USCGC Pickering, artist’s rendering, credit Austal.

Went looking for more information about the OPCs. Found nothing new since Pickering’s keel laying, but Austal’s Website now opens with a presentation of “Heritage Class OPC capabilities.” It’s very well done and informative.

It does say that the range is 9,050 nautical miles at 14 knots which is 1,150 miles less than I had seen quoted earlier, but still more than adequate. That probably equates to about 5,800 miles at 18 knots or 3,500 miles at 22 knots.

On the web site, I also found the artist’s renderings above and below. (Click on the photos for the best view.) Looking at this new art work and the web site video, I saw some things I had not noticed before.

There are derricks on the fantail, very much like the ones on some of the NSCs, but of course there is no boats and no launch ramp there. 

There is a break in the superstructure just forward of the stack, apparently a small open area with no superstructure, about where the 378s had an expansion joint in the superstructure.

The after Mk38 gun mount still appears to be a mod3 rather than a mod4, but it looks less crowded with at least a clear field of fire directly abeam and aft. I would feel a lot better if there was a SeaRAM aft and two 30mm Mk38 Mod4s on the platforms where there are .50 calibers located forward of the bridge. (Their electro optic systems could be very useful.) The crews of the after .50 caliber mounts, high on the aft superstructure, are likely to be exposed to a lot of exhaust fumes. They should be relocated to the fantail to provide better close in protection. See this 2016 post for how an OPC might be fitted for wartime.

USCGC Pickering, artist’s rendering, credit Austal.

I did find a December 2025 article that said Pickering was expected to be delivered in late 2027.

Steel was first cut for USCGC Pickering August 29, 2024. Steel was first cut for USCGC Icarus (920) on August 5, 2025, so it is a little less than year behind Pickering.

After the problems encountered with the first OPC contract, awarded to Eastern, there is naturally concern about the second contract. How will Austal perform?

For an indication of how successful and how fast Austal might be, I took a look at the Navajo class T-ATS rescue and salvage ships. The first five Navajo class T-ATS (6-10) are being built by Bollinger. (The first two, 6 &7, seem to have been delivered.) Austal got the contract to build five more ships (11-15). These are the first steel hull ships built by Austal USA, so how is it going?

Austal seems to be performing at least as well as Bollinger. T-ATS 8 and 9 were both laid down before T-ATS 11 and 12, but the Austal ships have been launched and apparently T-ATS-8 and 9 have not. The second Austal ship, T-ATS-12 required only a little over ten months to go from laid down to launch. The second ship in the earlier contract T-ATS-7 required more than four years. (The first ship in the first contract actually took less time, laid down to launch in three years, seven months. Austal’s first ship took only 19 months.)

Austal is expanding.

“A new final assembly building (FA2) that will be used to support the production of the OPC’s, is now under construction. When complete, the building will provide approximately 18,000 square metres of new covered manufacturing space. The building will consist of three bays, two of which are specifically designed to construct the OPC.”

Looks like the Coast Guard made a good choice in selecting Austal. I am even beginning to believe I will live long enough to see an OPC afloat in the Pacific. Theoretically, we could have five Austal built OPCs by the end of 2030.