penguin/Hellfire missiles and MK 46/MK 50 torpedoes.

Meanwhile, USCGC Bertholf commissioned only last year, is the first of the Coast Guard's new Legend-class national security cutters. It is the first ship to be built under the Coast Guard's at times controversial "Deepwater" modernization program, and is designed to replace the aging 3780-foot high endurance Hamilton class cutters.

The cutter, named for former commandant Ellsworth Bertholf, who commanded the Revenue Service and Coast Guard, and who is known in large part for his Alaskan exploits.

The Bertholf, which carries more enhanced lifesaving and rescue capabilities, including two MH-65 C Dolphin helicopters, also has more firepower to interdict drug runners and potential national security threats.

It is the first Coast Guard cutter to use a Bofors 57 mm deck gun, a close-in weapons system, four 50 caliber machine guns, two M240B light machine guns, and countermeasures and an electronic warfare system. The cutter is also designed for better interopability with the Defense Department, advanced intelligence gathering sensors, and enhanced tracking system for rescues.

Tours will be available Thursday, July 30 through Saturday, Aug. 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and on Sunday, Aug. 2 from noon to 3:30 p.m. The ships are slated to leave next Monday around noon.

To learn more about Seafair events visit http://www.seafair.com.