A new commander took the helm for the Coast Guard on Guam last week as it prepares to expand its already busy fleet of cutters.

The Coast Guard is part of the US military expansion on Guam.

The wide-ranging course covers search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, international rule of law and armed conflict and port security — as well as the United States’ history and culture.

The U.S. Coast Guard recently encountered four Russian naval vessels in U.S. waters near Point Hope, Alaska, the service said Monday.

The United States, Australia, India and Japan are planning joint coast guard and maritime police patrols amid growing Chinese activity in the region, according to unnamed diplomatic sources cited Monday by Japan’s Kyodo News.

Thirteen former cadets of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy are seeking $10 million each from the service, accusing the Coast Guard of failing to implement adequate policies and practices that allowed sexual violence to go unchecked, according to legal documents filed Thursday.

Five years after California’s worst modern maritime disaster, relatives of the Conception boat fire victims are angry about what they call the slow pace of accountability, while a top U.S. safety official says the Coast Guard continues to stall on reforms.

The Coast Guard Cutter Campbell returned to homeport in Newport, R.I., last week after 73 days at sea on patrol in the Windward Passage.

Shortly after settling on federal charges, Austal USA has inaugurated a new shipbuilding program for the Coast Guard. Rear Adm. Mike Campbell called the program “the largest and most significant acquisition in the history of the Coast Guard.”

A group of fishermen adrift in the remote Western Pacific made their recent rescue significantly easier because they carried a personal locator beacon, the U.S. Coast Guard said.