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One Ex US Coast Guard Cutter Coming, Part 3

Former US Coast Guard cutter Decisive at her retirement ceremony on March 2, 2023. US Coast Guard.

SHAH ALAM: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency is getting closer to getting an ex-US Coast Guard cutter as the Home Ministry secretary-general handed over the letter of acceptance for the ship today.

Apart from handing over the LOA, the secretary-general Ruji Ubi also signed an MOU between Malaysia and the US, with the US Ambassador to Malaysia Edgard D. Kagan. The MOU is for the cooperation against trans-national crimes.

A group photograph after the MOU and LOA signing ceremonies. KDN.

The release from the Home Ministry:

๐— ๐—”๐—๐—Ÿ๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐— ๐—˜๐—ก๐—”๐—ก๐——๐—”๐—ง๐—”๐—ก๐—š๐—”๐—ก๐—œ ๐— ๐—˜๐— ๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—”๐—ก๐——๐—จ๐—  ๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—ฆ๐—˜๐—™๐—”๐—›๐—”๐— ๐—”๐—ก ๐—”๐—ก๐—ง๐—”๐—ฅ๐—” ๐—ž๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—”๐—๐—”๐—”๐—ก ๐— ๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—ฌ๐—ฆ๐—œ๐—” ๐——๐—”๐—ก ๐—ž๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—”๐—๐—”๐—”๐—ก ๐—”๐— ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—ž๐—” ๐—ฆ๐—ฌ๐—”๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—ž๐—”๐—ง ๐— ๐—˜๐—ก๐—š๐—˜๐—ก๐—”๐—œ ๐—ž๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—๐—”๐—ฆ๐—”๐— ๐—” ๐——๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—  ๐—•๐—œ๐——๐—”๐—ก๐—š ๐—๐—˜๐—ก๐—”๐—ฌ๐—”๐—› ๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ง๐—”๐—ฆ ๐—ฆ๐—˜๐— ๐—ฃ๐—”๐——๐—”๐—ก ๐——๐—”๐—ก ๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ฌ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—”๐—›๐—”๐—ก ๐—ฆ๐—จ๐—ฅ๐—”๐—ง ๐—ฃ๐—˜๐—ก๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—œ๐— ๐—”๐—”๐—ก ๐—จ๐—ก๐—œ๐—ง๐—˜๐—— ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—”๐—ง๐—˜๐—ฆ ๐—–๐—ข๐—”๐—ฆ๐—ง ๐—š๐—จ๐—”๐—ฅ๐—— ๐—–๐—จ๐—ง๐—ง๐—˜๐—ฅ
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๐—ฃ๐—จ๐—ง๐—ฅ๐—”๐—๐—”๐—ฌ๐—”, ๐Ÿฎ ๐Ÿฌ๐—ด๐—ผ๐˜€ โ€“ Majlis Menandatangani Memorandum Persefahaman Antara Kerajaan Malaysia dengan Kerajaan Amerika Syarikat Mengenai Kerjasama dalam Bidang Jenayah Rentas Sempadan dan Penyerahan Surat Penerimaan United States Coast Guard Cutter telah berlangsung di Hotel Le Meridien, Putrajaya, pagi tadi.
Memorandum Persefahaman itu telah ditandatangani oleh Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Dalam Negeri, Datuk Haji Ruji bin Haji Ubi dan Duta Besar Amerika Syarikat, Mr. Edgard D. Keagan dengan disaksikan oleh Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution bin Ismail.
Pemangku Ketua Pengarah Maritim Malaysia, Laksamana Madya Maritim Datuk Saiful Lizan bin Ibrahim hadir mewakili Maritim Malaysia bagi menyaksikan majlis tersebut.
Turut hadir ialah Timbalan Ketua Setiausaha (Dasar dan Kawalan) KDN, Datuk Mohd Zamri bin Mat Zain, Ketua Pengarah Imigresen, Datoโ€™ Ruslin bin Jusoh serta tetamu-tetamu kehormat yang mewakili jabatan dan agensi di bawah KDN.

The crew of Decisive leaving the ship following her decommissioning ceremony on March 2, 2023. US Coast Guard.

The release did not mention the name of the cutter to be handed over to MMEA and its delivery date. Malaysian Defence has posted previously it may well be the cutter Decisive which decommissioned from the US Coast Guard last year.
KM Pekan at LIMA 2017. One of the OPVs gifted from Japan to MMEA.

in a Facebook post by MMEA today (November 8) it was stated that the agency had look into absorbing at least one ex-US Coast guard cutter (an American term for this kind of vessel). This was mentioned in a post on the retirement ceremony for Rear Admiral Maritime Aminuddin Abdul Rashid.

