Announcement

**Boomer** · 19 October 2006, 18:16

Any idea how many crew it needs?

**Goldie fish** · 19 October 2006, 19:01

USCG cutters operate in similar enviroments and have a similar role to Irish NS vessels.

The NSC has a crew of 106, which for vessels in the USCG is quite low.
http://www.uscg.mil/deepwater/system/nsc.htm

However the US shipyards only do things in Bulk, and as a rule USCG vessels would not have as advanced a communications suite as the Irish NS vessels.

**Dogwatch** · 19 October 2006, 20:58

National Security Cutter (NSC) Crewing

In late February 2006, the Coast Guard introduced the Crew Rotation Concept (CRC) for major cutters, with the signing of the decision memorandum by Vice Adm. Terry Cross. The multi-crew concept, a formidable paradigm shift in cutter crewing, seeks to maximize cutters’ time at sea while sustaining an acceptable personnel tempo (PERSTEMPO) for cutter crews.

Initially, the Coast Guard will employ four crews for three NSCs at a single homeport, rotating the cutters among the crews to limit crew PERSTEMPO to 185 days while maintaining each cutter's operational tempo (OPTEMPO) at 230 days. The three-cutter, four-crew prototype will be evaluated in 2009 through an operational testing-and-evaluation process. Policy and procedures for CRC are based on the lessons learned by the Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy, as well as consideration of the recommendations made by auditors from the Government Accountability Office.

“For the entire history of the Coast Guard, if you think about it, we have assigned crews to ships,” said Rear Adm. Ken Venuto, assistant commandant for human resources. “In a way, this gave the impression that the ship is the most important contributor to mission performance, and people are there to support it. I think we know better than that today; people perform the Coast Guard's missions, and their assets are there to support them. In my view, the Crew Rotation Concept is a model that assigns ships to crews instead of crews to ships. And it's about time.”

Coast Guard Area staffs will assign cutters to crews based on cutter availability, crew PERSTEMPO, and operational demands. A crew will typically have a six- to nine-month tour and will conduct both underway and in-port periods until PERSTEMPO requires a crew swap out.

The exact doctrine and policy for the CRC turnover will be fully developed prior to the first crew swap out by a working group composed of representatives from various directorates at Coast Guard Headquarters and staff assigned to Area Commanders, Maintenance and Logistics Command, and “plank owners” from the first crews that will operate the NSCs.

At any given time, one crew will have full responsibility for cutter operations and maintenance, underway and in port. Although none of the crews will permanently “own” a specific hull, a crew will operate and maintain its assigned cutter until such time that they are swapped out to maintain the crew PERSTEMPO cap. For periods when crews rotate off a cutter, they are considered “offcycle.” The actual rotation cycle will vary from port to port and year to year based on the crew and cutter allocations as well as operational demands.

When off-cycle the crew will have a better opportunity to focus on readiness, including opportunities for leave, medical issues, and training. Additionally, the off-cycle crew provides the capacity to augment in-port cutters to conduct maintenance.

**Sea Toby** · 20 October 2006, 05:49

There are eight planned new National Security Cutter, the first is expected to enter service in 2007. This ship will displace around 4000 tons, speed of 28-29 knots, with a range of 12000 nautical miles. This cutter can be crewed with a minimum of 80, will normally be crewed with 106, and has accommodations for 126. The National Security Cutter will replace the 12 Hamiliton class cutters built during the late 1960s.

Up to 25 Offshore Patrol Cutters are also planned, with the first to enter service in 2012. This ship will displace around 3500 tons, speed of 25 knots. Accomodations for 80-120, but will normally be crewed with 102. The Offshore Patrol Cutters will replace 14 Reliance class built in the mid-1960s, and the 13 Bear class built during the mid-1980s. Obviously, the Reliance class will be replaced first, and later the Bear class.

