The US Coast Guard’s newest Legend-class national security cutter, Stone (WMSL 758), has successfully completed acceptance sea trials, Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division said on 2 October.
During seal trials, the ship spent two days in the Gulf of Mexico proving its systems.
“I am very proud of the Ingalls team that conducted another outstanding acceptance trial on our ninth national security cutter Stone. This ship … will be capable of undertaking the most challenging Coast Guard missions with great capability and endurance,” Brian Cuccias , Ingalls Shipbuilding President, commented.
Christened in late February 2020, Stone, the ninth NSC, is scheduled for delivery later this year. It will be homeported in Charleston, South Carolina.
Ingalls has delivered eight Legend-class NSCs with two more under construction and one additional under contract.
NSC 9 was named to honor Coast Guard officer Commander Elmer “Archie” Fowler Stone, Coast Guard aviator number one, who made history in 1919 for being one of two Coast Guard pilots in the four-man air crew who completed the first transatlantic flight in a Navy seaplane.
NSCs are 418 feet long with a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 120.