National Security Cutter

Design

The Legend-class cutters are the second longest of all U.S. Coast Guard cutters, behind the research icebreaker Healy, and will replace the twelve Hamilton-class cutters in service. These cutters are envisioned by the Coast Guard as being able to undertake the entire range of the high endurance cutter roles with additional upgrades to make it more of an asset to the Department of Defense during declared national emergency contingencies. These vessels can be used for intercepting suspect vessels, or for rescuing swimmers, fishery protection, maritime homeland security missions, counterterrorism, coastal patrol missions, defense operations and other military/naval operations, and can assist in mine warfare. To facilitate intercept missions, the Legend class can carry and launch both the Short Range Prosecutor and the Long Range Interceptor rigid hull inflatable boats.

The cutter has a rear-launching ramp, capable of launching and retrieving the two aft stored rigid-hulled inflatable boats while underway. The NSC is built to about 90% military standards. The NSC is designed to US Navy Damage Stability Criteria and to Level 1 Survivability standards. The NSC has degaussing capability.

Combat suite

Legend-class cutters have increased data link bandwidth. The EADS North America TRS-3D radar system provides three-dimensional air and surface search functions and is used in the LCS program as well as the German Korvette 130 program. The cutters are also equipped with the AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare (EW) system used in the DDG-51. The Legend class is equipped with the same 220 rpm Bofors 57 mm gun as mounted on the USN's Littoral combat ships. The Missile Defense duties are handled by the MK 36 SRBOC decoy systems also used on the FFG-7 and CG-47 programs and the CIWS. The combination of the Mk 110 and the Phalanx give the cutter's Anti-Surface capability and limited Air-Defense capability. The sonar is reported as having mine and underwater swimmer location ability. The cutters have space, weight, and power reserved for additional weapons and systems which includes mine warfare systems. The NSC has a NBC detection and defense system to repel chemical, biological or radiological attacks and has wash-down systems.

History

The first NSC, USCGC Bertholf, entered sea trials in February 2008. She has been in service since August 2008, and is homeported at Coast Guard Island, Alameda, California. A second NSC, Waesche, is also homeported in Alameda in 2010. Construction of Stratton - which now carries a crew of 123 - began in 2008 at Northrop Grumman's Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. The vessel was christened by first lady Michelle Obama on July 23, 2010, and released to the custody of the Coast Guard on September 2, 2011. She is now in service in Alameda. Construction on the fourth NSC, Hamilton, began in 2011. The Fleet Mix Analysis (FMA) Phase 1 study in December 2009 called for nine NSCs, but there are eight ships in the Program of Record and only seven hulls have been funded as of the FY2013-17 capital investment plan. The NSC's proved their capability to perform naval operations during the 2012 RIMPAC exercises, where the USCGC Bertholf detected and tracked missile threats and also provided naval gunfire support for troops ashore during the training exercise, along with being able to move with other naval forces and being able to do other defense operations.

Program issues

On 7 July 2009, the Government Accountability Office reported that delays in the NSC program are likely to result in "the loss of thousands of cutter operational days for conducting missions through 2017." The GAO also reported that month that problems in the NSC program have delayed the OPC program by five years. The program was also plagued by structural issues; the Coast Guard historically uses its cutters extensively, typically 180 days at sea a year, furthering the problem this will often be in North Pacific and North Atlantic waters that are some of the roughest seas in the Northern Hemisphere. As such, the stresses on the Cutters are expected to be very severe. Structural Analysis showed that some parts of the cutter could be expected to survive only 3 years. This has been addressed in cutter 752 on, with the first two cutters receiving reinforcements later. WMSL-752, the Stratton, suffered corrosion and leaks within weeks of commissioning in 2012. Earlier ships have not had that problem so it may be the result of the Cathodic protection system being hooked up in reverse.

The delays and problems have led to cost increases. The latest USCG estimate for eight ships is $5,474m for an average cost of $684m but hull 8 is not currently funded; the first six hulls cost $3,902m for an average of $650m/ship. The sixth NSC cost $735m in FY2012/3.

Variants

Huntington Ingalls Industries has proposed two "patrol frigates" for Navy use, based on the NSC hull.

Patrol Frigate 4501 is very similar to the NSC, the main differences being a modified stern ramp and a knuckleboom crane replacing the overhead crane. The crew is increased to 148, and it was offered to the US Navy as a replacement for the Littoral Combat Ship; the FY13 cost of an LCS was $446.3m compared to $735m for an NSC.

Patrol Frigate 4921 is a more radical redesign with a crew of 141, adding weapons and sensors at the expense of reducing range from 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km) to 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km). It adds a 12-cell Mk56 VLS launcher for ESSM air-defense missiles, just behind the main gun which is upgraded from 57mm to a 76 mm Super Rapid. Two quad launchers for Harpoon (missile) anti-ship missiles and a triple launcher for torpedoes are added to the stern. It retains the SeaRAM/Phalanx CIWS and 6 machine guns of other NSC variants. The stern is closed in and houses a towed-array sonar; there is a hull sonar for mine countermeasures and an ESM suite. The original "National Patrol Frigate" concept had an AN/SPY-1F air-defense radar but by 2012 the PF4921 was being shown with an Australian CEAFAR radar.

HII is promoting an NSC variant for the Royal Australian Navy's upcoming Offshore Combatant Vessel project. Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Germany have also shown interest in NSC derivatives.