Stratton: From Bow to Stern
Written by Maura McCarthy
CGF 2011 Volume: 3 Issue: 6 (December)
Following delivery to the Coast Guard on September 2, 2011, Stratton, the service’s third national security cutter, embarked on her shakedown cruise, which included a stop in Baltimore, Md., to showcase the vessel and her capabilities. Replacing the 378-foot high endurance cutters, at 418 feet the NSC is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard plans to acquire eight Legend-class national security cutters which will be the flagship of the service’s recapitalized fleet. On November 1, I had the opportunity to join the crew of the Stratton as they transited from Annapolis to Baltimore.
In a sit-down in Stratton’s wardroom, Captain Charles Cashin, commanding officer of the Stratton, explained, “The real benefit that NSCs bring is an improvement of capabilities from what we had before when we would have to return to port more frequently and refuel more often. This class of ship, because of increased endurance and increased sustainment, allows us to be underway longer. When we’re patrolling in places where we’re further away from our port, it allows us to stay on scene longer and better perform the mission. We also have better capabilities on board to take care of the crew, for example habitability is definitely improved; when crews aren’t on watch they get better rest so that when they are on watch they can perform better. The engineering plan is far superior in that it requires less maintenance and is more reliable; we spend less time getting the shipping ready and more time actually using it and performing the missions.”
The class is powered by two 9,655 horsepower diesels and one 30,655 horsepower gas turbine to achieve a maximum sustained speed of 28 knots. With a range of 12,000 nautical miles, an NSCs’ typical patrols will last between 90-180 days, although the vessels are able to sustain up to 60 days without replenishment. Enhanced maritime domain awareness is provided by an X- and S- band radar, 3-D air search radar, SPQ-9B radar, AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite and the class is armed with Mk110 57 mm gun, a 20 mm close-in-weapon system (CIWS) and an Mk53 launching system (NUKLA). In terms of air and surface assets, NSCs have the capability to house two helicopters and three cutter boats—two from a stern launch and one from a davit system on the starboard side.
Bertholf, Stratton’s sister ship, boasts some significant bragging rights; not only was she the first NSC, but she also houses the Coast Guard’s first SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) afloat. In March 2011, Bertholf upgraded from her initial one-year authority to operate to a three-year approval from the Department of Homeland Security to operate the SCIF’s Ship’s Signals Exploitation Equipment (SEEE). While Cashin declined to comment on the installation of a SCIF aboard Stratton, he emphasized that, “The cutter has very good command and control and has been designed to work closely with our DoD counterparts and that way we can integrate with combatant command if we deploy as such, it also works well with homeland security and national command and control in that we’re able to provide on scene assessment and sustainability. We can stay in a contaminated environment if the situation ever arises and provided feedback to the overseers.” In a previous interview with Coast Guard Forum, Rear Admiral John Korn, assistant commandant for acquisitions, confirmed that, “Yes, a SCIF will be installed on the first three NSCs for sure. Decisions on the following ones may be affected by the budget but that’s unknown.”
The NSCs are a major improvement from the 378s they are replacing. “Stratton is a great ship; the hull design is terrific. We’re very pleased with how it works—the engineering plan allows us great speed, great sea keeping capability. There was a storm warning as we were coming around Hatteras—we didn’t have much more than 9 or 10 foot seas—but the ship has ability to maintain speed through that and still have significant crew comfort,” said Cashin.
Stratton is expected to be commissioned in the early spring of 2012 and has a proposed, although unconfirmed, date of March 24, which is her namesake, Dorothy Stratton’s birthday. Stratton plans to train with the Navy in the middle part of 2012. “We will conduct tailored ship training availability; we’ll work primarily off San Diego. Here we’ll do a more formal workup that aims not just to make sure we’re ready to sail, but that we’re ready to operate. We’ll do more than just navigation, seamanship, engineering, we’ll go into our combat systems and work with the Navy on training those crews as well. It’s a broad spectrum training to get us ready for any operation the ship can entertain,” Cashin said. That training is the only scheduled deployment for the Stratton in 2012; the vessel will then conduct a patrol that will most likely focus on fisheries or drug enforcement, although the area of operation has yet to be defined.
From bow to stern, Stratton is an impressive vessel and along with the other NSCs will provide the Coast Guard with enhanced capabilities needed to execute law enforcement maritime homeland security and national defense missions. The Stratton’s motto, “We can’t afford not to,” were words written by Dorothy Stratton of her decision to leave her position as dean of women at Purdue University in order to join the military. These words could not be more appropriate today when considering the national security imperative for this advanced class of ships.
