ALCOAST 231/17 - AUG 2017 TODAY’S OFFSHORE PATROL CUTTERS AND THE FIRST FLEET

R 040728 AUG 17
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-092//
TO ALCOAST
UNCLAS//N05700
ALCOAST 231/17
COMDTNOTE 5700
SUBJ:  TODAY’S OFFSHORE PATROL CUTTERS AND THE FIRST FLEET
1. In 1790, one visionary saw the need for a federally funded fleet of
vessels to enforce laws and protect commerce. That visionary was 32-year-old
Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who advocated the establishment of a
U.S. sea service. On August 4th, 1790, President George Washington signed
legislation establishing a maritime force referred to as “the cutters” or
“the system of cutters.”
2. The ten cutters received a schooner rig carrying topsails on each mast
and an armament of four swivel guns, muskets, cutlasses, and small arms.
With an eye to domestic manufacture, Hamilton required all cutter materials
be produced in the U.S. He specified the number of tools, weapons and
instruments issued to each cutter, even the kind and amount of sailcloth.
3. It was during the early years, that the cutter fleet adopted many missions
performed by the Coast Guard today. The cutters defended American shipping
against piracy and enforced quarantine restrictions established by federal,
state and local governments. A long-standing tradition of the sea compelled
cutter captains to rescue mariners in distress even before Congress assigned
this mission to the Service. The cutters marked hazards to navigation and
carried supplies to remotely located lighthouses. They also proved effective
in sounding and surveying the shores of the new republic, so Secretary
Hamilton tasked them with charting navigable waterways in their region. And,
as the new republic engaged in military conflicts, the revenue cutters
adopted defense missions and served under the Navy in time of war.
4. Today, the Coast Guard will build a new class of cutters designed to
serve a multi-mission role just like the Service’s First Fleet of 10. This
class of Offshore Patrol Cutters will fill the Service’s medium-endurance
demands alongside the Service’s smaller Fast Response Cutters and the larger
National Security Cutters. The OPCs will have the endurance to operate on
the high seas to carry out all of the Coast Guard’s maritime security and
safety missions.
5. The first eleven OPCs will bear names made famous by their service in the
Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard. OPCs Active, Argus, Diligence and
Vigilant will be named for cutters of the First Fleet of 10 and subsequent
cutters with the same names. The OPC Pickering will pay homage to the
distinguished combat record of the Quasi-War cutter Pickering. OPC Ingham
will carry the name of a 327-foot cutter that served with distinction in World
War II. OPCs Chase and Rush will bear two cutter names long associated with
the Coast Guard, most recently with two high-endurance cutters of the 378-foot
Hamilton class. OPC Icarus will be named for a cutter that sank one of the first
U-boats after US entry into World War II and captured her crew. OPCs Alert
and Reliance bear the names of famed workhorses of the medium-endurance
cutter fleet.
6. The Offshore Patrol Cutters will become the mainstay of the Coast Guard’s
ocean-going fleet, providing multi-mission capabilities and interagency
interoperability. For more information, check the Coast Guard Acquisition
Directorate’s OPC web page at: http://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/
Assistant-Commandant-for-Acquisitions-CG-9/Programs/Surface-Programs/
Offshore-Patrol-Cutter/.
7. Ms. Ellen Engleman Conners, Acting Director of Governmental and Public
Affairs, sends.
8. Internet release authorized.