Eastern Shipbuilding, Argus and Chase building. June 2021.
US Naval Institute reports, “Coast Guard, Eastern Shipbuilding Negotiating ‘Contract Resolution’ on First 2 Offshore Patrol Cutters.”
The post includes the following statement,
According to Coast Guard budget documents, Argus and Chase are set to deliver this year, though its unclear how complete the cutters are.
I will go out on a limb and state there is not a chance in hell of Argus and Chase being delivered this year. I have been told that Argus was actually launched prematurely (October 2023) to quiet questions about progress on the program. I don’t believe Argus has ever gotten underway. There have been no reports of it conducting sea trials. Apparently Chase has not even been launched yet.
Eastern did spend some money to improve their facilities in 2024, but providing 1,000 linear feet of additional bulkhead and berthing space and lengthening the launch facility from 380 to 500 feet, did not seem to be aimed at speeding up OPC construction.
This was in contrast to what we have seen from Austal. From Austal’s website 2024,
“Through continual capital investments, over $500 million to date, Austal USA has expanded its capability and capacity to enable concurrent production of aluminum and steel ships. The company recently broke ground on a new assembly building which will provide 192,000 square feet of new covered manufacturing space. The building will consist of three bays, two of which will be sized specifically to erect the OPC.”
Eastern did not assemble their OPCs in a building.
Eastern Shipbuilding Group was contracted to build the first four offshore patrol cutters. The first ship, Argus, was expected to be delivered by the end of 2022. (Eastern Shipbuilding Group photo)
“The ongoing talks come as Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has put a hold on all Coast Guard promotions over questions on shipbuilding contracting and lack of information from the service, Scott’s office confirmed to USNI News late last week. In a statement, Scott said the hold was the result of 18 months of unanswered questions over the status of Coast Guard contracting that includes the status of Argus and Chase.”
Despite Scott’s statement, “I don’t care what that resolution looks like, we just need a resolution.” To me that sounds an awful like putting a thumb on the scales of any negotiations between Eastern and the Coast Guard, putting pressure on the Coast Guard to meet Eastern’s demands.
To put things in perspective, this is the sequence of events:
- August 2010 Federal Times reports the Coast Guard is meeting with ship builders interested in participating in the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program, August 10-20.
- 15 June 2012 Coast Guard released a draft “request for proposal” (RFP) for the construction of the Offshore Patrol Cutters. Unltimately eight shipyards would offer proposals. (The initial request included that the ship had to be ice strengthened.)
- February 2014 The Acquisitions Directorate has announced the three winners of contracts to develop preliminary and design contracts for the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC)
- April 2014, Eastern exhibited its proposal for the OPC at Sea, Air, Space 2014. At that time the concept was ten meters shorter, about 328 feet.
- 15 Sept., 2016 Contract awarded to Eastern. “…production of up to nine OPCs and has a potential value of $2.38 billion if all options are exercised” equals $264.4M/ship
- 21 July, 2017 Initial critical design review completed.
- 29 June 2018 Passed critical design review.
- Sept. 28, 2018 Construction contract awarded for first OPC and long lead time items for second OPC.
- Jan. 7, 2019 Steel was cut. USCGC Argus OPC#1
- 27 April, 2020 Steel cut for OPC#2
- April 28, 2020 Keel laid for USCGC Argus OPC#1
- 27 May 2021 Keel was laid for USCGC Chase OPC#2
- May 2021 Contract for construction of the third OPC and long lead time items for OPC#4 was awarded
- 27 Sept., 2021 Steel cut for OPC#3 USCGC Ingham
- 30 June 2022 Contract with options awarded to Austal for OPCs #5-15
- July 15, 2022 Keel laid for OPC#3 USCGC Ingham
- 18 October 2022 Eastern started cutting steel for USCGC Rush OPC#4
- 27 October 2023 USCGC Argus OPC#1 launched
- 7 June 2024 stop work order was issued on OPCs #3 and 4
- 29 August 2024 Steel cut for USCGC Pickering OPC#5
- June 2025 RFI for Towing and Assessment, Sounds Like an OPC (Presumably OPC#1)
- July 2025 DHS Cancels Contract with Eastern for OPCs #3 and 4
- 5 August 2025, Steel was cut for USCGC Icarus (920) OPC#6
- 8 December 2025 Keel laid for USCGC Pickering OPC#5
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
My FIRST QUESTION is did the class get Ice-hardened hulls? They have to operate in the Arctic, and some OPCs will be stationed there permanently.
