PASCAGOULA, Miss., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Construction of another National Security Cutter for the U.S. Coast Guard has been started by Ingalls Shipbuilding.
The cutter, the Munro, is the sixth by the company and will have a top speed of 28 knots and a range of 12,000 miles.
Huntington Ingalls Industries, parent of the shipbuilding company, said it has delivered three of the cutters to the Coast Guard so far and work is continuing on the fourth and fifth.
"Our shipbuilders have a great jump-start on the construction of this ship as we have already cut and processed more than 400 tons of steel for NSC 6," said Jim French, Ingalls' NSC program manager. "We are seeing improved efficiencies across the board in National Security Cutter construction as this program matures and we leverage lessons learned from one ship to the next.
"The benefits of serial production demonstrated in this program are a win-win for our Coast Guard customer and the shipbuilder."
The 418-foot-long ships are replacing the Coast Guard's 378-foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters.
