Seattle Chosen as Homeport for First Polar Security Cutters
The Navy in April 2019 named VT Halter Marine, Inc. of Pascagoula, Miss., as the prime contractor of a $745,940,860 fixed-price incentive-firm contract for the detail design and construction of the new heavy icebreakers.
Seattle will be the homeport for the U.S. Coast Guard's new Polar Security Cutters, the agency announced June 17. "I am pleased to announce that Seattle, Washington will be the home of the Coast Guard's new Polar Security Cutters," said Admiral Karl L. Schultz, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. "The Pacific Northwest has been the home of our icebreaking fleet since 1976, and I am confident that the Seattle area will continue to provide the support we need to carry out our critical operations in the polar regions."
The Navy in April 2019 named VT Halter Marine, Inc. of Pascagoula, Miss., as the prime contractor of a $745,940,860 fixed-price incentive-firm contract for the detail design and construction of the PSC. The PSC program is a multi-year Department of Homeland Security Level 1 investment and a USCG major system initiative to acquire up to three multi-mission cutters to recapitalize the USCG's fleet of heavy icebreakers. Delivery of the first ship delivery is scheduled to occur in 2024, the second in 2025, and the three to be delivered in early 2027, according to a VT Halter Marine news release.
The release says VT Halter Marine is teamed with Technology Associates, Inc. as the ship designer and has participated in the Coast Guard's Heavy Polar Icebreaker Industry Study. It describes the vessels as 460 feet long with diesel electric propulsion "at over 45,200 horse power and readily capable of breaking ice between six to eight feet thick." The ships will accommodate 186 personnel comfortably for an extended endurance of 90 days.