The past year showcased the significant capabilities of the Coast Guard, as well as highlighted its challenges. Like the other services, the Coast Guard saw an uptick in national and international demand, carrying out missions from the Atlantic seafloor to the Indo-Pacific, from the Arctic to Maui—all while grappling with considerable personnel shortfalls. With new strategic initiatives on climate change, the Arctic, and uncrewed systems and new assets entering the acquisition pipeline, the Coast Guard is positioning itself for continued success.
Workforce
In her first “State of the Coast Guard Address,” Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan made the service’s workforce a top priority.1 “We must adapt to remain an employer of choice,” she said. To that end, she announced the creation of the Talent Management Transformation Task Force to “build the agile and integrated human resources structure we need to manage our workforce more creatively.”
The Coast Guard is facing a shortfall of some 3,500 people—about 10 percent of the enlisted workforce.2 Recognizing that the service cannot ask units to maintain full readiness with such shortfalls, leaders unveiled a plan in October to make temporary adjustments, including laying up three medium-endurance cutters and seven patrol boats and adjusting postures at several afloat and shore units.3
The service also beta tested the Advance to Position program, which gives qualified enlisted members the opportunity to fill vacant positions in the next higher paygrade, especially late in the assignment year or to fill offseason critical positions, and receive advancement to that paygrade. The program started with the boatswain’s mate and electronics technician ratings but has since expanded to include all ratings.
The Coast Guard also faces challenges recruiting for the Reserve. The Reserve Component Action Plan, released in March 2023, highlights issues from recruiting and talent management to aligning members to skills within the Reserve’s six missions. It is designed to provide reservists more flexibility as the demand for their services grows.
The service received national attention for the release of its Fouled Anchor report, detailing sexual misconduct at the Coast Guard Academy. In a 28 August letter to the entire service, Admiral Fagan addressed the issue head-on: “In some places in our Coast Guard, there is an unacceptable disconnect between the workplace experience we talk about and the experience our people are actually having. . . . It is revealed by reports of sexual assault, harassment, hazing, bullying, retaliation, discrimination, and other harmful workplace behaviors.” This disconnect “harms our people, erodes their trust in leaders, and undermines our ability to execute our missions.”4
The Commandant initiated a 90-day review “to assess the Service’s authorities, policies, processes, practices, resources, and culture” and plot a course forward. “We will match our commitment to operations in our commitment to a culture of respect,” she said.
Missions
Despite workforce challenges, the Coast Guard carried out its missions across the country and around the globe.
Search and Rescue
In February, crews from Station Cape Disappointment, the National Motor Lifeboat School, and the Advanced Rescue Helicopter School (ARHS) responded to a vessel in distress in the Columbia River Bar. As the surface assets were unable to safely approach the vessel in the 20-foot seas, Aviation Survival Technician Third Class (AST3) John Walton was lowered into the breaking surf. Recognizing a dangerous incoming swell, he stayed clear as the wave broke, capsized the vessel, and ejected the sole person on board into the icy water. Walton recovered the mariner, and the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter hoisted them to safety.5
AST3 Walton graduated from ARHS later that afternoon.
In June, the Coast Guard participated in the multinational search for the 21-foot Titan submersible and its five-member crew, who were diving to the wreck of the Titanic. The effort, conducted 900 miles east of Cape Cod, involved a search area twice the size of Connecticut. Ultimately, a subsurface search located the wreckage of the submersible approximately 500 meters off the bow of the Titanic. The Coast Guard established a Marine Board of Investigation to determine the cause of the casualty and is working closely with the U.S. and Canadian National Transportation Safety Boards, as well as French and U.K. marine authorities. Evidence recovery stretched well into October and was a combined effort with the Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving.
