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9 May 2008
history.
"Our shipbuilding team faced a number of challenges in designing and building this first-of-class ship. We've worked through the issues and the Coast Guard is getting a great capability to meet their mission requirements," said Irwin F. Edenzon, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding - Gulf Coast.
Bertholf is the first ship in the new class of highly capable, technologically advanced, multi-mission cutters. The NSC was built through the Deepwater Programme under contract from Integrated Coast Guard Systems, a joint venture of Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.
The NSC is a 418-foot vessel with a 4,300 ton displacement at full load and is powered by a combined diesel and gas turbine power propulsion plant driving twin screws with a maximum speed of over 28 knots. The cutter includes an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats, an expansive flight deck able to accommodate a range of rotary wing manned and unmanned aircraft and modern command and control systems.
Lockheed Martin's Coast Guard Command & Control (CG-C2) system provides the Coast Guard a common operating picture to aid coordination among helicopters, aircraft, other ships and shore facilities. The system facilitates interoperability with the forces and agencies of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and 117 federal and regional agencies and organisations. It also provides sensors for surface and air detection, tracking, classification and identification, and an integrated voice communications capability over a host of commercial and military radios and satellites.
In addition, the cutter features improved habitability, and a design to facilitate optimised crewing and enhance onboard quality of life for a mixed gender crew.
The handover followed a series of at-sea trials culminating in a third-party assessment by the US Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV).
"The INSURV report confirmed the quality of our engineers' system design and our shipboard integration and test team's work," said Richard Lockwood, vice president of Lockheed Martin's Coast Guard Systems business. "We have a small number of open items yet to close, which is expected with a system of CG-C2's complexity, but we stand ready to support Captain Stadt and his crew as they run Bertholf through her paces."
CG-C2, installed on Bertholf, is fully interoperable with systems previously delivered on the HC-144A Ocean Sentry maritime patrol aircraft, the modified HC-130J Hercules long-range search aircraft, and upgrades to the Coast Guard's 39 legacy high- and medium-endurance cutters.
Bertholf is scheduled to be formally commissioned by the Coast Guard on August 4, 2008 at its future homeport in Alameda, Calif.
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