Keeping Coast Guard cutters afloat a full-time chore.

• Author: Pappalardo, Joe
• Position: AGING FLEET

As the Coast Guard looks forward to the acquisition of its new national security cutters, the job of keeping their current, aged fleet operational requires a lot of the crews' attention.

Scheduled to begin replacements in 2007, the fleet of 378-foot cutters is maintaining its harsh schedule of deployments: a full span of missions including law enforcement, search and rescue and military.

There is a race under way among the retiring cutters; the last to be decommissioned will be seen as the winner. Crewmembers, especially engineers, are acutely aware of the approaching deadline, and this competition feeds into their work.

Such is the case on the USCG Mellon, which is regarded as one of the better-maintained cutters in service. Above and beneath the waterline, Mellon crewmembers daily fight the ravages of age and hard use to keep the ship fit for duty. A National Defense reporter recently saw firsthand some of the toil and sweat it takes to maintain the Mellon while on a counter narcotics patrol in Central America.

"The people keep it going," says Capt. Mark Campbell, the Mellon's commanding officer. As an automobile enthusiast, he's the first to call his ship a classic. "I have a '67 Corvette, that's the same age of this ship," he notes in an interview in his quarters. "It takes a certain level of (tender loving care). Getting parts is always difficult, if you can find them. The parts are expensive, and sometimes you have to fabricate them."

The Mellon is entering the last phase of her four-decade career, but the demands are not slowing down. If anything, the old dog is learning new tricks in operating with armed helicopters and providing security.

Working in the choppy waters of Alaska or steaming through the Pacific takes a toll on the ship, whose history is one of hardship in war and peace. On top of steady duties of rescue missions and maritime law enforcement, the Mellon fought in Vietnam, conducted deep ocean scientific experiments and, in 1990, served as the only test bed for firing Harpoon missiles off a Coast Guard ship. That program was discontinued.

At the start of the January deployment to Central America, the emergency gas turbine gave up, which required late-night shipments of spare parts and many hours of extra work for the crew. Members work in rotating shifts, some with only a few hours of sleep. "Just normal stuff," notes Cmdr. Matthew Gimple, the ship's executive officer. Fuel lines for the helicopter involved more late night hours as the engineers re-circulated the fuel and isolated the problems in the lines. The method of checking fuel quality is placing fluid in glass jars and swirling them. Crew members check for contaminant particles.

From the engines to the weapons systems, most of the equipment on the Mellon is no longer manufactured. Technicians who qualify on modern technology must step back in time to master the systems they will be responsible for. Officers point out that the time it takes to repair and replace parts has been increasing. Avoiding these breakdowns takes constant vigilance from the officers and the crew. "What we have here is a '67 Corvette, and up there they like to drive it 100 miles an hour," says Lt. Cmdr. Greg Czerwonka, the Mellon's engineering officer, referring to officers above him on the bridge.

Still, the Mellon is in much better shape than other ships of her class. It is one of the last 378-foot cutters slated to be replaced by the "national security cutter," developed as part of the $20 billion Deepwater program.

In 2004, the Mellon performed without major problems in a mission with the Navy to Southeast Asia. On one wall of Campbell's room is a map of that deployment. The cruise began at the...