Earlier I asked this question regarding NSC #5 (WMSL 754 James), because what I had seen recently seemed out of line with the prices I had seen reported for #4 (WMSL 753 Hamilton). Someone from Headquarters was good enough to point me to a helpful 3,311 page document, the DHS 2012 budget justification (this is a large pdf), and even told me where to look (see page 1622 of the pdf). Turns out the total costs are pretty close.

Here is the funding history according to that doccument:

FY             ($1,000)        Major Activity Funded by Net Appropriation

2002           $7,869         Conceptual Development/Design
2003       $136,937         Detailed Design and NSC #1 LLTM
2004      $204,093         NSC #1 Production
2005       $264,100         NSC #2 Production and LLTM
2006      $489,054         NSC #3 Production and LLTM
2007(1)  $386,299        Consolidated Contracting Action NSC 1-3
——–          $24,100        NSC #4 LLTM
2008(2)    $72,500        NSC #4 LLTM
——–          $93,470       NSC #3-4 Govt Furnished Equip, Certifications, & Logistics
2009(3)   $159,100       NSC #1-3 Completion
——–        $196,900       NSC #4 Production
——–             $7,100       NSC #1-2 Structural Retrofit Planning/Analysis
2010(4)  $384,480        NSC #4 Production
——–            $5,000        NSC #5 LLTM
2011(5)    $615,000        NSC #5 Production
Total $3,046,004 Funding received for FY 2004 through FY 2011 (see note 5)

Notes:
1. Funding History for FY 2007 reflects changes from the Consolidated Contracting Action.
2. Funding History for FY 2008 reflects changes from the Consolidated Contracting Action.
3. Funding History for FY 2009 reflects $9.4M included for, “necessary expenses related to the consequences of 2008 natural disasters,” per P.L. 110-329.
4. FY 2010 appropriations included $108M above the President’s Request for NSC-5 LLTM.  $103M was used to fund
completion of NSC #4.
5. Anticipated FY 2011 appropriation is $615M.  $5M in FY 2010 carryover funding combined with $615M in anticipated FY 2011 funding and $77M included in the FY 2012 President’s Budget will fully fund NSC-5 and allow USCG to award a
production contract.

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Adding the $77M requested in the FY2012 budget that is expected to finish fully funding NSC#5, the total cost of the five ships will be $3.123B, or an average of $624M each.

Somewhat surprisingly, the new ships have cost more than the earlier ships. Shipyards usually achieve economies as they gain experience.

NSC #4 cost $678M plus whatever was it’s portion of the $93.5M in FY2008 for “Govt Furnished Equip, Certifications, & Logistics.” If we can assume half then the total cost was approx $725M.

NSC #5 cost $697M. Its not clear if there will be any more “Govt Furnished Equip, Certifications, & Logistics.”

The AC&I (Acquisition, Construction, and Improvement) budget for FY2012 is about $1.4B. The NSC is very little of that ($77M) because NSC#5 is mostly paid for from prior year budgets, but we can expect to see it take up almost half the AC&I budgets for FY 2013/14/15.

Presumably the first Offshore Patrol Cutter will be funded early in FY2016, with delivery late in 2019.

Thanks for the information.