Click on the graphic to enlarge
The Acquisitions Directorate has a story on the commissioning of the 17th Webber class WPC, USCGC Donald Horsley (WPC-1117).
Included in the post was the graphic above, which gives us an indication of where future cutters will be homeported:
- Ketchikan, AK
- San Pedro, CA
- Pascagoula, MS
- Atlantic Beach, NC
- Cape May, NJ
One more WPC is expected to go to San Juan, so in about six months we should see a Webber class go to Ketchikan. Certainly its improved sea keeping compared to the 110s will be appreciated.
This is not, I’m sure, a complete list of future homeports, given that we expect 41 more of this class. I’m not privy to the home porting plan or how many will be in each port, but this looks like it will cover at least the next 18 months. It may cover a much longer period if more than one Webber class will be assigned to some of these ports, and that seems likely.
I would note that these homeports look good from a Ports, Waterways, and Coastal Security perspective. Ketchikan and the inland passage has a lot of cruise ship traffic. San Pedro is near the huge Los Angeles port complex and the strategic ports of Long Beach and Port Hueneme. Pascagoula based ships potentially protect the ports of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico including the eastern approaches to the Mississippi River port complex and the strategic port of Gulf Port, MS. Atlantic Beach, NC is close to Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras, but it is also close to the strategic ports of Morehead City, Sunny Point, and Wilmington. WPCs in Cape May, NJ could provide protection for Delaware Bay, including the strategic port of Philadelphia.
If any of our readers has access to the homeporting plan, and it is public knowledge, I would appreciate the information.
The map also has blue dots on the Gulf Coast and Honolulu
The dot on the Gulf Coast is Pascagoula, but good point about Honolulu.
I have also heard some are going to Guam, a very important port, but for the Navy, homeport only for SSNs and a helicopter squadron. Some Marine units are moving there from Okinawa. Also a “strategic port.”
The 18th Webber Class WPC has been delivered to the CG and is expected to be commissioned in August. http://www.marinelog.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=22125:bollinger-delivers-frc-18-uscgc-joseph-tezanos&Itemid=223
Are the 154ft FRC cutters considered Corvettes?
No, the Webber class are “Patrol Craft.” Their designation, WPC means Coast Guard
Patrol Craft (PC). I did do a post about corvettes earlier. You can find it here. https://chuckhillscgblog.net/2013/11/26/what-is-a-corvette-and-what-next/
So are the large cutters considered Frigates? If not, what are they considered?
The Coast Guard does not use the frigate or corvette designation. All Coast Guard vessels 65 feet and larger are referred to as cutters, every thing smaller is a boat. Within the cutter classification we have subclasses. Since the ’60s we have used “High Endurance” (WHEC) and “Medium Endurance” (WMEC) to characterize our largest patrol cutters. More information about designations here: https://chuckhillscgblog.net/2013/08/19/ship-type-designations/
378 foot Hamilton class cutters that have been transferred to other navies have generally been referred to as frigates. Huntington Ingalls, makers of the new Bertholf class, refer to them as patrol frigates in their marketing.
The 20th Webber class FRC has been delivered. http://www.marinelink.com/news/bollinger-delivers-coast417195. will be second homeported in Cape May.
The CG news release is here: https://www.uscg.mil/acquisition/newsroom/updates/frc0102116.asp
It reports FRC #19 will be commissioned in Nov. and #20 early in 2017
Two 110s being decommissioned March 8, 2017, cutters Cushing and Nantucket in Atlantic Beach. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCG/bulletins/18af230
Bollinger reports delivery of FRC #23. It will be going to Pascagoula, https://www.marinelink.com/news/bollinger-delivers424437
Below is a news release quoted fully. “US Coast Guard to base 2 new cutters in Astoria, Oregon” (U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 04/28/2017 04:31 PM EDT)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard announced Friday it will homeport two of the service’s new Sentinel-Class 154-foot Fast Response Cutters (FRC) in Astoria, Oregon, starting in 2021. These two ships have not yet been named, but the FRCs are named after enlisted Coast Guard personnel who distinguished themselves in the line of duty.
Each of the two Astoria-based FRCs will provide the coastal maritime community with a 30 percent increase in annual operating hours on regional waters over the Coast Guard’s legacy 110-foot Island class patrol boats like the Coast Guard Cutter Orcas, homeported in Coos Bay, Oregon.
The FRC is equipped with improved command and control capability as well as increased sea-keeping abilities, operational range, a larger crew and higher transit speeds than the aging110-foot patrol boats. A larger, more capable stern launch cutter boat allows the FRC to conduct search-and-rescue and interdiction operations up to 50 miles away from the cutter, which greatly extends the vessel’s reach over the Coast Guard’s legacy patrol boat fleet.
The Orcas will continue to operate from its homeport in Coos Bay until its service is replaced by the first of the Astoria-based FRCs in 2021.
The Coast Guard is presently examining potential homeport sites within Astoria for the two as-yet-to-be-named FRCs.
More homeport news from this. http://www.pnj.com/story/news/military/2017/06/25/leaders-say-beefed-up-coast-guard-presence-good-news-pensacolas-economy/419759001/ “Preston said two fast-response cutters will replace the Decisive when it leaves Pascagoula and three of the newer cutters will replace the Dauntless when it leaves Galveston.”
Coast Guard accepts FRC #24.the future USCGC Oliver Berry (WPC 1124),
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCG/bulletins/1a6243d
It is to be homeported in Honolulu.
FRC#23 commissioned. http://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Assistant-Commandant-for-Acquisitions-CG-9/Newsroom/FRC070517/
“The Coast Guard is acquiring 58 FRCs; 44 have been ordered. Twenty-three are in service: two in Cape May, New Jersey; six in Miami; six in Key West, Florida; six in San Juan, Puerto Rico; two in Ketchikan, Alaska; and one in Pascagoula. Future FRC homeports include Honolulu; Atlantic Beach, North Carolina; and San Pedro, California.”
This from the FY 2017 budget justification. https://www.uscg.mil/budget/docs/USCG_FY2017_Congressional_Justification.pdf
“Fast Response Cutter (FRC) Crews for Hulls 24-28 Provides personnel to operate and maintain FRC hull 24 homeported in Honolulu, Hawaii; FRC hull 25 homeported in Pascagoula, Mississippi; FRC hull 26 homeported in Honolulu Hawaii; and FRC hulls 27 and 28 homeported in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.”
There was also this, “Pier, support facility, shore power modifications, and associated base infrastructure improvements to support the FRC Homeport at Galveston, TX. This homeport will accommodate a total of three FRCs. The funding will support the design and construction of
homeport facility additions, improvements, and renovations at Galveston, TX.
from CG-AC&I-79 (page 221 of a 407 page pdf)
More evidence that the FRCs are being used more like WMECs than WPBs.
http://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-assists-tanker-210-miles-off-nantucket/2017/07/14/
From a the homeport in Cape May (Near the entrance to Deleware Bay) to Nantucket Shoal is a distance of over 381 miles. Presumably the Rollin Fritch was on patrol when it got the call.
First Webber class WPC goes to Honolulu. http://coastguardnews.com/hawaii-receives-first-sentinel-class-coast-guard-cutter/2017/09/22/