Legend (class)

Legendary History (Class)

In the final stages of the Cold War (1947-1991), the United States Coast Guard (USCG) took decisive steps to renew nearly all of its marine and offshore assets, procure a wide range of maritime aircraft, Ships and Co. The The program, dubbed the "Integrated Deepwater Systems Program," seeks, but is not limited to, the acquisition of Northrop Grumman's RQ-4A Global Hawk drone, CASA CN-235 and Lockheed C- 130 high-wing transport aircraft and a brand new line of cutter boats such as National Security Cutter (NSC), Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) and Rapid Response Cutter (FRC).

However, the decades-long initiative eventually lost support and lost funding in 2012.

Some assets have been acquired, such as the NPC ship mentioned above - known as "Legendary". The U.S. Coast Guard has 11 planned, of which 6 are in service, 1 is being tested at sea, 2 are under construction, and 2 are on order. This class represents the largest and most advanced combat ships of the U.S. Coast Guard, and they are the successors to the outgoing Hamilton-class ships of the 1960s.

The new ships will be built by Ingalls Shipbuilding.

Such warships are used to enforce US maritime jurisdiction, therefore USCG elements are often used for interdiction of trafficking (immigrants, drugs, etc...), general law enforcement, deterrence, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, search and rescue (SAR ), counterterrorism, fisheries monitoring, environmental protection, and when necessary, will carry out operations under the guidance of the U.S. Navy.

Legendary ships do look like military patrol ships. These boats are sleek, with "invisible" board sides and an overall low profile. The forecastle houses a turret-mounted main battery in the "A" position, while the bridge is elevated in this position, providing impressive forward ocean views.

The fuselage structure integrates the bridge section, main mast, funnel and rear fuselage section/suspension.

Above the stern is a helipad with one of the helicopters supporting the USCG Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) MH-65C Dolphin MCH naval helicopter system. However, up to two medium helicopters can be transported using the hangar for storage. Additionally, up to 2 (vertical launch) Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are supported.

The onboard hangar provides a full range of service facilities for the rotorcraft. Up to three rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) are stowed aft for fast flares and launches, including two different designs, the 35-foot CB-LRI-II and the 26-foot CB-OTH-IV [/p ]

There are 122 crew members on board, with a maximum capacity of 148 people on board. Food and fuel allow the warship to stay at the station for up to 60 days.

The Legend class is equipped with state-of-the-art sensors and processing systems, including EADS' AN/SPS-75 3D TRS-16 series air search radar, AN/SPS-73 surface search radar and SPQ-9B system fire control radar. AN/SLQ-32(V)2 for electronic warfare (EW) roles, 2 x SRBOC and 2 x NULKA launchers for chaff decoy roles.

Weapons include a 57mm Mk 110 turret mounted deck gun (same as USN Littoral Combat Ships) and 1 x 20mm Phalanx Block 1B Baseline 2 Close-In Weapon System (CIWS). Holds up to 4 x 12.7mm M2 Browning heavy machine guns and 2 x 7.62mm M240 medium machine guns for very close range work.

All except the personal weapons carried by the crew.

The 4,500 ton (length) vessel is 418 feet long, 54 feet beam, and has a draught of up to 22.5 feet. A combined diesel and gas unit (CODAG) for propulsion consists of 2 MTU 20V 1163 marine diesel engines rated at 9,900 hp and 1 LM2500 gas turbine rated at 30,000 hp. All told, these vessels can reach offshore speeds of 28 knots, improved seakeeping helps them balance in rough seas when away from shore, and better endurance means more dwell time. Airborne systems are capable of full interoperability with existing U.S.

Navy systems and subsystems.

Current (2018) class ships include USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750), UCGC Warsche (WMSL-751), USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752), USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753), USCGC James (WMSL-754) ), USCGC Munro (WMSL-755), USCGC Kimball (WMSL-756), USCGC Midgett (WMSL-757), USCGC Stone (WMSL-758) and two unnamed ships (WMSL-759 and WMSL-760). Bertholf, Waesche, Stratton, Hamilton, James and Munro are all active. Kimball accepted the sea trials he requested.

As of 2018, Midgett and Stone are under construction.

The family started commissioning (with Bertholf) in August 2008 and the most recent member is Munro, who was adopted in April 2017.

Specification

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