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U.S. Coast Guard, Huntington Ingalls Industry Lay Keel for 4th National Security Cutter

September 06, 2012

A shipyard employee welds ship sponsor Linda Kapral Papp’s initials
Kawana Womack, a shipyard employee, welds ship's sponsor Linda Kapral Papp’s initials into the placard that will be placed aboard Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard and Huntington Ingalls Industries laid the keel for the future Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton (WMSL 753), the service’s fourth National Security Cutter, yesterday at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. The keel laying is a major milestone in the life of the cutter and ceremoniously marks the beginning of Hamilton’s construction. Mrs. Linda Papp, Coast Guard Commandant Robert Papp’s wife, will serve as Hamilton’s sponsor and will be involved in the life of the cutter.

"I speak from a long, grateful and personal experience when I tell you that this ship and the crews that sail with her will be in good hands," said Admiral Papp.

Each NSC will be named for a Coast Guard “legend,” including former commandants Adm. Ellsworth P. Bertholf (WMSL 750) and Adm. Russell Waesche (WMSL 751), as well as Capt. Dorothy Stratton (WMSL 752) who directed the Coast Guard’s Women’s Reserve, or SPARs, during World War II. Hamilton is named after Founding Father and first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Bertholf, Waesche and Stratton have all been commissioned into service and are homeported at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, Calif.

Ship’s sponsor Linda Kapral Papp etches her initials into a placard at the keel-laying ceremony for the fourth National Security Cutter, Hamilton. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley.

Hamilton is named after Alexander Hamilton who first proposed and oversaw the creation of the Revenue Cutter Service, one of the predecessor agencies of today’s Coast Guard. Alongside the Hamilton, production of the fifth NSC, the future Coast Guard Cutter James (WMSL 754), is currently underway at the Ingalls Shipbuilding facility, and last year the Coast Guard awarded a contract to Huntington Ingalls for Long Lead Time Materials to support future production of the sixth NSC. The James will be named after Joshua James, a celebrated veteran of the U.S. Lifesaving Service that is credited with saving more than 600 souls along the New England coastline over nearly 60 years of service.

For more information on the NSCs, please visit: http://www.uscg.mil/acquisition/nsc/default.asp.

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Last Modified 9/6/2012