U.S. donates patrol vessel to boost Vietnam’s maritime security

Tom Abke

A United States-built patrol vessel arrived in Vietnamese waters July 14, 2021, as part of a collaboration between security partners designed to enhance Vietnam’s maritime law enforcement.

The U.S. government transferred ownership of the 115-meter patrol vessel from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to the Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) through the U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program. It was the second cutter provided to Hanoi under the program.

The cutter is expected to bolster Vietnam’s maritime law enforcement, search and rescue operations and other humanitarian missions, according to the Voice of Vietnam (VOV), Hanoi’s state-owned broadcaster.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has been a recurring law enforcement challenge for Vietnam, particularly with vessels originating from China. VCG patrols intercepted and detained two Chinese vessels engaged in IUU fishing in Vietnamese waters off the northern city of Mong Cai in September 2020, Radio Free Asia reported.

“This cutter donation to Vietnam is another concrete example of the strengthening U.S.-Vietnam regional security partnership,” declared a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

The USCG began training a 46-person crew from Vietnam at its base in Seattle, Washington, in February 2021. The cutter set sail June 1, 2021, to Vietnam, where the crew was required to quarantine for 21 days before going ashore due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Renamed CSB 8021 by the VCG, the cutter was formerly known as the USCGC John Midgett, VOV added. Built in the 1960s, the cutter was refitted at the Lake Union Drydock Co. shipyard in Seattle. It has a displacement of 3,250 metric tons and can operate at sea for up to 45 days. (Pictured: A cutter donated by the United States to the Vietnam Coast Guard prepares to leave Seattle, Washington, on June 1, 2021.)

The deliveries of this vessel and another in 2017 constitute the most important defense transfers between the U.S. and Vietnam, according to the U.S. Department of State. From 2016-19, the FMF program provided about U.S. $150 million in security assistance to Vietnam. More than U.S. $58 million was earmarked for the relocation of the two cutters.

“This transfer strengthens the partnership between the U.S. Coast Guard and Vietnam Coast Guard, increases service interoperability, and ultimately bolsters maritime governance in a Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” USCG spokesperson Lt. Scott Carr said in a statement.

The FMF program also assisted with the transfer of 24 Metal Shark high-speed patrol boats to Vietnam. The final six were delivered in May 2020, reported the Hanoi-based Thoi Dai Vietnam Times newspaper. In 2018, the FMF program awarded U.S. $5 million to Vietnam under the Indo-Pacific Strategy initiative, which seeks to strengthen the capability of maritime patrol aircraft, drones and coastal radar training.

Signs of a strengthening defense relationship between Vietnam and the U.S. are abundant. Vietnam is a partner in the U.S. Global Peace Operations Initiative through which it contributes to United Nations peacekeeping operations. The Vietnam Navy also joined the U.S-hosted Rim of the Pacific naval exercise in 2018 and has welcomed port calls by U.S. naval vessels, including the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in March 2020.

“The United States and Vietnam have such a complex shared history of sacrifice,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at Vietnam’s National Defense Ministry in late July 2021, where he traveled to meet with newly elected Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Defense Minister Phan Van Giang, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. “When our two countries resumed normalization, the United States committed itself to respecting Vietnam’s political system and your independent and balanced foreign policy.”

Austin said the U.S. and Vietnam have grown closer because of their shared belief that peace and prosperity in the region depends on a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. “One of our central goals is ensuring that our allies and partners have the freedom and the space to chart their own futures,” he said.

Tom Abke is a FORUM contributor reporting from Singapore.

IMAGE CREDIT: U.S. COAST GUARD