PASCAGOULA, Miss., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- A new U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter was launched this month by Huntington Ingalls Industries' Ingalls Shipbuilding division.
The USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753) is the fourth Legend class NSC the company is building for the Coast Guard.
Legend class cutters are 418 feet long and 54 feet in the beam. They displace 4,500 tons with a full load, have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles and an endurance of 60 days.
"Launching a ship involves quite a bit of logistics and our team pulled this off in a very safe and efficient manner," said Ingalls' NSC Program Manager Jim French. "It's a weeklong process to first translate the ship across land into our floating dry dock and then going through an extensive ship-wide check-out process to launch.
"The team's performance was outstanding, and now we can focus on completing the ship and getting her to the Coast Guard next year."
The NSC cutters feature an aft launch-and-recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft. Three of the Legend class ships, which are replacing Hamilton class cutters from the 1960s, have been delivered to the Coast Guard by the company.
