Media Advisory: Coast Guard to welcome first National Security Cutter to homeport in Hawaii

Media Advisory

U.S. Coast Guard 14th District Hawaii and the Pacific Contact: 14th District Public Affairs Office: (808) 535-3230 After Hours: (808) 341-9849 14th District online newsroom

 Coast Guard to welcome first National Security Cutter to homeport in Hawaii

HONOLULU — Media are invited to observe the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (WMSL 756) Saturday.

The Kimball is the seventh of the Coast Guard's National Security Cutters and the first to be homeported in Hawaii. The vessel is arriving following a transit from Pascagoula, Mississippi, where it was built.

A second NSC will arrive next year. Known as the Legend-class, NSCs are designed to be the flagships of the Coast Guard’s fleet, capable of executing the most challenging national security missions, including support to U.S. combatant commanders. NSCs are 418 feet in length, 54 feet in beam and 4,600 long tons in displacement. They have a top speed of more than 28 knots, a range of 12,000 nautical miles, an endurance of up to 90 days and can hold a crew of up to 150. These new cutters are replacing the aging High Endurance Hamilton-class cutters (378 feet) that have been in service since the 1960s.

Kimball will routinely conduct operations from South America to the Bering Sea. The cutter’s unmatched combination of range, speed, and ability to operate in extreme weather provide it the mission flexibility necessary to conduct alien migrant interdiction operations, domestic fisheries protection, search and rescue, counter-narcotics and homeland security operations at great distances from shore, keeping threats far from the U.S. mainland.

The cutter's namesake is Sumner Kimball. While Kimball was not a member of the Coast Guard, he was appointed the superintendent of the Life-Saving Service, a predecessor service of the Coast Guard. Kimball reformed the Revenue Cutter Service and established a training school for young officers that would later develop into the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. His efforts to transform the collection of facilities around the U.S. coastline led to a coherent and well-trained organization.

WHO: USCGC Kimball (WMSL 756) and crew
WHAT: Arrives at homeport for the first time
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 22, at 9 a.m.

- Media wishing to view the arrival pier side should arrive at Coast Guard Base Honolulu no later than 8:15 a.m.

- Media interested in going out on a Station Honolulu small boat to view the ship at sea and escort it in are asked to RSVP'd with Chief Muir to arrive no later than 7:15 a.m. Limited seats available. 

WHERE: Coast Guard Base Honolulu, 400 Sand Island Parkway, Honolulu, HI, 96819. Media will be met at the front gate and escorted.
Please RSVP to Coast Guard 14th District External Affairs at sara.g.muir@uscg.mil or by phone or text to 808-282-7809 by 3 p.m., Friday.

-USCG-