Draft:USCGC Kauai

USCGC Kauai (WPB 1351) United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Kauai is a fictional Island Class patrol boat and setting for the action/adventure novel series Cutter Kauai Sea Adventures written by Edward M. Hochsmann.

The series follows the crew of Kauai as they step outside of the normal world of U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat operations to render special mission service for the highly secret JUBILEE committee, a group of the most senior intelligence officials in the U.S. government, chaired by the Director of National Intelligence. Kauai's operating area is generally defined as the Seventh Coast Guard District - the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, Florida Straits, the Atlantic Ocean contiguous with Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the Caribbean Sea.

Kauai and her crew came to the JUBILEE committee’s attention in their first covert mission to find and secure a Russian nuclear warhead lost in the Florida Keys after an accidental launch (Dagger Quest). In addition to their exemplary performance on that mission, the committee appreciated the responsiveness, ability to operate in both the military and law enforcement roles, and "hide in plain sight" capability a small cutter provided in service of sensitive missions. They invested fifty million dollars in dark funding for service extension, replacing the aging cutter’s powerplant and electronics and provide special combat training for select members of the crew. The understanding reached with the Coast Guard was Kauai could continue to perform regular missions, but would be made available to the committee on demand for special missions the U.S. Navy could not feasibly perform.

Kauai is an enhanced version of the real-life 110-foot Island Class patrol boats, built for the Coast Guard between 1985 and 1992, now mostly retired from service. She is a member of the fictitious D-flight of this class, differing by having unspecified habitability improvements and replacement of the crew-served Mark 38 Mod 1 25 mm main gun with the stabilized and remotely operated Mod 2 version.

At the beginning of the series, it is revealed that Kauai had been considered for early retirement after a fatal mishap during a migrant interdiction operation resulting from an incompetent commanding officer. However, the cutter’s operational commander elected to replace the officers on board with high-performers, who turned around the situation and brought Kauai’s crew to an elite level of professional competence.

Books in the Cutter Kauai Sea Adventures Series:

Dagger Quest The world is standing on the brink in an Eastern Europe showdown between NATO and Russia. Meanwhile, a mid-air collision between a Russian Backfire bomber and an American F-16 fighter triggers a nuclear-tipped Russian hypersonic missile launch. The missile immediately disappears from radar and is lost in the Florida Keys. Can Kauai and her crew find and retrieve the warhead before it is discovered and triggers World War III?

Caribbean Counterstrike The criminal 252 Syndicate has created a new nerve gas far more dangerous than any in existence. But a vicious drug gang/cult has grabbed it along with their converted supply ship lab during a drug war. Can Kauai and her crew seize the ship from the gang’s heavily fortified base before the 252s retrieve it and market the weapon? Bravely and Faithfully Kauai’s crew braves a sortie into a major hurricane to rescue a young family from a wrecked sailboat. The action gets Kauai’s beloved captain, Sam Powell, a well-deserved early promotion and a new assignment. His new, hard-charging replacement, Haley Reardon, has changes in mind, but the DNI has other plans. Her first sortie as CO sees Kauai sent to support a Defense Intelligence Agency team infiltrating a Chinese-held Caribbean island. Indies Inferno After thwarting an eco-terrorist attack on an oil tanker, Kauai is assigned to a covert intelligence operation in Guadeloupe. The mission takes an unforeseen turn when a volcanic eruption engulfs the tranquil Caribbean island of Saint Ignatius.

External Links:

Books in the Cutter Kauai Sea Adventures Series

Dagger Quest

Caribbean Counterstrike

Bravely and Faithfully

Indies Inferno

Series author's web page