Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced on August 9 the successful completion of builder’s sea trials for the company’s sixth U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter (NSC), USCGC Munro (WMSL-755). The ship, built at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division, spent three days in the Gulf of Mexico testing all of the ship’s systems.

«The National Security Cutter program exemplifies the sustainable success that can be accomplished through serial production of a ship class», said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias. «Our shipbuilders are providing quality, highly capable ships to our customer in an efficient, affordable manner, which is important to the U.S. Coast Guard sailors who patrol our coastlines in these great ships, protecting our freedom».

Ingalls’ test and trials team conducted extensive testing of the ships’ propulsion, electrical systems, damage control, anchor handling, small boat operations and combat systems. This culminated in the successful completion of a four-hour, full-power propulsion run.

«We experienced a safe and successful builder’s trial, which is a result of outstanding teamwork from our shipbuilders and our U.S. Coast Guard partners», said George S. Jones, Ingalls’ vice president of operations. «It is an exciting time in this program, and the NSC class of ships is truly a high-performing design. The pride of workmanship – from those on trial to the many craftsmen and women, designers, procurement specialists and all other shipbuilders who touched the ship during this process – allowed this ship to perform so well at sea».

Ingalls has delivered the first five NSCs and has three more under construction, including USCGC Munro (WMSL-755), set to deliver in the fourth quarter of this year. USCGC Kimball (WMSL-756) is scheduled for delivery in 2018, and USCGC Midgett (WMSL-757) in 2019.

«The NSC program is really firing on all cylinders, and NSC 6 is another example of how each successive ship just keeps getting better in all aspects», said Derek Murphy, Ingalls’ Coast Guard program manager. «Our shipbuilders continue to meet the challenge of maintaining an aggressive learning curve. Not only did we go to sea five weeks earlier than any previous NSC, we did so with a more complete ship at a significantly reduced cost».

Munro is named to honor Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro, the Coast Guard’s sole recipient of the Medal of Honor. He was mortally wounded on September 27, 1942, while evacuating a detachment of Marines on Guadalcanal.

Legend-class NSCs are the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter fleet. Designed to replace the 378‐foot/115-meter Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that entered service in the 1960s, they are 418 feet/127 m long with a 54-foot/16-meter beam and displace 4,500 long tons/4,572 metric tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots/32 mph/52 km/h, a range of 12,000 nautical miles/13,809 miles/22,224 km, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 110.

NSCs are capable of meeting all maritime security mission needs required of the high-endurance cutter. They include an aft launch and recovery area for two Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft. The Legend class is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the Coast Guard, with robust capabilities for maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions.

NSCs play an important role enhancing the Coast Guard’s operational readiness, capacity and effectiveness at a time when the demand for their services has never been greater.

Facts

Ship list

Munro (NSC 6) Builder’s Sea Trials