Another example of international cooperation in search and rescue (SAR)was the May–June case of a distressed solo ocean rower in the South Pacific. After fans on the individual’s Facebook page alerted authorities that he needed assistance, rescue coordination centers (RCCs) in New Zealand, Tahiti, Peru, and the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area (RCC Alameda) coordinated a search with nearby commercial vessels. After several days of searching, additional Personal Locator Beacon distress alerts were received, indicating a position more than 1,000 miles off the coast of Tahiti. The RCC in Tahiti requested assistance, and an HC-130 Hercules aircraft out of Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, was able to locate the rower and lower additional rescue and survival equipment. He was rescued the next day by the Baker Spirit, a commercial vessel participating in the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) system.6
This case is noteworthy because of the multiple frameworks and tools used to bring the mariner home: two international SAR conventions, seven international SAR agreements, and cooperation among six nations; seven commercial vessels participating in the AMVER system; the Coast Guard’s Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System; and the Global Maritime Distress Safety System and Cospas-Sarsat international satellite distress system.7
Emergency Response
On 8 August 2023, wildfires burned approximately 7,000 acres on the Island of Maui, killing 100 people and reducing most of the resort town of Lahaina to ash. On receiving notification from Maui Fire Department that approximately 100 people had entered the water to escape the fires, Coast Guard Sector Honolulu launched a mass rescue operation, diverted all available assets to assist—including the cutters Kimball (WMSL-756) and Joseph Gerczak (WPC-1126), an Air Station Barbers Point MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, and five good Samaritan commercial passenger vessels—and requested Navy MH-60 helicopter support. Throughout the night, Coast Guard Station Maui crews endured extreme heat, smoke, and weather to rescue 17 people from the water and assisted approximately 40 survivors ashore to emergency vehicles for evacuation.
Concurrent with these efforts, Sector Honolulu immediately began coordinating with Hawaii, Maui County, and other federal, state, and local partners for rescue, response, and recovery efforts. In the days immediately following, Maritime Safety and Security Team Honolulu, the cutters William Hart (WPC-1134) and Juniper (WLB-201), Regional Dive Locker Pacific, National Strike Force teams, and Coast Guard members from across the organization deployed to assist with SAR, maintain a five nautical mile safety zone, conduct pollution response and damage assessments, and liaise with partners to ensure a collaborative and coordinated response.
Sector Honolulu Commander Captain Aja Kirksey noted that the Coast Guard’s collaboration with partner agencies and the joining of resources, knowledge, and equipment amplified the impact of the response and maximized responder and public safety.
Marine Safety and Waterways
Offshore energy and the infrastructure above and below the water are critical to national resilience. The Coast Guard published a new Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular 02-23: Guidance on the Coast Guard’s Roles and Responsibilities for Offshore Renewable Energy Installations on the Outer Continental Shelf that updates Coast Guard organizational roles, reflects authority shifts from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and defines for developers which level of Coast Guard unit is responsible based on the stage of the leasing process.
Law Enforcement
The Coast Guard conducts its wide-ranging law enforcement operations both on the high seas and in port. Ashore, Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles–Long Beach led a multiagency strike force operation that resulted in 300 container inspections and 700 identification credential checks to ensure the safe transit of legitimate maritime commerce.
At sea, migrant interdiction continued to be a primary mission focus. Haitian migration continued a six-year uptick, alongside significant migration from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and other locations in the Caribbean. Under Homeland Security Task Force–Southeast and Operation Vigilant Sentry, Coast Guard and partner agencies rescued and repatriated more than 11,000 migrants between late 2022 and the first half of 2023. Direct actions, such as increasing the number of flights returning migrants to their origination countries, helped stem some of the flow. The migrants often attempt passage in overcrowded and unsafe watercraft, placing increasing demands on Coast Guard assets and crews to respond to critical life-safety incidents.
The Coast Guard continues to seize large quantities of illegal narcotics. Operating in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, the USCGC John Scheuerman (WPC-1146) seized hashish, heroin, and methamphetamines valued at $25 million in the Gulf of Oman while assigned to the French-led Combined Task Force 150.
Closer to U.S. shores, the USCGC Confidence (WMEC-619) off-loaded six tons of interdicted cocaine pier side in Florida, along with 17 suspected smugglers. Contributing to this impressive off-load were seizures by the USCGC Valiant (WMEC-621) and NATO vessels HNLMS Groningen and HMS Dauntless. Both NATO vessels had embarked Coast Guard law enforcement detachments.