The post stated that among his achievements in the MMEA were that he was the team leader for a suitability study on absorbing the US Coast Guard cutter โ€“ USCG Decisive. It stated that this will create a wider collaboration with friendly forces either locally or abroad.

Checks on the US Coast Guard website showed that Decisiveโ€“ a Reliance class cutter โ€“ was laid in 1967 and commissioned in 1968. She was decommissioned from US Coast Guard on March 2, 2023, after a 55-year service.

KM Arau one of the Japanese patrol boats donated to APMM in 2016. APMM

I am guessing we have to wait for updates when the ship will be delivered. My guess, it will be mid-next year as MMEA has not announced the project team for the delivery. If they followed the naming convention of donated OPVs โ€“ after Royal Towns โ€“ the former Decisive will be named KM Kota Bahru. MMEA locally built OPV โ€“ KM Tun Fatimah โ€“ was originally supposed to be named Kota Bahru until decided to change it to her current name.

โ€“Malaysian Defence

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Marhalim Abas: Shah Alam

View Comments (25)

  • As per my comments before

    https://www.malaysiandefence.com/one-ex-us-coast-guard-cutter-coming-next-year/#comment-882131

    " Along with the USCGC Decisive (WMEC-629), another 3 WMEC Medium Endurance Cutters will be laid-up by mid 2024, USCGC Confidence (WMEC-619), the USCGC Dauntless(WMEC-624) and the USCGC Dependable (WMEC-626) "

    So there will be 4 WMECs available

    There are also some OPVs available from Japan Coast Guard. One of them is this ship :

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GLo54nRaAAAWrIe.jpg

    https://www.malaysiandefence.com/its-the-ada-class-which-one/#comment-893161
    The PLH21 Fuso is a 130m 5,000 ton patrol ship, commissioned in 1986. It has 130 crew, can carry 2 helicopters and a max range of 8,500 nautical miles.

  • i hope MMEA can put to sea these 2nd hand vessels as long as reasonably practicable,considering they're oldies.

  • The ship to be passed to APMM is confirmed to be USCGC Steadfast (WMEC-623)
    https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3666088/us-coast-guard-cutter-steadfast-decommissioned-after-56-years-of-service/

    USCGC Steadfast was decommissioned on 1 Feb 2024.

    She was first commissioned in USCG on 7th Oct 1968, which makes it more than 57 years old before commissioned into APMM early next year. She was originally powered by both diesel and gas turbine engines before the gas turbine removed in 1992.

    Currently WMECs that has been decommissioned or in special status (basically decommissioned but crew is still attached to the ship but seconded to other ships)
    WMEC-619 Confidence (special status)
    WMEC-623 Steadfast (decommissioned)
    WMEC-624 Dauntless (special status)
    WMEC-626 Dependable (special status)
    WMEC-629 Decisive (decommissioned)

  • Marhalim,
    There is also talk about a MMEA flagship in the works. Do you have any details?

  • The retired Japan Coast Guard ex-PLH-21 Fuso can easily become the APMM flagship, rather than buying an expensive new ship.

    Commissioned in March 1986.
    130m length
    Hangar space for 2 helicopters
    8,500 nautical mile range
    Designed specially for SAR and NEO (Non-combattant Evacuation Operations)

    Current
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GLo54nRaAAAWrIe.jpg

    When in service with JCG
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIoP2FNbgAAL0pe.jpg

    As for other possible OPVs that can be had from JCG :

    Currently JCG is building 4 more Kunigami-class OPV for JCG, to be completed by 2027. This ships are probably to replace 4 ex-ojika aka KM Pekan sisterships.

    The 2 OPV passed to APMM was also replaced with Kunigami-class OPV carrying the name and pennant number of those ships (PL-01 Oki and PL-02 Erimo)

  • Nope better get new ships for MMEA.Flagship should be mpss that have helipad,lockup,fuel provision to refuel other MMEA Ships and have the endurance to stay in the frontline for a long time say a month..two of them will just do.They better finish that two remaining opvs cuz let be real Tun Fatimah alone are not enough.Hell even 3 of them still doesnt cut it..After 3 of them are done maybe go for the like of tae pyung yang of Korea cuz sam-bong class is kinda overkill for us

  • Speaking of which about that two remaining 1800 OPV? what about their progress as of now? how about their delivery timeline?