Currently most of the Hamilitons operate in the Pacific, most of the Bears operate in the Atlantic, whereas the Reliance class are evenly split between both coasts. While I have no information, I assume most of the NSCs will be operating in the Pacific and most of the OPCs will be operating in the Atlantic, but many of the OPCs will also be operating in the Pacific as well.

You'll notice that the NSCs will have a slight angle to their hull and superstructure, whereas the current plans for the OPCs don't. However, the final design for the OPCs have not been approved as yet, and it may too have a slight angle. I wonder whether the ships are stealthy enough, its a very slight angle.

Both ships are armed with a 57-mm gun mount, with hangars two for helicopters. Space has been reserved for the SeaRam SAMs for close in defence. Both ships will carry "Adaptable Mission Modules" . The first NSC ship was ordered for US$ 140 million. The US Coast Guard plans both to last until after mid-century.

When the Coast Guard was under the Treasury Department it usually received its funding. However, when the Coast Guard was under the Transportation Department, it never received its full funding, there were a lot of service life extension programs. Now that the Coast Guard is under the Homeland Security Department, the Coast Guard appears to be getting its full funding again. While the patrol boats and craft were bought in the past, very few of the larger ships were built under the Transportation Department, where highways seemed to get the lion's share of its funding.

The New NSCs will be called the Legend class, named after legendary Coast Guard heroes. The first cutter is named after Bertholf, the second cutter will be named after Waesche. The Legend class are being built at the Northrup-Grumman's Ingalls shipyard at Pascagoula, Mississippi. This shipyard was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, but work proceeded building this ship after a delay of only 10 days, for both the shipyard and its employees to clean up their messes at the shipyard and at their homes.

I do wonder whether the new crewing arrangement will work. For the patrol boats it works because if a crew left a mess the second crew replacing it could leave a mess as well for the first. With four crews working among three different ships, I doubt whether a second crew could ever leave a mess in revenge for the first. But I do agree crews should be first, not ships, and ships can last a lot longer than crews, especially in todays age where shore time is treasured.

While the Coast Guard has not ordered ships for next year yet, the President has signed next year's authorization. I understand next year's order will be for 2 more NSCs. In another two years the authorization for the 8 should be finished, with the OPCs being ordered afterwards.

**ZULU** · 27 October 2006, 14:48

Deepwater Sinking?

http://www.defensetech.org/

A couple months ago, Lockheed whistleblower Mike DeKort prophesied the imminent unraveling of the Coast Guard's $25-billion Deepwater modernization effort due to contractor failures. Looks like he might have been right. Defense News reports that the centerpiece Fast Response Cutter, a Northrop Grumman-led program to field around 60 patrol boats for coastal rescue, has been put on hold due to design flaws:

The Coast Guard wants to build a total of 58 FRC cutters, which are badly needed to replace worn-out 110-foot cutters now in service. A previous plan to rebuild the 110-foot cutter fleet ended after the first converted ships developed serious hull integrity problems.

Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Pascagoula, Miss., has strongly been pushing its composite design, to be built at its facility in Gulfport, Miss. The Coast Guard had earlier planned to order a prototype composite FRC cutter in 2006, but those plans are now on hold.

After two false starts, the Coast Guard "need[s] a patrol boat right away," says Rear Admiral Gary Blore, head of Deepwater. Defense News sketches some of the possibilities:

Blore noted that 19 international manufacturers with 27 different designs responded to a request for information put out in February to seek patrol boats that might meet Coast Guard requirements. None of the initial submissions met those requirements, Blore said, so the service modified some of its specifications. As a result, “five or six” of the designs show promise, Blore said.

The Coast Guard is looking for a vessel from 140 to 160 feet in length, Blore said — shorter than a number of the foreign designs. The FRC-B plan is based on a “parent-craft concept,” Blore explained, where the Coast Guard chooses a design, purchases construction rights, and builds the craft in the U.S. A similar approach, he noted, was used on the 110-foot Island-class cutters the FRC is intended to replace.

