The lead ship of the U.S. Coast Guard’s extremely anticipated Heritage-class offshore patrol cutter (OPC), the USCGC Argus, was efficiently launched at Jap Shipbuilding’s Nelson Shipyard in Panama Metropolis, Florida on Friday. This marks a big milestone within the Coast Guard’s mission to reinforce its fleet and capabilities.
Named after the historic Income Cutter Argus, which served the newly shaped United States of America for a formidable 13 years beginning in 1791, USCGC Argus pays homage to the service’s wealthy heritage. It is among the ten unique cutters assigned to the U.S. Income Cutter Service, a predecessor to the Coast Guard, and holds the document for the longest time in service among the many group.
The development of the offshore patrol cutters has been a large enterprise, involving over 800 craft staff at Jap Shipbuilding Group and the help of greater than 200 companies from greater than a dozen states.
The acquisition of the OPC represents the Coast Guard’s highest funding precedence. Serving as a important functionality bridge between the nationwide safety cutter and the quick response cutter, the OPCs will substitute the service’s growing older 270-foot and 210-foot medium endurance cutters, which have turn into more and more expensive to take care of and function.
Jap Shipbuilding Group was initially awarded the contract to design and assemble as much as 9 Offshore Patrol Cutters in 2016, marking the largest-ever vessel procurement contract in Coast Guard historical past. Nonetheless, vital harm to Jap Shipbuilding’s amenities attributable to Hurricane Michael’s landfall in Panama Metropolis in 2018 precipitated not solely the delay of the primary OPC , however the contract was truly modified to 4 vessels as this system was divided into two phases.
Final 12 months, Austal USA was awarded the contract for the design and development of the primary OPC in stage 2 of this system. This stage consists of choices for as much as 10 further vessels, doubtlessly growing the contract worth to $3.3 billion.
General, the Coast Guard is dedicated to investing over $12 billion within the acquisition of a fleet of 25 OPCs, an important step in modernizing and strengthening their capabilities for the longer term.
Commissioning of the USCGC Argus is now deliberate for 2024, practically three years delayed and billions of {dollars} over funds.
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