US Coast Guard cutter Spencer completes service life extension program

USCGC Spencer, a US Coast Guard Famous-class medium endurance cutter, has departed Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, having successfully completed its 20-month service life extension program (SLEP).

Managed by the coast guard's in-service vessel sustainment (ISVS) program, the SLEP ensures mission readiness, improves reliability and reduces maintenance costs of the coast guard’s operational fleet.

The coast guard said the program extends the service life of its legacy cutters by replacing obsolete, unsupportable or maintenance-intensive systems, enabling the cutters to continue meeting mission demands in the most cost-effective manner.

The SLEP for the medium endurance cutters includes updates and replacements of electrical power generation and distribution systems, main diesel propulsion engines, and gun weapon systems.

Spencer is the first of six medium endurance cutters scheduled to receive all major system overhauls including new main propulsion engines. This intensive work, which began in July 2023, will allow the cutter to operate for an additional decade, sustaining operational capability as the coast guard transitions to the offshore patrol cutter fleet.

Five additional medium endurance cutters – Legare, Campbell, Forward, Escanaba and Tahoma – will complete SLEPs by 2030. Seneca and Harriet Lane previously served as prototypes for the electrical and structural work but did not receive new engines.

Harriet Lane also served as the prototype for the MK38 gun weapon system.