Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] on Monday delivered the fourth National Security Cutter (NSC) to the Coast Guard, marking the halfway point in the program in terms of deliveries of the high-endurance vessels.
The Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton was accepted by the service at the shipbuilder’s facility in Pascagoula, Miss., and will be homeported in Charleston, S.C. The
Hamilton will be commissioned into service on Dec. 6.
“Our performance on the National Security Cutter program is a blueprint for success in building high-quality, affordable ships,’ Brian Cuccias, president of HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding segment, said in a statement. “We’ve significantly improved our learning, efficiency and affordability with each successive ship in the Legend class, and this one, our fourth, is the best yet. The benefits of serial ship production are clear, and with our hot production line we expect for this to continue.”
The Coast Guard plans to acquire eight NSCs. The fifth vessel, the James, is slated to be delivered in the summer of 2015. The keel laying for the sixth ship, the Munro, is scheduled for this fall.
The 418-foot NSCs have a top speed of 28 knots and a range of 12,000 nautical miles.