Under current plans, the Coast Guard could build 12 FRC-B cutters and 46 composite-hull FRC-A cutters, Blore said, although he allowed that those figures could change as composite craft are delivered and the program gains maturity.

-- David Axe

October 25, 2006 01:50 AM

**Sea Toby** · 27 October 2006, 23:04

There have been problems with the Island class remodeling upgrade, therefore the Coast Guard is starting a new patrol boat class, the FRC. They weren't expected to be ordered until 2016-2018, but the first one will be funded, and most likely ordered in FY2007. The Island class modernizations were killed at 8 boats. The Coast Guard also accepted five of the Storm class patrol boats from the Navy, with their top speed of 35 knots, all five are being based in Miami.

Yes, the Coast Guard is now getting its funding under the Department of Homeland Security which it never received under the Department of Transportation. No more pet Congressional highways or airports to steal their funds in Homeland Security.

**Goldie fish** · 28 October 2006, 00:11

Speaking of USCG, has anyone seen that movie?

**Marius** · 28 October 2006, 15:20

The Guardian. I saw it last week. The training scenes are very funny in places and the action sequences are excellent. If you know anything about the sea, you won't learn anything from this but it is an enjoyable show and makes you appreciate the guys who do this for real. The movie is done to the classic Top Gun formula with flashbacks to a tragic past incident, a fatally flawed central character, lots of saluting and trainees thrown into action just after they graduate. You can't go wrong.

**Goldie fish** · 29 October 2006, 02:28

Thanks for that, saw it earlier, I was quite impressed, though they did make the cabin of the Jayhawk out to be massive.
The "squids" won't be pleased either.

**ZULU** · 8 December 2006, 19:31

Deep-water in troubled seas

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16105291/

**ZULU** · 15 March 2007, 12:54

Coast Guard's Deepwater Fast Response Cutter (FRC) Program Terminated

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003360.html

**Dogwatch** · 9 April 2007, 17:36

First NSC Nears Completion

The first-in-class USCG BERTHOLF is currently 72% complete, and preparations are underway for Electronic Light-Off, the first time that electronic equipment is powered-up and an important milestone in early stages of bringing the ship to life-scheduled for later this month.

**Goldie fish** · 7 May 2007, 12:40

The Programme has been having plenty of difficulties Following on the FRC cancellation. The NSC as specified was to provide 230 days availability per annum in the North Pacific over a 30 year lifespan. Following launch, it now looks like this availability will be reduced to 170 days, while building costs for the first two ships have increased from $517m to $775m, not including the costs of correcting deficiencies.

Dept of Homeland Security have laid the blame firmly at the USCGs door, hilighting major design faults and lax supervision of the Project. According to Ships Monthly, "The USCG was lambasted for its failure to exercise technical oversight over the design and construction phases."

**thebig C** · 8 May 2007, 10:39

US military overspend

Originally posted by Goldie fish View Post

The Programme has been having plenty of difficulties Following on the FRC cancellation. The NSC as specified was to provide 230 days availability per annum in the North Pacific over a 30 year lifespan. Following launch, it now looks like this availability will be reduced to 170 days, while building costs for the first two ships have increased from $517m to $775m, not including the costs of correcting deficiencies.

Dept of Homeland Security have laid the blame firmly at the USCGs door, hilighting major design faults and lax supervision of the Project. According to Ships Monthly, "The USCG was lambasted for its failure to exercise technical oversight over the design and construction phases."

My impression is that the US taxpayer has been ripped off right, left and centre since 9/11 by military contractors, the people behind that muppet/puppet Bush. The US always has to have enemies. Why? So that public and therefore political support for massive military spending can be sustained. Who benefits? The big companies and corporations and their shareholders. Who loses? The US taxpayers, and of course the poor people at the receiving end of these weapons in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.... but they don't really count...

Announcement

New USCG Cutter

New USCG Cutter

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