U.S. Coast Guard and Austal USA officials gathered at the riverfront shipyard in Mobile Thursday to begin construction on an Offshore Patrol Cutter destined to be the USCGC Pickering.
This is the first cutter under a contract that will include up to 11 cutters and a value of $3.3 billion.
The offshore patrol cutter is designed to bridge the gap between the open ocean national security cutters and the fast response cutters that operate closer to shore.
“Austal USA is excited to begin construction on the first of these high-priority cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard,” said Dave Growden, vice president of new construction programs. “This contract exemplifies the flexibility of our workforce and importance of our steel panel line to Austal USA’s future success. Our multi-talented shipbuilders are well prepared to demonstrate their capability to produce the same high-quality steel ship as they have been producing for our aluminum programs.”
Describing the 360-foot OPC, Austal noted that it has a range of 10,200 nautical miles at 14 knots and is expected to be used for law enforcement, search and rescue, homeland security and other purposes such as hurricane response.
