Lundquist, Edward
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11 Jul 2025
Whatever the Mission, the Coast Guard’s Got a Boat for It
The Coast Guard (including its heritage services) have employed boats since the beginning. Boats are just as important, if not more so, than ever.America’s first “boat force” came about in 1878, with the creation of the United States Life Saving Service (USLSS), whose boat crews rescued mariners in distress along the nation’s coast line. In 1915, the USLSS merged with the United States Revenue Cutter Service (established in 1790) to form the modern-day United States Coast Guard.
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03 Jul 2025
US Navy: Big or Small, Boats are Indispensable to the USN
For the U.S. Navy, boats perform missions from mundane maintenance chores such as hull scraping and cleaning overboard discharges to clandestine special forces insertion and extraction. Some boats are about as basic as you can imagine, and some are equipped with sophisticated combat systems and weapons. Big or small, they all perform indispensable tasks for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.Boats that are carried on and launched from ships are referred to as “shipboard boats…
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11 Feb 2025
Aiviq becomes USCGC Storis, to be based in Juneau
![The Coast Guard on Dec. 20 completed acceptance of the motor vessel Aiviq from an Edison Chouest Offshore subsidiary. The vessel, acquired Dec. 11 through a $125 million firm fixed-price contract award to Offshore Service Vessels of Cut Off, Louisiana, will enhance U.S. operational presence in the Arctic and support Coast Guard missions while awaiting delivery of the polar security cutter (PSC) class.) [Credit: Edison Chouest Offshore]](https://images.marinelink.com/images/maritime/w300h200c/the-coast-guard-on-dec-156960.jpg)
The Coast Guard gets its first new polar icebreaker in more than 25 years.The Coast Guard has accepted its first new polar icebreaker in more than 25 years, but it’s not really new. The 12,900-ton, 360-foot Anchor Handling Tug Support Ship (AHTS) Aiviq was acquired by the Coast Guard and renamed USCGC Storis (WAGB 21).According to a Coast Guard statement, “On Nov. 20, the Coast Guard purchased the M/V Aiviq…
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20 Jan 2025
Ship Conversion: USS Zumwalt Modified for Hypersonic Missiles
What has been described as the most transformational warship in the U.S. Navy has been transformed again. USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) recently completed modifications to remove her main guns and replace them with a hypersonic missile capability. The work to have her guns removed to make space for new weapons was conducted at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. With the modifications, Zumwalt now…
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20 Nov 2024
Swedish, U.S. Marines Team @ Exercise Archipelago Endeavor 2024
Swedish and U.S. Marines gathered in Sweden’s rocky coastal archipelago to improve their littoral warfighting skills and enhance interoperability during Exercise Archipelago Endeavor 2024 (AE 24).“This is an annual exercise between Sweden and U.S., and it is the seventh time we conducted it, but it's the first time that we conducting the exercise as an ally. Before that, we have conducted the exercise as a partner,” said Lt. Col.
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06 Nov 2024
MSC’s Taluga Group Envisions Maritime Logistics Differently
As the Military Sealift Command (MSC) celebrates its 75th anniversary, it is looking to the future through the eyes of a forward-thinking “innovation cell” named for a ship from its storied past. USNS Taluga (T-AO-62) was the first Navy replenishment ship that was operated by civil service mariners.The Taluga Group is a three-person team of Director John Bruening, Dean Vesely and Jerit VanAuker who…
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04 Nov 2024
EUREKA! High-Speed AIRCAT SES for Military Missions
Eureka Naval Craft is introducing its suite of high-speed AIRCAT (air cushion catamarans) surface effect ships (SES), already in use with the offshore energy industry, to the defense market.According to Bo Jardine, CEO of Eureka Naval Craft, a newly formed U.S.-based naval defense company, the versatile suite of AIRCAT naval vessels can serve as a patrol craft, rescue craft, medical evacuation vessels…
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30 Jul 2024
Inside the USN's Maritime Expeditionary Security Force
The Navy’s Maritime Expeditionary Security Force (MESF) operates ashore, at sea and in the waters of harbors, rivers, bays and across the littorals to conduct maritime security operations across all phases of military operations by providing port and harbor security and high-value asset security inland, on coastal waterways, and ashore.According to Lt. Cmdr. Kara Handley, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command spokesperson…
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24 Jun 2024
Navy Combat Craft - Boats Evolve to Keep Pace with Threats
Combat craft are used by both large and small navies, and every navy, coast guard or maritime service operates some kind of boats.The U.S. Navy’s boats are used for a variety of tasks from personnel and cargo transport to ship repair and maintenance to environmental response.The combat craft range from pull sized patrol boats down to ridged-hull inflatable boats (RIBs) armed with machine guns. Boats include shipboard RIBs…
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13 May 2024
Workshop to Examine Baltic Sea's Operational and Geopolitical Challenges
Experts to convene in Poland to examine operational and geopolitical challenges in Baltic Sea at Littoral OpTech WorkshopThe Polish Naval Academy in Gdynia, Poland will host the 2024 Littoral OpTech workshop to explore the current trends regarding the operational, economic and geo-political environment in and around the Baltic Sea.The Polish Naval Academy was established in 1922, and has been in continuous operation since then…
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25 Apr 2024
Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck: MSC Needs More Mariners, New Ships
Founded as the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) and renamed Military Sealift Command in 1970, MSC today not only support the Navy, but we are the Department of Defense's provider of all sealift. Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently interviewed Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, U.S. Navy, for insights on the service today and it’s needs to grow in the future.What makes MSC so vital to the…
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28 Dec 2023
USCG's New Cutters Can’t Arrive Soon Enough
The much-needed replacement for the U.S. Coast Guard’s long-serving medium endurance cutters (WMEC) took a giant step closer to joining the fleet as the first Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) was launched and christened at Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) in Panama City, Fla. on October 27, 2023.The future USCGC Argus (WMSM 915) was christened by the ship’s sponsor, Captain (Ret.) Beverly Kelley, the first woman to command a U.S.
