The U.S. Coast Guard has plans to build 25 Heritage Class Offshore Patrol Cutters, including four now slated to be homeported at Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island. (Courtesy of Eastern Shipbuilding Group)
The number of new U.S. Coast Guard cutters destined to call Naval Station Newport home has doubled, Rhode Island’s U.S. Sen. Jack Reed announced Tuesday.
Two sets of 360-foot twin U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutters — not the one set Reed’s office originally announced in 2020 — will be based on Aquidneck Island. Each of the new cutters will be built by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama.
The cutters are part of the Heritage-class of ships that began construction in 2019. The Coast Guard intends to build 25 vessels in all, with the first four cutters built by Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama, Florida.Â
The first four were assigned to San Pedro, California, and Kodiak, Alaska. The cutters are designed to operate beyond 12 nautical miles from shore and conduct missions including law enforcement, drug and migrant interdiction, search and rescue, and other homeland security and defense operations. They will also help regulate and protect emerging commerce and energy exploration in Alaska.
Austal USA will build the next 11 cutters. The Coast Guard has not publicly announced which ships are going where, except that Rhode Island will be the homeport of four of them.
Last August, the Mobile shipyard started production on the fifth cutter, which is expected to be delivered to the Coast Guard in late 2027. The cutter is named after Timothy Pickering, the nation’s second war secretary who later served as secretary of state before becoming a U.S. senator and member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts.
The cutters have room onboard for 100-plus crewmembers and weigh in at 4,500 long tons when fully loaded.Â
“It’s a smart decision that makes strategic and economic sense for the Coast Guard and represents a significant investment in the Ocean State’s Blue Economy,” Reed said in a statement. “There is a lot of work ahead, but I look forward to welcoming these vessels and their crews, support personnel, and their families to their new homeport.”
Reed pushed for the expansion of the Coast Guard’s footprint in Rhode Island and secured over $100 million to begin work on a new pier at Naval Station Newport. He also successfully advocated for bringing a pair of 270-foot cutters, Tahoma and Campbell, to Rhode Island in 2022 from their previous homeport at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire.Â
It will likely be several years before the four new cutters arrive in Newport, according to Reed’s office. The four sister ships will eventually replace the Tahoma and Campbell.
“Homeporting these versatile and highly capable vessels in Rhode Island is a win for both the country, the state, and the Coast Guard,” Reed added. “Once operational, they will significantly strengthen the Coast Guard’s regional capabilities and bolster its mission readiness.”
Three Coast Guard buoy tenders — Oak, Sycamore and Ida Lewis — have been homeported in Newport for many years.
Middletown Town Administrator Shawn J. Brown said the town has been preparing as a community for the expansion of Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ships at Naval Station Newport.
“The arrivals have influenced everything from the work on our new middle-high school to numerous discussions about affordable housing, long-term planning and more,” Brown said in a statement. “We’ve had multiple discussions with our federal and state delegation for any assistance we might need, but as a community stand ready to assist the Coast Guard with its transition and look at this as a true opportunity to show what a great place Middletown is to live, work and play.”
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