USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753)

USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753) is the fourth Legend-class cutter, also known as the National Security Cutter (NSC), of the United States Coast Guard. She is the fifth cutter named after Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, who was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury and in that position requested the formation of the United States Coast Guard (as the United States Revenue Cutter Service). The cutter's sponsor is Linda Kapral Papp, the wife of Coast Guard Commandant Robert J. Papp, Jr.[2]

For other ships with the same name, see USCGC Hamilton.
USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753)
History
United States
NamesakeAlexander Hamilton
OrderedNovember 2010
BuilderHuntington Ingalls Industries, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down5 September 2012
Launched10 August 2013
Sponsored byLinda Kapral Papp
Christened26 October 2013
Commissioned6 December 2014
Identification
StatusIn service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeLegend-class cutter
Displacement4500 LT
Length418 ft (127 m)
Beam54 ft (16 m)
Height140 ft (43 m)
Draft22.5 ft (6.9 m)
Decks4
PropulsionCombined diesel and gas
Speed28+ knots
Range12,000 nm
Endurance60 days
Complement111 (15 Officers, 15 CPO, 81 Enlisted) and can carry up to 148 depending on mission[1]
Sensors and
processing systems
  • EADS 3D TRS-16 AN/SPS-75 Air Search Radar
  • SPQ-9B Fire Control Radar
  • AN/SPS-73 Surface Search Radar
  • AN/SLQ-32
Electronic warfare
& decoys
  • AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System
  • 2 SRBOC/ 2 x NULKA countermeasures chaff/rapid decoy launcher
Armament
ArmorBallistic protection for main gun
Aircraft carried2 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH, or 4 x VUAV or 1 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH and 2 x VUAV
Aviation facilities50-by-80-foot (15 m × 24 m) flight deck, hangar for all aircraft

Construction began in September 2011 by Northrop Grumman's Ship System Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, with the keel was laid on 5 September 2012. Hamilton was launched on 10 August 2013, and her christening was on 26 October 2013.[3] She was delivered to the Coast Guard in September 2014. The cutter is homeported at Joint Base Charleston in North Charleston, South Carolina.

In January 2020 Hamilton became the first NSC to participate in a Navy Composite Training Unit Exercise, integrated with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and Carrier Strike Group 10. After operating with the Carrier Strike Group, the cutter patrolled the Eastern Pacific Ocean in support of Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South. The cutter returned in April after the 80-day patrol, during which she captured three drug smuggling vessels, including two narco-subs, and eight suspected drug smugglers. After the patrol she offloaded $324 million worth of cocaine and marijuana.[4]

Notable interdictions
  • 15 December 2016 - Cutter USCGC Hamilton offloaded 26.5 tons of cocaine estimated at a worth of US$715 million after conducting interdiction operations beside the Royal Canadian Navy since 1 October that same year.[5]
  • 27 August 2020 - USCGC Hamilton offloaded 11,500 pounds of cocaine and 17,000 pounds of marijuana estimated at an estimated worth of $228 million after a patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean alongside USCGC Resolute and US Navy patrol boat USS Shamal.[6]
  • 24 November 2021- USCGC Hamilton offloaded 26,250 pounds of cocaine and 3,700 estimated at a worth of US$504 million. During the deployment it also intercepted 199 Haitian migrants.[7]

Black Sea patrol
Hamilton and TCG Turgutries in the Black Sea, April 30, 2021.

In May 2021 Hamilton patrolled the Black Sea for nearly three weeks, conducting training exercises with several NATO and friendly navies, including Turkey, Romania, Ukraine, and Georgia. This was the first visit to the Black Sea by a Coast Guard cutter since USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716) in 2008.[8] The patrol was monitored by Russia whose foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the cutter's presence.[9]

See also

References
  1. "National Security Cutter: Program Profile". USCG.mil. US Coast Guard. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  2. "Ingalls Shipbuilding Authenticates the Keel of U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter HAMILTON (WMSL 753)". Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  3. "Coast Guard Christens 4th National Security Cutter". military.com. 28 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  4. "Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton returns home after 80-day patrol". www.southcom.mil/. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  5. "Coast Guard offloads 26.5 tons of cocaine seized in Eastern Pacific Drug Transit". U.S. Southern Command. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  6. Rivera, Ray. "Charleston based Coast Guard cutter offloads $228 million in cocaine, marijuana". www.live5news.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  7. Staff, Seapower (29 November 2021). "USCGC Hamilton Returns Home after 72-day Patrol, Drug Offload". Seapower. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  8. Phoenix, Sydney (14 May 2021). "U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton concludes Black Sea operations". U.S. Navy New Stories. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  9. LaGrome, Same (27 April 2021). "Russia Tracking First U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Visit to the Black Sea in More than 12 Years". USNI News. Retrieved 14 May 2022.


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