USCGC JARVIS WHEC 725
WPB 110 feet Island Class Cutter:Our source advised that the Nigerian Navy steer clear of these ones
Beegeagle’s Blog, on account of revelations made available through impeccable back channel communication, can authoritatively reveal that the Nigerian Navy have now formally lodged a request for the transfer of the soon-to-be-decommissioned Hamilton-class ship, the USCGC JARVIS. The 115 metre 3,250 ton vessel is said to be “95% certain to be decommissioned in December 2012″.
Nigeria was one of four countries, alongside Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Morocco which have lately expressed interest in the Excess Defense Article, USCGC JARVIS. In this apparently annual exercise by the US State Department, in conjunction with the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, “a list of potential EDAs is circulated for interest”. Countries that express interest get screened, and then there is an “Allocation” process.
In a related development, a total of 8 countries, have also expressed interest in the 34 metre WPB 110 patrol boats due to be decommissioned from service this year.
Our source indicates that the 110ft cutters are clearly used up and not worth the trouble for Nigeria. It was however not clear if Nigeria put in a bid for any of the WPB little ships. The Nigerian Navy would be well advised to steer clear of the 110ft cutters.
Further findings indicate that the USCGC JARVIS is currently homeported in Honolulu, Hawaii, but will be transferred to California. She’ll be decomissioned in December 2012, but the transfer to a foreign end-user is not expected to happen earlier than March, and most likely in May/June of 2013.
We could definately do with one more WHEC. I assume the WPB 110 ft Patrol boats you mentioned are the ones based on the Royal Navy’s River Class OPV.
I feel like it’s been 6 months or more since I implored our authorities via this blog, to ramp up our lobbying for this ship and other EDA’s.
Let’s hope we didn’t enter the sweepstake too late.
oga doziex
maybe someone is listening to you afterall who know my future defense minister!
Ha Ha , Oga engineer, na wa o, if they were listening to all my pleas/insults/cajooling, I may have to tip toe into naija, when next I visit.
OH BOY YOU GO NEED DISGUISE AS AMERICAN GOING BACK BACK TO AFRICA HEH HE
We need da WHEC urgently considering we Need an OzpV dat can act as quick reaction force 4 any our oil installations
SOME USCG SHIPS WE COULD USE NOW
We said earlier on in the year that the US Government are only waiting to see that the Nigerian FG sign contracts for some ships, for the Americans to rise up to the challenge and facilitate the transfer of some ships to the Nigerian Navy.
They are aware that money is not exactly the FG’s problem and as such cannot understand the hitherto seeming indifference to the NN’s need for oceangoing vessels. The Americans would not cry more than the bereaved.
The exertions of the FG in FY 2012 as far as naval acquisitions have been impressive and commensurate to the financial might of FG.
The USCGC Jarvis aside, and I would love to hear from American ‘Admirals’ on Beegeagle’s Blog, what is the possibility of the USCGC which is taking delivery of new ships, selling a pair of 1,127 ton 65 metre WMEC 210s which boast a crossing range of 15,000km for $10m apiece and a 1,800 ton 82 metre WMEC 270s which boast a crossing range of 17,000 km for a token $25 million to Nigeria? Those would do nicely to shore up our presence at sea for another decade and perhaps, with the WMEC 270s, for a longer period .
I personally love USCG ships for their phenomenal endurance at sea capabilities. The 1,041 ton Cat class logistics ships boast an imperious 22,000km crossing range while the NNS Thunder, with a range of 26,000km is the only military ship on the entire continent of Africa with is able to circumnavigate the 26,000km coastline of Africa without refuelling. Too good a deal for a Third World navy to ignore.
Anyway, here are WMECs which are ‘service juniors’ to the WHECs, of which NNS Thunder is one.
WMEC 210
65 metre, 1127 tons+flight deck.
(One of such which was transferred to Sri Lanka played great roles, alongside the larger Indian-loaned OPV which sank many Tamil Tiger arms trafficking ships, sometimes as far out as 1,700 miles offshore – close to Indonesian waters)
WMEC 270
82 metres, 1800 tons
https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=9117724e78e954f8515654efef5b1fb3
Specification and maintenance for the USCG Jarvis.
Another ship scheduled for decommissioning is the USCGC Gallatin, although Jarvis may go out first. Although the Philippine Navy seems interested in getting more, there are no news yet if the PN is still interested in getting more Hamilton class ships due to recent interest to get more expensive but younger, better armed ships. I’m still checking if Bangladesh will make some noise (again) on getting some as well, the Bangladesh and Pakistani defense forums made news of Dallas to be transferred to Bangladesh last time, only to be disappointed after news the PN will get it.
Max
Yeah, max, I have been following filipino blogs for about a year now. Upon observing how proactive your authorities, have being, in lobbying for these retiring ships, I raised the alarm on this end hoping to get nigerian authorities, to sit up on this issue.
Infact, I even stumbled upon a USCG blog, where they wondered how the nigerian navy managed to get the Chase, since we never lobbied for it, or showed any initial interest.
However, general beegeagle believes we have been promised at least one more hamilton class ship.
But with the philipines, bangladesh and others on the prowl, I hope @beegeagle is right.
Just got heads up, the PN has indeed sent inspection teams to check Jarvis and/or Gallatin. No public announcement yet so far.
Heads up guys, the Philippine government announced that it would be deferring purchase of a 3rd Hamilton class ship, and instead focus on improving the capability of the 2 earlier ships purchased from the USCG. Earlier I posted that the PN sent an inspection team for USCGC Rush, but it appears that they rejected the ship and found it to need too much repair work. Funding is not an issue, but it appears that this is a soft way of saying that the PN will skip of Rush, and possibly Jarvis and will either wait for a better-condition WHEC, or go for another younger, more capable, more expensive model like the Italian Artigliere/Soldati class which were reportedly offered to the Philippines for $20-25M each.
Hopefully the NN would not have much headache if it continues to go with Rush and/or Jarvis. Good luck!
Max
Good to hear from you again, Max. Last time we dwelt on the Soldati/Artigliere classes of frigates, were we not talking US$115m? How come the price has crashed as low as US$20-25 million apiece?
The $115M (its actually more like $140M or around Php6b) is for a single Maestrale class ship PLUS refurbishing, training, ammunition, modernization/uparming and other costs involved. The PN plans to get at least 2 (for now). If you only considered unit cost “as-is, where-is”, the Maestrale was offered around $40M each. As for the Soldati/Artigliere, it was reported that the offer price “as-is, where-is” for 1 unit is around $20M-$25M. In comparison, the Philippines paid around $9M for each Hamilton which includes the ship, training, and other expenses by the crew while in the US. An additional amount was paid for refurbishing in the PH and/or USA. Of course we expect the price of Soldati/Artigliere to increase once everything is included.
Max
As for the WMEC 270 series, so far it seems that the USCG is not yet offering them as EDA, they still intend to use them for at least 10 years more. WMEC 210 may be available soon but not yet immediately. So best is to look for other alternatives rather than waiting for them
Max