The lead ship within the U.S. Coast Guard’s Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program, USCGC Argus (WMSM-915), was launched and christened throughout a ceremony at Japanese Shipbuilding Group’s Nelson St. Shipyard in Panama Metropolis, Fla.
Attended by greater than 3,000 friends, the occasion featured a keynote handle delivered by Admiral Linda Fagan, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.
“The Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) is without doubt one of the service’s highest acquisition priorities and is completely important to recapitalizing the potential supplied by our legacy fleet of 210-foot and 270- foot Medium Endurance Cutters (MEC),” Fagan mentioned.
The vessel was christened by ship sponsor, Captain (Ret.) Beverly Kelley, the primary lady to command a U.S. army vessel, earlier than being side- launched from shore into the water
“We’re proud to christen this primary of sophistication nationwide safety asset in entrance of her crew at present,” mentioned Joey D’Isernia, CEO of Japanese Shipbuilding Group, Inc. “With every milestone we attain, our workers are setting up essentially the most superior and succesful ship the U.S. Coast Guard has ever seen.”
The Coast Guard intends to fee as much as 25 Heritage class OPCs over the subsequent twenty years as substitute for its its getting old fleet of 270-foot and 210-foot medium endurance cutters. Able to deploying independently or as a part of activity teams, the brand new 360-foot OPCs will likely be used for missions equivalent to legislation enforcement, drug and migrant interdiction and search and rescue operations. Every may have a spread of 10,200 nautical miles at 14 knots and a 60-day endurance interval.
Japanese’s preliminary OPC award in 2016 was for ships 1-11, however the Coast Guard later modified the contract after Hurricane Michael landed a direct hit on Japanese’s shipyard in 2018.
“We’ve got overcome unprecedented challenges to reach at this pivotal second to witness this spectacular vessel enter the water for the very first time. Individuals are solely simply starting to see what this vessel is really able to and just like the metal cast on her, we won’t compromise,” D’Isernia mentioned.
In 2019, the Coast Guard revised its OPC acquisition technique and opened a aggressive bid course of for OPCs 5 and thru 15. Final yr, Cell, Ala. shipbuilder Austal USA was awarded a contract to construct as much as 11 OPCs.
