The first full rate production cutter boat large, hull 22335, is delivered to Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless in Pensacola, Florida, Feb. 7, 2022. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

The Acquisitions Directorate (CG-9) reports,

The Coast Guard accepted the first full rate production cutter boat large (CB-L) with delivery of 22335 to Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless in Pensacola, Florida, Feb. 7.

This is the fifth CB-L delivered. The first four were used to refine the design and configuration and for operational test and evaluation to validate that the vessel meets Coast Guard operational demands. An additional 17 CB-Ls are on order. The program of record is for up to 36 CB-Ls.

These 36 boats are intended to operate from the USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39), USCGC Mackinaw (WLBB-30), 14 Reliance class 210-foot medium endurance cutters, 16 Juniper class 225-foot seagoing buoy tenders for a total of 32 ships. So, looks like the intention is to provide only one per ship, even for those that have two ship’s boats positions. Sounds like some ships will end up operating two different types of boats.

We talked about this new boat a couple of times back in 2018 when the contract was initiated, here and here.

It appears this boat is closely related to “The Watcher” unmanned surface vessels that the Coast Guard evaluated.