In October, the cutter James (WMSL-754) off-loaded nearly $500 million in illegal narcotics interdicted during 13 separate cases. The seizures were the combined effort of the James and the cutters Thetis (WMEC-910), Vigilant (WMEC-617), and Valiant, Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Teams South and Pacific, the USS Farragut (DDG-99), the Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Operations aircrews, and Joint Interagency Task Force–South. Highlighting the partnerships that are crucial to such success, Captain Donald Terkanian, commanding officer of the James, noted “the immense support and dedication from our interagency and international partners.”
Partnerships
While the Coast Guard rarely completes a mission without some coordination with partner agencies, certain missions highlight its interoperability.
IUU Fishing
As competition for natural resources grows, so does the Coast Guard’s role in combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The service’s work in this area relies on strong international partnerships and cooperative agreements. Last year, the Coast Guard supported the new South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization in the eastern Pacific, with fixed-wing aircraft making overflights and the cutters Alder (WLB-216) and Terrell Horne (WPC-1131) conducting fisheries boardings off Peru and Ecuador.
Further to the west, the USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC-1140) conducted a 30-day patrol in support of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency’s Operation 365 and Operation Rematau to stop IUU fishing in the Pacific. During this period, the cutter patrolled 5,250 nautical miles, dedicating 23 days on scene within partner nations Republic of Palau and Federated States of Micronesia’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs). The cutter completed nine boardings on foreign-flagged fishing vessels under the authority of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, discovering 12 potential violations, and completed five bilateral boardings on foreign-flagged fishing vessels under the authority of the embarked Palauan ship-rider in Palau’s domestic fishing zone. These types of missions underscore the flexibility and multimission capacity of the fast-response cutters.
Defense and Theater Security
Another Pacific highlight was the historic October visit of the USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC-1143) to Tacloban, Philippines. A first for the Coast Guard, the visit occurred during the 79th anniversary of World War II’s Battle of Leyte Gulf. The cutter crew conducted cross-training with their Philippine counterparts and community engagement activities with schools and local government officials. The cutter’s patrol and port call were part of Operation Blue Pacific, which works to advance regional security, safety, and sovereignty across Oceania through strategic partnerships. Similar professional exchanges were held with the Philippine Coast Guard when the national security cutter Stratton (WMSL-752) visited Manila in March. This region continues to grow in importance because of the ongoing Chinese harassment of other nations’ vessels.
In the northern Pacific, the USCGC Kimball (WMSL-756) encountered seven Russian and Chinese ships operating in formation as a surface action group inside the U.S. EEZ. The Kimball patrolled the area and operated in vicinity of the nearby U.S. fishing fleet, “meeting presence with presence.” Working under Operation Frontier Sentinel, the cutter ensured there was no disruption or interference with U.S. sovereign rights, including commercial vessels engaging in fishing. The Kimball patrolled as Russian forces carried out military exercises and missile launches near the U.S. EEZ.
The USCGC Spencer (WMEC-905) deployed for 88 days to the U.S. Naval Forces Europe–Africa area of operations, supporting U.S. Sixth Fleet and Combined Task Force 65. While deployed, the cutter conducted multinational law enforcement operations in the Atlantic Ocean and participated in Exercise Obangame Express 2023 with the U.S. Navy and 17 West African partners. She also interdicted a Brazilian sailing vessel carrying 3,040 kilograms of cocaine valued at more than $109 million.
Other notable defense operation events included the “casing of the colors,” as Port Security Unit 305 concluded the final maritime antiterrorism/force protection deployment to Naval Base Guantanamo Bay. The ceremony marked the end of a 21-year mission in support of Joint Task Force Guantanamo.
The Coast Guard also signed a new memorandum of agreement with the Royal New Zealand Navy, enhancing operability with this trusted partner and enabling the exchange of military personnel for joint service objectives. The initial two exchanges on the Stratton and medium icebreaker Healy (WAGB-20)were highly successful.
Polar
Beginning in June, the Healy deployed to carry out a series of research activities benefiting the international scientific community. Beginning with a month in the Beaufort Sea, she worked with the Office of Naval Research on the Arctic Mobile Observing System to develop technologies to enable continuous, long-term scientific observations of the Arctic marine environment.