In his recent testimony before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation on Coast Guard operations in the Arctic, Admiral Papp emphasized the imperative of the cutters, stating, “[A concern of mine] is the Authorization bill’s mandates constraining our ability to procure the national security cutters just as we have stabilized costs and matured their design. While I understand and share the committee’s desire to deliver the most capable and effective replacement for the 12 high endurance cutters, I cannot see how technically challenging and disruptive performance milestones in law achieve this. The NSC is a stable and successful acquisition program now managed by some of the best acquisition professionals in the federal government. This legislation risks disrupting the production schedule, raising costs and jeopardizing the entire NSC project. And I would state here today that the national security cutter is more important to me to carrying out Coast Guard missions in Alaska—but we still need new icebreakers as well.”
Construction has begun on the fourth NSC, Hamilton, and the contract has been awarded for the fifth, Joshua James.
Navigation Suite
The third national security cutter, Stratton, completed its acceptance trials with the full suite of Furuno electronics onboard and presented no starred cards. At the heart of NSC Stratton’s navigation suite is Furuno’s 1934C/NT Radar/Chart Plotter, a 4kW, true -color Radar with a range of 48 nautical miles. Part of the well established NavNet vx2 line, the 1934C/NT displays C-Map/NT cartography on a vivid 10.4” color LCD display. Routes and waypoints created on the 1934C/NT are sent to the Furuno NAVpilot 500 smart Autopilot, which maintains accurate course via self-learning algorithms built into the system. With each voyage, NAVpilot learns more about NSC Stratton’s handling characteristics, adjusting the manner in which it handles navigation commands from the Chart Plotter for enhanced accuracy and efficiency. Accurate heading is maintained via Furuno’s PG500R rate-compensated heading sensor, and important navigation data is displayed on the rugged RD30 Remote Data Display. The LH3000 loud hailer rounds out the Stratton’s impressive electronics suite.Prior to acceptance, an NSC must pass more than 400 tests, including approximately 60 conducted during sea trials. Stratton’s builder’s trials this past summer resulted in no major issues with the cutter’s important command, control, communications and computers systems.
Sensors
Since the first installation in 1984, more than 250 FLIR Systems sensors have been installed on various United States Coast Guard platforms. The Star Safire III sensor has been installed on the HC-144A Ocean Sentry medium-range surveillance aircraft for search and rescue, law enforcement, marine environmental protection, military readiness and international ice patrol missions. The system has also been installed on the HC-130J long-range surveillance maritime patrol aircraft. Under the SIRVSS program, a variant of the Star Safire 230-HD stabilized multi-sensor system has been successfully integrated onto the national security cutter, the 270’ medium endurance cutter and the 378’ high endurance cutter. Despite some of the harshest conditions imaginable, FLIR Systems Star Safire products provide the USCG cutters the ability to perform through significantly impairing elements like corrosion, freezing fog and ice. As the needs of the Coast Guard continue to grow, FLIR has developed a fully-marinized Star Safire HD family—the first true family of interchangeable, all-digital, high-definition and single LRU imaging systems providing a full spectrum of ISR capabilities. Each product within the Star Safire HD family shares the same installation hardware and the same user interface hardware and software. FLIR’s marinized long-range and gyrostabilized sensors were developed and tailored for maritime installation to provide maximum sensor range performance and increased capability over typical pan/tilt systems.
Propulsion System
Combined diesel and gas turbines (CODAG) systems are among the most advanced marine propulsion solutions available today and combine the benefits of two systems: for economical long-distance cruising or when traveling at low speed, only the propulsion diesel engines are used, whereas for high-speeds, the gas turbine can be added. Stratton is powered by a CODAG system comprised of two 20-cylinder Series 1163 MTU diesel engines with a combined output of 14,800 kilowatts and a GE LM2500 gas turbine with up to 22,000 kilowatts. If needed, top speeds of more than 28 knots are possible. The German engine manufacturer and systems supplier MTU Friedrichshafen—through its U.S. daughter TOGNUM America—delivered the complete propulsion systems, offering an optimal combination of compact performance and low weight. In addition, MTU provided all subsystems including reduction gearboxes and two variable-pitch propellers, as well as “Callosum MC,” the integrated propulsion monitoring and control system. Specifically tailored for the vessel’s wide range of missions, “Callosum” ensures optimum alignment of acceleration and operational response with the prevailing requirement—so that the technology on board functions reliably, safely and efficiently whenever the Stratton is out at sea.
