Huntington Ingalls Industries announced the successful completion of
builder’s sea trials for the company’s fourth U.S. Coast
Guard National Security Cutter, Hamilton (WMSL 753). The ship, built
by HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division, spent three full days
at sea testing all of the ship’s systems. |
“It’s
a team effort to bring one of these magnificent ships to life, and the
NSC team has performed superbly—from the first cut of steel to
the completion of a very successful builder’s trials,” said
Jim French, Ingalls’ NSC program manager. “The NSC team
continues to improve performance from ship to ship. By keeping the same
management team and many of the craftsmen building each NSC, we have
been able to incorporate hundreds of lessons learned, resulting in a
significant learning curve improvement since the first NSC.”
While underway, Ingalls’ test and trials team conducted extensive
testing of the propulsion, electrical, damage control, anchor handling,
small boat operations and combat systems. This culminated in the successful
completion of a four-hour, full-power propulsion run.
“The ship and the Ingalls/Coast Guard team performed flawlessly,”
said Richard Schenk, Ingalls’ vice president, program management
and test and trials. “Our operating crew performed more than 180
events and showed tremendous professionalism. The ship is clearly ready
for acceptance trials in August.”
Ingalls has delivered the first three NSCs, and three more are currently
under construction. A seventh NSC, Kimball WMSL 756, is scheduled to
begin construction in early 2015.
“The NSC team’s passion toward the everyday work on this
ship and their ability to work as one integrated team led to this success,”
said Derek Murphy, Ingalls’ NSC program director. “We started
off on a mission three years ago to improve over the last ship in all
aspects, and quite simply, they nailed it. We’ll be putting on
the final touches for fit and finish and selling the last few compartments
to the Coast Guard in preparations for acceptance trials in August.”
Legend-class NSCs are the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter
fleet. Designed to replace the 378-foot Hamilton-class High-Endurance
Cutters that entered service during the 1960s, they are 418 feet long
with a 54-foot beam and displace 4,500 tons with a full load. They have
a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, 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 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. |