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14 Aug 2023
Commercial Fishing on the Great Lakes is a Family Affair
Although the number of fishermen who make a living on the waters of the Great Lakes is much diminished from a half century ago, the region's commercial whitefish fishery continues to be viable and profitable.Henriksen Fisheries is one of about a dozen commercial entities in the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan, focused on trap netting whitefish in Green Bay and the waters surrounding the Door Peninsula.Charlie…
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27 Jul 2023
Crossing Death's Door Daily
Washington Island Ferry Line (WIFL) has been the essential link between the residents, business and visitors of Washington Island and Wisconsin's Door Peninsula for more than eight decades.Picturesque and peaceful Door County isn't named for some intrepid settlers named Door. The name has a more ominous meaning. It's derived from the treacherous passage between the peninsula and Washington Island that mariners called Porte des Mortes…
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19 Jul 2023
The Need for [U.S. Navy Shipbuilding] Speed
The Navy wants, and needs, more ships; but it can’t build them fast enough.While the U.S. Navy aims to achieve a 355-ship fleet, it is decommissioning older (and some not so old) ships at about the same rate it's adding new ones.A Congressional Research Service report stated that, as of April 17, 2023, the Navy included 296 battle force ships. "The Navy projects that under its FY2024 budget submission…
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08 Jun 2023
America's Sea Services Building Large Fleet of Small Ships and Craft
Not every vessel in the U.S. Navy is built for major combat operations on the high seas. There are large numbers of boats and service craft that provide essential services to the sea services, the nation and its partners.The U.S. Navy procures about 100 small boats per year. Some of these boats are based on commercial designs, procured to a Navy developed specification that tailors the requirements to the end user needs.
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23 May 2023
Strategically Located, Guam's Defense Posture is Growing
With the rise of China and her global ambitions, the military importance of Guam in the Indo-Pacific theater has become apparent. The force levels on the island had drawn down from a peak of about 26,000 at the height of the Vietnam War to a tenth of that—just 2,500 people in the early 2000s. Today, that's changing. Guam's defense posture is growing.Guam's proximity to major population centers in East Asia underscores its strategic importance.
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08 Feb 2023
The U.S. Navy Needs More Ships, Encourages Industry to "Pick up the Pace"
The demand for warships is strong, and the Navy continues to receive support from the Congress to build more ships. The Navy is working to achieve a fleet of about 355 ships, plus a fleet of about 150 unmanned vesselsBut to achieve something close to that goal requires more than demand, and even more than money. For one thing, it requires an industrial base that can build, repair and sustain that fleet.While Navy leadership acknowledges the challenges of a stressed supply chain…
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26 Jan 2023
3D Printing: Navy Builds Up Additive Manufacturing on Ships
The U.S. Navy has long valued the potential of additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D Printing.AM refers to the depositing of material layer by layer to create an object. For the Navy, it’s not practical to carry every replacement part for every system on a ship, and it can be difficult to forecast if or when parts will fail. AM provides a flexible source of supply in being able to make parts instead of ordering them and waiting for them to arrive…
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29 Dec 2022
The More ‘Eyes On The Water’, The Better
Manama, Bahrain -- Advancing maritime domain awareness in the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. Fifth Fleet area of responsibility (AOR) is a challenging task. Yet keeping the sea lanes open is critical for the region, for the U.S. and the world.U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), U.S. Fifth Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) are all headquartered here in Bahrain, under the command of Vice Admiral Brad Cooper. U.S. Fifth Fleet oversees the operations for all U.S.
