Shipyard launches US Coast Guard’s eighth NSC Midgett

Ingalls Shipbuilding has launched the US Coast Guard’s eighth national security cutter (NSC) Midgett (WMSL 757) at Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The ship is named after John Allen Midgett, who was awarded the Silver Cup by the UK Board of Trade in 1918 for the rescue of 42 British sailors aboard the British tanker Mirlo after it was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of North Carolina.

He was also awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal by the US Coast Guard in 1924. Midgett was a senior enlisted member of the US Lifesaving Service when it merged with the US Lighthouse Service and US Revenue Cutter Service to become today’s US Coast Guard.

Legend-class NSCs are the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter fleet.

Designed to replace the 115-metre-long Hamilton-class cutters that entered service in the 1960s, the NSCs are 127.4 metres long with a 16.4-metre beam and displace 4,500 tonnes with a full load.

They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 19,000 kilometres, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 110.

NSCs include an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid-hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft.

They are used for maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defence missions.

Midgett, which was launched off the dry dock with the assistance of tugboats, will be christened during a ceremony on December 9.