The U.S. Coast Guard will welcome the largest ship renewal since World War II, with a focus on overseas missions

The Surging News reporter Nan Boyi intern Wei Yuqi

The U.S. Coast Guard will welcome a large number of new ships to further enhance its strength.

U.S. Coast Guard Commander Carl Schultz said at the Navy's Annual Symposium last week at the Naval Surface Ship Association's annual symposium that the Coast Guard will usher in the largest ship update since World War II, the U.S. Naval Association News Network reported on Jan. 16.

New U.S. Coast Guard patrol vessel.

Schultz said the Coast Guard is in a period of rapid expansion, and a number of shipbuilding programs will usher in the final result. The Coast Guard's first offshore patrol vessel is said to be about 60 percent complete, with two ships of the same class to follow. The offshore patrol ship, the Coast Guard's most important shipbuilding project in recent years, will be used to replace medium-sized patrol ships, filling the gap between national security ships operating on the high seas and fast-reacting ships operating in offshore areas.

The Coast Guard's tenth national security vessel, the Calhoun, will be completed and launched in May for high seas and ocean-going missions. The Coast Guard is also building its first heavy icebreaker in decades, and Schultz said it will continue to push ahead this year with a shipbuilding plan that will eventually equip six icebreakers.

The U.S. Coast Guard was also granted permission to build its 45th rapid-response ship last October. Under existing plans, the force will have a total of 64 rapid-reaction ships, of which 58 are for domestic missions and 6 for overseas missions.

Finally, Schultz said the changes in the fleet structure reflect changes in mission requirements and that the Coast Guard is increasingly working with other countries on missions overseas.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is the sixth largest armed force in the United States after the Army, Air Force, Navy, Space Force, and Marine Corps, and is primarily responsible for law enforcement, soil and water security, and rescue missions in U.S. coastal waterways. At present, the U.S. Coast Guard currently has a strength of about 41,000 people, equipped with nearly 2,000 ships and more than 200 aircraft. Because of its size and strength far exceeding that of most of the world's navies, the U.S. Coast Guard is also known as the "Second Navy" of the United States.

Editor-in-Charge: Xie Ruiqiang

Proofreader: Shi Gong