Shift The Coast Guard to DoD

The Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard (TTCG), commanded by Captain (Naval) Hayden Pritchard, is the largest naval force in the English-speaking Caribbean. It is the maritime component of the Trinidad

and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF), which is under the auspices of the Ministry of National Security headed by retired Major General Edmund Dillon. Minister Dillon assumed his post on 9 September 2015.

Although the TTDF was founded in August 1962 after Trinidad and Tobago achieved full independence from the United Kingdom, the service did not receive its first vessels until 20 February 1965, when it commissioned the TTS Trinity (CG-1) and TTS Courland Bay (CG-2). Both ships were 103-foot Vosper patrol boats displacing 123 tons.

According to the TTCG, its mission is “to defend the sovereign good of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and to provide, on a continuous basis, quality service for security and safety within its maritime boundaries and in any other area of responsibility agreed to by the state to fulfill its international obligation.” The Caribbean Institute for Security and Public Safety reports the TTCG has an end-strength of 1,400 personnel and is multimission like the U.S. Coast Guard, performing the following roles:

Surveillance of waters under Trinidad and Tobago jurisdiction

Logistical support to Trinidad and Tobago land forces

Port security

Assistance in scientific research

Aid to civil law enforcement

Anti-smuggling and counternarcotic operations

Fisheries protection and enforcement

Pollution surveillance and enforcement

Safety of shipping

Today, the TTCG is headquartered at the Coast Guard Base in Staubles Bay, Chaguaramas, and is a valuable partner to the Army National Guard, the U.S. Special Operations Command, and the U.S. Coast Guard. For example, the TTCG is an active participant with the TTDF in the National Guard Bureau’s highly successful State Partnership Program between the Delaware Army National Guard and the TTDF. It also participated in a Joint Combined Exchange Training exercise with U.S. Special Operations forces from 20 to 27 September 2016.

Unfortunately, like the U.S. Coast Guard, the TTCG has experienced decades of chronic underfunding. According to an August 2016 report from the nonpartisan Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses that is funded by the Indian Ministry of Defence, “Not a single new-build patrol vessel was acquired [by the TTCG] between 1980 and 2009.” In addition, the few remaining small craft in the TTCG’s fleet during this period of decay and neglect were better suited for a maritime museum than patrolling Trinidad and Tobago’s maritime borders. In fact, the TTCG’s readiness crisis was so severe in 2013 that most of its platforms were not mission ready.

However, help would be soon on the way. On 14 May 2015, the TTCG ordered 12 vessels from the Damen shipyard in Gorinchem, Netherlands:

4 Damen Stan Patrol 5009 coastal patrol vessels

2 Damen Fast Crew Supply 5009 utility vessels

6 Damen Interceptor DI 1102 interceptor boats

The final two ships of this package, the TTS Moruga (CG-27) and TTS Carli Bay (CG-28), entered service in the TTCG on 19 December 2016 after a history-making voyage. According to the Trinidad Express newspapers, “Lieutenant Commander Kele-Ann Bourne of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard became the first female naval captain in the southern Caribbean to cross the Atlantic [as commanding officer of the TTS Carli Bay].”

The delivery of these platforms already has enhanced the TTCG’s ability to carry out its missions in the maritime domain, much to the dismay of the transnational criminal organizations that use Trinidad and Tobago’s maritime domain for their own purposes. This new fleet of platforms also will enhance the TTCG’s partnerships with other navies and coast guards from around the globe.