The Coast Guard and Northrop Grumman [NOC] yesterday laid the keel for the third 418-foot National Security Cutter, the Stratton (WMSL 752), at the company’s shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss.
The keel laying is the official ceremony marking the start of a ship’s construction, although in this case the Stratton is already 20 percent complete.
The Coast Guard also announced that First Lady Michelle Obama will serve as Stratton’s sponsor, the first time a first lady has ever sponsored a Coast Guard cutter. As sponsor, Obama will be involved in the life of the cutter, including its christening.
The Stratton is named after Capt. Dorothy Stratton, who directed the Coast Guard’s Women’s Reserve during World War II.
Northrop Grumman is 90 percent complete with the second NSC, the Waesche (WMSL 751), and has acquired long-lead materials for the fourth cutter, the Hamilton (WMSL 753). The first NSC, the CGC Bertholf (WMSL 750), was accepted by the Coast Guard last year. The cutter earlier this month recently boasted an operational success as it seized two suspected drug smuggling boats, detained four suspected smugglers, and recovered a bale of cocaine after disrupting a drug smuggling operation in international waters about 80 miles off the coast of Guatemala. The seizure market the first drug bust by the crew of the Bertholf.
Current plans call for the Coast Guard to acquire eight NSCs.