USCG National Security Cutter Stone Passes Acceptance Trials
The U.S. Coast Guard’s ninth national security cutter, Stone (WMSL 758), has completed acceptance sea trials, Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division announced Friday.
Having recently spent two days in the Gulf of Mexico proving its systems, Stone is scheduled to deliver later this year and will be homeported in Charleston, S.C.
Ingalls in Pascagoula, Miss. has delivered eight Legend-class NSCs with two more under construction and one additional under contract.
The technologically advanced Legend-class NSC enables the Coast Guard to meet the demands required for maritime and homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions. NSCs are 418 feet long with a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 120.
NSC 9 was named to honor Coast Guard officer Commander Elmer “Archie” Fowler Stone, Coast Guard aviator number one, who made history in 1919 for being one of two Coast Guard pilots in the four man air crew who completed the first transatlantic flight in a Navy seaplane.
“This ship, like all of the national security cutters we have delivered, will be capable of undertaking the most challenging Coast Guard missions with great capability and endurance,” said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias.