Aug. 31, 2018 —
Coast Guard Cutter Waesche prepares to refloat while in drydock in Seattle, Washington, May 22, 2018. Waesche is the second 418-foot Legend-class National Security Cutter; it is stationed in Alameda, California. U. S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Ayla Kelley.
The Coast Guard on Aug. 23 completed structural enhancement of the national security cutter (NSC) class with the conclusion of work on Coast Guard Cutter Waesche, the service’s second NSC, at Vigor Marine LLC’s Seattle shipyard.
The ship, currently moored at Coast Guard Base Seattle, is scheduled to depart for its Alamada, California, homeport later this month.
Structural enhancement work on the cutter addressed fatigue life concerns identified in the original NSC design. The first NSC, Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf, completed similar work in September 2017.
It was determined during the early stages of NSC production that the cutters’ design would need structural modifications in some areas in order to achieve a 30-year design fatigue life. The Coast Guard and the shipbuilder completed additional analyses and engineering efforts to address the fatigue life concerns, resulting in the incorporation of structural enhancements into regular production during the construction of the third NSC, Coast Guard Cutter Stratton. With the completion of activities on Waesche, all NSCs have been equipped with the required structural enhancements.
Bertholf and Waesche are two of the four NSCs based in Alameda, California. Two NSCs are based in Charleston, South Carolina. The seventh and eighth NSCs, Kimball and Midgett, will be stationed in Honolulu. Kimball is scheduled for delivery in fall 2018, and Midgett is planned for delivery in 2019.
For more information: National Security Cutter Program page