Davit System
The Allied Marine Crane model DC8600CTS is a USCG Safety of Life at Seas (SOLAS) approved single point davit which can deploy fully loaded rescue boats weighing up to 8,600 pounds in sea state 5 conditions. The DC8600CTS davit is a fully self-contained davit that employs a boat cradle for stowage of the rescue boat integrated into the frame. Other davit features include a SOLAS approved quick release hook, an Allied Constant Tension winch that aids in the launch and recovery of the rescue boat, anti two-block system, and a heavy duty double acting cylinder. The stainless steel hydraulic reservoir, pump and electric motor are integrated into the davit’s unique design for easy maintenance and installation. All Allied davit systems are designed and factory tested for severe duty at sea operations and include an emergency system to launch or recover the boat in the event of loss of power. Allied davits and cranes have been supplied to several U.S. and foreign government agencies including the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy. All models are factory tested before shipment to ensure compliance with all certifications, regulations and operations.
Deck Fittings
Schoellhorn-Albrecht, a veteran-owned small business based in St. Louis, is a manufacturer of a wide range of marine mooring equipment. The deck fittings manufactured for the Stratton were designed and built to the rigorous standards of the Coast Guard. Among the products made for the Stratton are roller fairleads, double bitts and mooring chocks. With over 120 years of experience, Schoellhorn-Albrecht is one of the leading designers and manufacturers of marine deck equipment, dock equipment, and vessel access systems for the U.S. military. In addition to a standard product line, the company specializes in producing marine equipment built to the standards of the military. Recent products include the mooring fittings and special castings for U.S. Coast Guard Icebreakers, buoy tenders and the U.S. Navy’s LPD 17 San Antonio-class, littoral combat ship, LHA-6 and DDG 51 programs.
Wind System
AGI Moriah 15” high end display (HED) receives wind speed, wind direction and meteorological data from the Moriah wind processor unit (WPU). The HED is pre-configured at the factory with several pages of data that is presented in both digital and analog-like format. Each page is presented to display as much data as required by the operator. Displayed data includes relative and true wind speed and wind direction; ship’s speed and heading; ship’s roll and pitch; helicopter launch and recovery envelopes; “Fox Corpen” calculations (computation of ship’s speed and course to achieve a wind speed and direction to safely land the helicopter); meteorological information (air temperature, barometric pressure and relative humidity); health status indication signal back to the WPU. The HED functions are managed by a high speed internal microprocessor. A Linux operating system is used and serial communication is at standard baud rates up to 38,400, using an Ethernet interface 100 BaseFx. The HED processor controls all the functions required to store, distribute and display windrelated data, and calculates Fox Corpen from the true wind and wind launch and recovery envelope parameters for each type of rotary aircraft employed on the ship. The HED has built-in test facilities for display checking, memory testing and other self-tests.
Antenna System
The need for bandwidth continues to grow for maritime applications, much like the rest of the world on land. Mounted near the top of the ship is an antenna system communicating to the satellites in the skies above making sure that personnel aboard the U.S. Coast Guard vessel are getting reliable and up-to-the-minute information from the land. Very small aperture terminals (VSAT) designed specifically for the demanding maritime needs by companies like Sea Tel allow for true broadband experience. These systems have to be stabilized and stay pointed at the satellite no matter how rough the seas are or sharp the turns the ship takes. Until recently, there were four main satellite frequencies such as L, C, Ku and X available to the Coast Guard to chose from for its communication infrastructure. However, Ka-band services that offer higher bandwidths are now on the horizon. In fact, Sea Tel is the only company to date that has announced a new Ku to Ka upgradable 4012 system that will allow Coast Guard to future proof its communications infrastructure and maximizes the return on investment.
H-65 Dolphin
The H-65 Dolphin, built by EADS, is a key element of the Coast Guard’s rotary wing fleet, with more than 100 of these twin-engine aircraft providing reliable performance for the service’s operations. Based on Eurocopter’s proven AS365, this helicopter leverages its highend capabilities, making it particularly well-suited for search and rescue, maritime security, border patrol, monitoring illegal immigration and drug interdiction. The H-65’s dash speed, 350-nautical mile range, automatic flight control, low/no visibility operating capabilities and ability to operate from Coast Guard cutters allow these helicopters to excel while performing the full range of Coast Guard missions. Initially entering the Coast Guard inventory in 1985, the H-65 currently is operated from 18 cities across the United States—including stations that serve the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, Caribbean and Great Lakes region. In addition, this aircraft frequently has been deployed aboard Coast Guard cutters, and has operated from the Arctic to the Antarctic—as well as any other location the service’s forces have been deployed. ♦