Penultimate Legend-class cutter handed over to US Coast Guard
USCGC Calhoun has now entered service with the USCG. (Photo: HII)
Legend-class ships have formed the basis of the National Security Cutter (NSC) programme which has been running since the early 2000s with the intention of replacing ships in service since the 1960s.
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding delivered the national security cutter USCGC Calhoun (WMSL 759) to the US Coast Guard (USCG) on 13 October.
Ingalls has now delivered 10 Legend-class ships to the USCG including Calhoun. Fabrication of the final ship, USCGC Friedman (NSC 11), began in May 2021 and handover of the ship will be expected in 2024 or 2025.
Since the turn of the century, Ingalls Shipbuilding has designed and built the USCG’s Legend-class national security cutters.
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The ships have been designed to be capable of embarking on and supporting a wide range of the USCG, the US Navy and NATO missions, with a particular focus on drug interdiction, illegal fishing, disaster relief and defence-support operations.
The first ship-in-class USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750) was laid down on 29 March 2005 and launched on 29 September 2006. It was commissioned into service on 4 August 2008.
Shephard Defence Insight noted that Calhoun was built by HII under a US$468.7 million fixed-price-incentive contract and Friedman was developed under a $462.13 million contract. All 11 NSCs were procured through to FY2018 and no 12th vessel has been planned.
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