Following a port call in Kodiak, Alaska, to swap science parties, the cutter again went north, into the East Siberian Sea, to tend to nine scientific moorings in the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System. Part of a National Science Foundation effort, these moorings give insight into how water from the Atlantic Ocean is introduced into the Arctic and help develop an understanding of water circulation in the region. The interagency science party carried out a wide array of work, including atmospheric assessment and monitoring on behalf of NASA and the European Space Agency, crew-endurance research with the Naval Postgraduate School, and machine learning and computer vision work with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory. The science team and crew also investigated high-latitude SAR distress communications and participated in an international SAR exercise with the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel Svalbard.
Following six weeks transiting the Arctic, the Healy pulled into Tromsø, Norway, where Captain Michelle Schallip, the chief scientist, and one of the Norwegian Coast Guard exchange officers spoke with the media. While there, the Coast Guard Research and Development Center led a scientific roundtable, and the Coast Guard welcomed visitors from a variety of U.S. and Norwegian institutions with interests in Arctic science. During a port call in Reykjavik, Iceland, the Healy hosted several distinguished guests, and Captain Schallip provided insight into Arctic operations while on a panel at the Arctic Circle Forum.
The USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) completed a 144-day deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2023—the U.S. fleet’s 26th journey to resupply the U.S. Antarctic stations in support of the National Science Foundation. The Polar Star traveled more than 25,000 miles through the north and South Pacific and the Indian, Southern, and south Atlantic Oceans, including stops in four continents. In November, the Polar Star departed for the 27th southbound journey in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2024.
The cutter also underwent the third of five planned phases of her service life extension program, to replace “obsolete, unsupportable, or maintenance intensive equipment.”
Tomorrow Looks Different
In 2023, the Coast Guard promulgated new strategy documents, hit major milestones in acquisitions, including christening the first offshore patrol cutter, and made significant technological advancements to improve mission performance and crew resilience.
Strategy and Initiatives
In January, the service released its first-ever Climate Framework to acknowledge the challenges of climate change and provide guidance relating to its impact. Based on the output of the Project Evergreen workshops, hosted by the Office of Strategic Planning, the Research and Development Center, and the Coast Guard Academy, the framework addresses resiliency in the Coast Guard workforce, infrastructure, and assets; planning for more frequent and significant weather emergencies; and working closely with partner agencies to promote a whole-of-society approach.
The Unmanned Systems Strategic Plan, released in March, lays out a plan to capitalize on the operational advantages of unmanned systems, prepare for the threats they may pose, and position their regulation in the maritime environment. Tying in with the plan, the 2023 Evergreen workshop focused on autonomy and brought together thought leaders from the federal government, research and academic communities, and industry to examine how the landscape will change over the next 10–50 years and what the Coast Guard can do now to prepare for that evolving future.
In October, the Arctic Strategic Outlook Implementation Plan was released. The plan supports the 2022 National Strategy for the Arctic Region and outlines actions the service should take to advance safety, sovereignty, and stewardship in the Arctic. As the nation’s leading surface presence in the Arctic, the Coast Guard is a key partner on the national and international stage for Arctic operations, cooperation, and research.
Assets and Acquisitions
This past year was remarkable for new construction and recapitalization. The service continues to commission fast-response cutters—the 154-foot multimission Sentinel class—with the 54th hull, the USCGC William Sparling (WPC-1154), commissioned on 19 October. These ships are far more capable than the patrol boats they are replacing, and that added functionality is helping the service reenvision how it uses its smallest white hulls.
The Coast Guard deployed fast-response cutters for migrant and drug interdiction, domestic fisheries enforcement, and IUU fishing patrols beyond the reach and endurance of the older 87-foot and 110-foot patrol boats. These cutters also have been great tools in expanding international training missions to improve the capabilities of partners and allies.
Farther inland, the service continues to pursue the waterways commerce cutter (WCC) to replace the current river tenders, some of which are more than 70 years old. These vessels play a critical role in the recovery of the Maritime Transportation System following storms such as Hurricane Katrina and in many cases are the only Coast Guard presence along the western rivers of the United States. The service has awarded the first WCC construction contract, which includes 16 river buoy tenders and 11 inland construction tenders. These new vessels will serve the nation’s vital inland waterway system.
