A Coast Guard Cutter Kimball crewmember observing a foreign vessel in the Bering Sea, September 19, 2022. (USCG Photo)
Looks like the frigate-sized (but not frigate-armed) USCGC Kimball (WMSL 756) has once again spotted another PLAN task group bumping around inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, which is legal of course since they were still far enough out to be in international waters, but is still kinda creepy.
As detailed by the USCG PAO:
The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (WMSL 756) detected three vessels approximately 124 miles north of the Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands, and an HC-130J aircrew from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak detected an additional vessel approximately 84 miles north of the Amukta Pass.
All four of the People’s Republic of China vessels were transiting in international waters but still inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the U.S. shoreline.
“The Chinese naval presence operated in accordance with international rules and norms,” said Rear Adm. Megan Dean, Seventeenth Coast Guard District commander. “We met presence with presence to ensure there were no disruptions to U.S. interests in the maritime environment around Alaska.”
The Chinese vessels responded to U.S. Coast Guard radio communication and their stated purpose was “freedom of navigation operations.” Coast Guard cutter Kimball continued to monitor all ships until they transited south of the Aleutian Islands into the North Pacific Ocean. The Kimball continues to monitor activities in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone to ensure the safety of U.S. vessels and international commerce in the area.
The Coast Guard, in coordination with U.S. Northern Command, was fully aware of and tracked the Chinese naval presence. In September of 2021 and 2022, Coast Guard cutters deployed in the Bering Sea also encountered Chinese surface action groups.
The Kimball patrolled under Operation Frontier Sentinel, a Coast Guard operation designed to meet presence with presence when strategic competitors operate in and around U.S. waters. The U.S Coast Guard’s presence strengthens the international rules-based order and promotes the conduct of operations in a manner that follows international norms.
Coast Guard Cutter Kimball is a 418-foot legend class national security cutter homeported in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Of course, this isn’t the first time the USCG, as mentioned above, has seen PLAN assets in local Alaska waters– remember the Navy has more or less pulled out of the area long ago, with the Dutch Harbor Naval Base shuttered in 1947 and Naval Air Facility Adak closed in 1997, leaving the Coasties to basically run point on the 49th state with the exception of the SEAFAC range and a USNR center in Anchorage.
However, the Coasties do this largely with cutters sent from the West Coast and Hawaii, as the only forward-deployed cutter in the region is the USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39), ex-USS Edenton (ATS-1), a 3,500-ton/18-knot circa 1968 British-built converted salvage ship that only carries a pair of 25mm guns and another pair of 50 calls.
Not a lot of muscle.
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley returns to homeport at Coast Guard Base Kodiak, Alaska, on Jan. 12, 2023, following an extended seven-month dry dock maintenance period in Seattle, Washington. Following its dry dock period, the Alex Haley will be able to continue operating as the Coast Guard’s primary asset in the Bering Sea with renewed and improved capabilities. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ian Gray
It would be nice if the USCG managed to order a 12th National Security Cutter to replace Haley, or even if the Navy managed to keep an ancient Tico around and station it in the region if nothing else than to serve as an old dog asleep on the porch that could bark whenever interlopers get too close to the fence. Leave it under Third Fleet control. Light up that big SPY radar every now and then. Fire off a few missiles every RIMPAC.
Heck, even RADM Robert “Fuzzy” Theobald’s Dutch Harbor-based Task Force Tare managed to scrape together five cruisers in June 1942.
Maybe start rotating 3-4 P-8 Poseidons at a time through Adak from the six active and one USNR squadrons at NAS Whidbey Island, at least during the summer months when the Chinese seem to be braving the Northern latitudes. It’s a concept the Pentagon looked at a couple years ago.
Anyway, putting away my Alaska soap box now.