New Cruising Cutter

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By the year 2005, the U.S. Coast Guard’s fleet of blue-water patrol cutters will be obsolete.

The 12 378-foot Hamilton (WHEC-715)- class high-endurance cutters and the 16 210- foot Reliance (WMEC-615)-class medium- endurance cutters, both just completing mid-life conversions, will reach the end of their service lives. Also, the 13 270-foot Bear (WMEC-901)-class medium-endurance cutters will be 15-20 years old and ready for either a mid-life extension or decommissioning. Today,

Coast Guard planners are challenged with delivering a new cutter class that will continue the service’s valiant cruising-cutter legacy well into the 21st century.

Cutter mission priorities are ever-changing; however, the basic responsibilities remain constant. The enforcement of U.S. laws at sea will be re-

By Commander Michael W. Collier, U.S. Coast Guard

quired as long as there is ocean commerce and large fishing industries. As long as there are merchant ships, fishing vessels, and pleasure craft, there will be maritime disasters requiring Coast Guard search- and-rescue or pollution-control response. Coast Guard blue-water requirements will most likely increase for fisheries protection, pollution control, environmental protection, and suppression of illegal smuggling. With the end of the Cold War, many feel the service’s national defense tasking has decreased in importance, but the Coast Guard remains by law a military armed service with specialized maritime interdiction and search-and-rescue capabilities that are often called upon by naval war planners. There will be plenty₍ of intense work for the new cruising cutters.

In designing the new cutter, the Coast Guard must learn from mistakes of the past and build on the strengths of the current high-endurance and medium-endurance cutter fleet- The cutter’s size cannot be mandated too early in the design process—as happened with the medium-endurance cutter whose designers were restricted by an early decision that

Proceedings / April 199-*

the class could be no larger than 270 feet.¹ The new cutter must be multimission capable, not focused on any primary mission area. The 378-foot high-endurance cutter, for example, was designed for ocean station duty and convoy protection; the 210-foot medium-endurance cutter was designed for search and rescue; and the 270-foot medium- endurance cutter was designed for fisheries protection. These cutters are now tasked to perform a variety of missions never anticipated in their original design.

Coast Guard planners also must determine the new cruising cutter’s national-defense tasking before the design process begins. The recent removal of all antisubmarine warfare equipment and Harpoon surface-to-surface

missiles from the 378-foot high-endurance cutters canceled the Coast Guard’s frontline naval-combat capability. The Navy-Coast Guard Board, co-chaired by the Vice Chief of Naval Operations and Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard, must define the role of the new cruising cutter in “ . . . From The Sea.” A fleet of 40-45 cruising cutters could make a significant contribution in worldwide ■Maritime low-intensity conflict scenarios. Support to maritime interdiction, protection of shipping, maritime combat search and rescue, inshore undersea warfare, and mine Warfare are areas that have been discussed for the Coast Guard’s high-endurance and medium-endurance cutter fleet. The new cruising cutter’s initial design must reflect the national defense taskings chosen by the Navy- Coast Guard Board.

Seakeeping ability, endurance, and speed are the most ■mportant size considerations of the new cruising cutter. The 378-foot high-endurance cutters—because of their seabeeping ability and long endurance—primarily cruise the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea on fisheries patrol. The ^78-foot high-endurance cutters and 270-foot medium-endurance cutters also cruise the North Atlantic off New England. These cutters and the smaller 210-foot medium-en

durance cutters also deploy off both the continental U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts and throughout the Caribbean. These areas define the cruising grounds of the new cutter and dictate the design of a cutter able to conduct both boat and helicopter operations in at least force 7-8 sea states (35-40-knot winds, 15-18-foot seas). Also important is a 21-day endurance at a 15-18-knot economical speed that can be extended by at-sea refueling and replenishment.

The new cutter also needs a “sprint” speed of at least 25 knots. The gas turbine engines of the 378-foot high-en- durance cutters provide this sprint capability, but the diesel- powered medium-endurance cutters are often hindered by their 18-20-knot maximum speeds. To meet stability, endurance, and speed requirements, the Coast Guard may look toward unconventional hull designs (e.g., SWATH, surface effect) or even back to the 1930s-built 327-foot Secretary-class cutters.

The sensors for the new cruising cutter must be the most modern available. Because its missions deal with forms of maritime surveillance, the cutter needs a good surface-navigation radar, as well as a surface-surveillance radar that can detect and classify surface targets from 100-150 miles. New Doppler or inverted synthetic aperture radar systems have shown this long-range surface detection and classification capability. To help correlate the surface plot, the new cutter also needs a good electronic support measures suite and the latest in visual-surveillance systems, such as magnified low-light-level television, infrared, and laser technology. An air-search radar is mandatory for safety of flight. Auxiliary air-control systems—such as TACAN; interrogate, friend or foe; and homing beacons—also are essential, but an air-search radar is the only way to maintain a safe and accurate air picture in support of maritime surveillance. Currently, no Coast Guard medium-endurance cutter has air-search-radar capability. Additionally, the new cutter must be capable of landing and supporting all Coast Guard and most Navy helicopters and operating remote-piloted vehicles.

As a final sensor, a fire-control radar is required for the main battery, raising the question of what weapons the new cutter really needs—even without an antisubmarine- warfare or other front-line warfare mission. The current and expected threats to cutters on their daily missions range from violent drug runners with shoulder-launched weapons to small coastal nations with modem aircraft and missile patrol-boat capabilities. The proliferation of modern weapons to terrorists, criminals, and emerging maritime nations is a real threat to cutters on any patrol. The new cruising cutter needs a weapons suite to both defend itself and conduct offensive action where prescribed.

The current 378-foot high-endurance cutter and 270-foot medium-endurance cutter deploy the 76 mm. OTO Melara as a main battery. A similar rapid-fire, automatic gun—up to 120 mm.—that has both air and surface modes is also needed on the new cutter. This main battery should be complemented by rapid-fire 20 mm. and 40 mm. guns and several smaller-caliber machine guns. For increased defense, the new cutter requires defensive chaff, 1R decoys, electronic jammers, and shoulder-launched antiair weapons.

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Proceedings / April 1994