Significant headway also was made on acquisitions of major cutters, including the national security cutters and offshore patrol cutter. In October, Ingalls Shipyard delivered the 10th national security cutter, the Calhoun (WMSL-759), named after the first Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard. October also saw the launch and christening of the first offshore patrol cutter, Argus (WMSM-915).
Technology
The Coast Guard continues to embrace advanced technologies to improve mission performance and decision-making. At the 2023 Sea-Air-Space exposition in Washington, D.C., the service briefed on the future of maritime domain awareness and the systems, assets, and tools that will help realize that future. Tying to the unmanned systems strategy, a primary focus of the brief was Project Minerva and the service’s effort to unite people, assets, systems, and data in new ways to create a more agile force. Minerva is helping drive the Coast Guard toward a new operational data ecosystem that will help deliver the right information, to the right user, at the right classification, at the right time, via the right route, for the right reason, on the right device.
The Office of Data and Analytics (CG-ODA) celebrated its first anniversary in August 2023, marking a year of significant progress in advancing data management, integration, and artificial intelligence (AI) for the service. CG-ODA has established data as a technical domain, emphasizing governance, analytics, and innovation as the service continues to recognize the criticality of data and computational tools such as AI in informing decisions and modernizing workflows.
To develop the data and AI workforce, CG-ODA identified five new competencies: data analyst, data scientist, data engineer, AI/machine-learning specialist, and data steward. In addition, with the C5I Service Center, it has been working to ready the Coast Guard’s cloud and analytics platform for deployment. The new platform, called SURVEYOR, will help the service recognize the capabilities of modern tools and analytics.
A key enabler to the future operational data ecosystem—reliable and high-bandwidth underway connectivity—took a significant step forward in 2022 when the Coast Guard Research and Development Center partnered with the Air Force Research Laboratory to place Starlink commercial satellite communication capability on board the Healy for a limited user availability test. Following this successful evaluation, the service is now installing Starlink on national security cutters, the icebreaking fleet, medium-endurance cutters, offshore buoy tenders, fast-response cutters, and even the training barque Eagle (WIX-327).
Eagle commanding officer Captain Jessica Rozzi-Ochs spoke to the system’s robustness: “Starlink has seamless transition from satellite to satellite, unlike the legacy system, which drops service while it looks for and tracks a new satellite. This was particularly impressive when we experienced heavy weather (20+ foot seas, hard rain, 40–50 knots of wind) and Starlink didn’t go down once.”8
This technology is improving mission performance, supporting functionality, and improving shipboard crews’ ability to stay in touch with family and loved ones while far from shore, which could improve recruitment and retention.
Final Note
The service presented two posthumous purple hearts in March. Captain Michael Kahle, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, presented the awards to the families of James Frost and Angus Nelson MacLean. Both were lost in the sinking of the cutter Tampa during World War I—the service’s single largest loss of life. The Tampa was sunk by a German U-boat while on convoy duty in the Bristol Channel, with the loss of 111 Coast Guard members and four Navy sailors.
1. ADM Linda Fagan, USCG, “State of the Coast Guard 2023,” 8 March 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckhUJAc_5i8.
2. Heather Mongilio, “Coast Guard Short 3,500 Personnel in FY2023, Fagan Says,” USNI News, 18 October 2023.
3. A. J. Pulkkinen, “Coast Guard Adjusts Operations to Mitigate 2024 Workforce Shortage, MyCG, 31 October 2023.
4. ADM Linda Fagan, USCG, “Commandant’s Letter to the Workforce,” 28 August 2023, www.mycg.uscg.mil/News/Article/3505881/commandants-letter-to-the-workforce/.
5. U.S. Coast Guard News, “Coast Guard Rescues Mariner in Distress as Wave Capsizes Vessel Near Mouth of Columbia River,” 3 February 2023.
6. Mike Schuler, “Solo Rower Rescued by Tanker in the South Pacific,” gCaptain, 22 June 2023.
7. NOAA SARSAT, “Cospas-Sarsat System Overview,” www.sarsat.noaa.gov/cospas-sarsat-system-overview/.
8. A. J. Pulkkinen, “The Coast Guard Is Investing in Underway Connectivity . . . and It’s Paying Off,” MyCG, 16 August 2023.
