Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division has received two fixed-price incentive contracts from the U.S. Coast Guard to build two additional National Security Cutters (NSCs) for the U.S. Coast Guard. The contract values for the a 10th and 11th ships in the program are $468.75 million for NSC-10 and $462.13 million for NSC-11.
«This additional funding for two NSCs is a great accomplishment on which to end the year», said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias. «The outstanding work being done by skilled men and women of Ingalls, as well as the recognition by Congress and the U.S. Coast Guard as to the important contributions these ships make to our nation’s defense, are the reason for this success. These ships provide capable assets that our Coast Guard customer uses to perform essential homeland security missions, and we look forward to delivering two more quality NSCs to help with this important work».
Ingalls has delivered seven NSCs, the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter fleet, designed to replace the 12 Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that entered service in the 1960s. The seventh ship, USCGC Kimball (WMSL-756), will be commissioned in Hawaii on January 19.
Both the eighth ship, USCGC Midgett (WMSL-757), and the ninth, USCGC Stone (WMSL-758), are currently under construction at Ingalls. USCGC Midgett (WMSL-757) is scheduled for its first set of sea trials in the first quarter of 2019. USCGC Stone (WMSL-758) is scheduled to launch in 2019. NSCs are 418 feet/127 m long with a 54-foot/16-meter beam and displace 4,500 tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots/32 mph/52 km/h, a range of 12,000 NM/13,809 miles/22,224 km, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 120.
The Legend-class NSC is capable of meeting all maritime security mission needs required of the high-endurance cutter. The cutter includes an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft. It is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the U.S. Coast Guard, with robust capabilities for maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions. This class of cutters plays an important role in enhancing the Coast Guard’s operational readiness, capacity and effectiveness at a time when the demand for their services has never been greater.
Facts
| Displacement | 4,500 long tons |
| Length | 418 feet/127 m |
| Beam | 54 feet/16 m |
| Speed | 28 knots/32 mph/52 km/h |
| Range | 12,000 NM/13,809 miles/22,224 km |
| Endurance | 60 days |
| Crew | 120 |
| Equipped with | Mk-110 57-mm turret mounted gun |
| 6 × 12.7-mm/.50 caliber machine guns | |
| 3D air search radar | |
| 2 level 1, class 1 aircraft hangers | |
| A stern launch ramp for mission boats | |
| Aviation carried | (2) MCH, or (4) Vertical-Launch Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (VUAV) or (1) MCH and (2) VUAV |
| Stern launch | Two cutter boats (Long Range Interceptor and/or Short Range Prosecutor) |
| Electronic Warfare and Decoys | AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System, Two Super Rapid Bloom Offboard Countermeasures (SRBOC)/2 NULKA countermeasures chaff rapid decoy launcher |
| Communications | HF, VHF & UHF |
| Sensors and Processing Systems | X and S band radar, 3D air search radar, AN/SPQ-9 radar, Identification, Friend or Foe (IFF) |
Ship list
| Ship | Hull Number | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned |
| Bertholf | WMSL-750 | 03-29-2005 | 09-29-2006 | 08-04-2008 |
| Waesche | WMSL-751 | 09-11-2006 | 07-12-2008 | 05-07-2010 |
| Stratton | WMSL-752 | 07-20-2009 | 07-23-2010 | 03-31-2012 |
| Hamilton | WMSL-753 | 09-05-2012 | 08-10-2013 | 12-06-2014 |
| James | WMSL-754 | 05-17-2013 | 05-03-2014 | 08-08-2015 |
| Munro | WMSL-755 | 10-07-2013 | 09-12-2015 | 04-01-2017 |
| Kimball | WMSL-756 | 03-04-2016 | 12-17-2016 | |
| Midgett | WMSL-757 | 01-27-2017 | 11-22-2017 | |
| Stone | WMSL-758 | 09-14-2018 | ||
| WMSL-759 | ||||
| WMSL-760 |