The Coast Guard will send its third National Security Cutter, the Stratton, in for an emergency dry docking shortly after the service found premature corrosion in a portion of the aft hull last month, congressional and Coast Guard officials said yesterday.
The unexpected dry docking will keep the Stratton out of service until around mid-July and the repairs of the hull plating will cost more than $600,000, according to briefing material prepared by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Coast Guard Subcommittee, which held a hearing yesterday on the service’s recapitalization program.
The news of Stratton’s problems didn’t sit well with Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), chairman of the subcommittee, who said his panel has been one of the Coast Guard’s biggest champions in supporting the acquisition of new ships and aircraft.
“I know there’s an investigation into what caused this steel to fail but again, I can’t tell you how extremely troubling it is to see the newest ship in the fleet and the most expensive cutter in Coast Guard history needing emergency repairs,” LoBiondo said. “I just sort of can’t get my brain around this one.”
The Stratton was commissioned on March 31 and in April its crew found seawater in the ship. A subsequent inspection of the hull found small cracks and pitting, which is unusual for a new ship, Vice Adm. John Currier, deputy commandant for Mission Support in the Coast Guard, testified at the hearing. The dry docking is slated to begin later this month or early in June and last between 30 and 45 days, he said.
Hull inspections of the first two NSCs, the Bertholf and Waesche, uncovered no problems so the hull corrosion is not a class-wide issue, Currier said.
As for what caused the premature hull corrosion, Currier said that will have to wait until inspections are completed during the upcoming dry docking and said a permanent fix will be done in “short order.” Currier says trying to explain the cause now would be speculation but said that from his experience the problem could range anywhere between a quality of steel issue to the impact of a recent localized repair where some welding had to be done where the Stratton bumped into the pier. He noted that the issue with the Stratton is consistent with improper welding but refrained from suggesting this is the cause of the problem.
Currier also said that it’s premature to discuss whether the hull leaks are covered by warranty. Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] is the prime contractor for the 418-foot NSCs. That said, he doesn’t believe there were problems with either the Coast Guard’s acquisition process or HII’s shipyard.
The Coast Guard issued a Request for Proposals this Monday for the dry docking and wants bids in next week.
LoBiondo also hit the Coast Guard for a shortage of spare parts for the service’s emerging fleet of HC-144A Maritime Patrol Aircraft built by Spain’s CASA, a division of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. Citing the Coast Guard, which briefed his staff on the matter, LoBiondo said that shortage will lead to a limitation of flight patrol hours when full operations are set to begin this fall with the aircraft at Air Station Cap Cod in Massachusetts.
LoBiondo said the spares problem is being caused by “poor planning” and budgetary issues.
However, Currier said that there is no spares shortage and that the service has no plans to limit the planned HC-144A flight hours.
LoBiondo said that Currier’s testimony on the HC-144A is “good news” but told the admiral to find out the reason for the miscommunication between the Coast Guard and his staff on the matter.
The Coast Guard has ordered 17 HC-144As and is requesting funding for another in FY ’13. The service plans to buy 36 of the aircraft, which can be used for surveillance as well as transport missions.
Regarding the potential for the Air Force to transfer 21 C-27 aircraft to the Coast Guard, which the Coast Guard would be responsible for missionizing the aircraft for the surveillance role, Currier said the his service is completing a business case analysis that shows “significant” cost avoidance if it were given the planes from the Defense Department at no cost. Congress would have to agree to the transfer. Preliminary analysis also shows the aircraft are suitable for Coast Guard use.
If the C-27 aircraft were provided to the Coast Guard, the service would not have to purchase all of the HC-144As that it currently plans to buy. The C-27 is supplied to the DoD by Italy’s Alenia and Lockheed Martin [LMT].