I specifically remember Argus launch, and I remember Chased painted and staged to launch, but never saw it go into the water.
Today I have no idea where they are, or what stage of completeness they are in. Someone simply must get them under control and up to speed. Austal USA seems to be the only agent that can do that. Commonality of the first two with the rest of the OPCs will be important for future logistical and maintenance support.
No the OPCs were not built with ice strengthened hulls. NSCs are also not ice strengthened, but they do go into the Arctic. No OPC will be home-ported in the Arctic.
The US considers the Aleutians and Bering Sea to be in the Arctic, but they really are not. By definition the Arctic is the area north of the Arctic circle which runs through the Bering Strait.
Some OPCs are expected to be based in Kodiak but that is not in the Arctic though it is in the Arctic District.
“The US considers the Aleutians and Bering Sea to be in the Arctic, but they really are not. ” . . . I was waiting for you to pull that. The U.S. NORTHCOM draws the Arctic line down the Aleutian Chain. I have made the same argument before in other places including the argument you just made. However, there will be OPC in two bases in the region, and they will most likely be required to visit Nome at least in the Summer time. We will have NO COMBAT CAPABILITY on ice in the Winter on ANYTHING!!! The Russians do!
Much has been made of a model of a Russian Navy icebreaker with missiles in containers on the fantail but so far we have not the icebreakers with containers of any sort mount.
Even if they had, it would be only a small addition to very large number of cruise missiles the Russians can field from aircraft, submarines, and non-icebreaker surface vessels.
The US Navy has shown little interest in sending surface vessels north of the Aleutians, but they do regularly exercise subs in the Arctic, and off course the Air Force has a capability over the Arctic.
We don’t need to escort convoys through the Arctic. About all I see us needing surface vessels in the Arctic for in a near peer conflict is to construct or support sensors, but technology has given us over the horizon radars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-horizon_radar#Canada so we may not need to build close the the coast.
I do see a need for the US to control the Bering Strait if we are in conflict with China and/or Russia.
Russia will want to run supplies and equipment between their ports in the European Arctic and their ports in Siberia.
China will want to receive supplies from the Russian Arctic.
That makes Nome very important, but even it is not quite in the Arctic.
OPCs #1 and #2 are still at Eastern’s shipyard. #1 in the water and #2 still on land.
I think the Coast Guard is probably ready to tow them somewhere else–probably Austal to be completed.
To do that they need some cooperation from Eastern. Looks like Eastern may be trying to get as much additional money as they can out of our current predicament.
This has gone so poorly that I begin to wonder how Eastern won the contract in the first place.
I would like an investigation to look at how the contract was awarded to Eastern.
Paging Chuck Hill
Your wanted in the wardroom.
https://mb.com.ph/2026/05/31/us-eyes-transfer-of-coast-guard-cutter-to-ph
Apparently we are giving the Philippine CG a WMEC210.
What 210’s do we have that we can give to the Philippines.
There are currently only 8 WMEC210s in commission. I believe six are now at the Coast Guard yard out of commission along with a lot of 87 foot WPBs.
Really I should have said, six out of commission or in commission special to be technically correct, but really, it is effectively the same the same thing.
I remember commenting years ago on the fact that Eastern was constructing these OPCs in the open on the hard. I felt that was a mistake, but someone mentioned all the good commercial work they were known for using that system. So much for that.
I wouldn’t give ESB another dime. Let them keep those hulls taking up space in their yard and embarrassing themselves, until they beg to be released from the contract, but not from liability, which is what I believe the real issue is.