New Coast Guard cutter delivered

[unhappycamper]

New Coast Guard cutter delivered
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 9, 2008 5:43:06 EDT

Thirty-six years after the U.S. Coast Guard took delivery of its last high-endurance cutter, 122 Coasties moved aboard what the service hopes is the first of eight new replacement cutters.

The Coast Guard accepted the national security cutter Bertholf from its Northrop Grumman shipbuilders Thursday in ceremonies at Pascagoula, Miss.

“My crew and I are excited to move aboard and begin readying this impressive cutter for sea,” Capt. Patrick Stadt, the cutter’s commanding officer, said in a statement.

Authorities acknowledge the ship isn’t completely ready for sea — officially, the move is termed “preliminary acceptance” — but said solutions for most of the remaining construction issues are in sight.

“We have end dates for almost every major thing that has to be done,” Rear Adm. Gary Blore, chief acquisition officer for the Coast Guard, said Wednesday. With the crew aboard, he noted, he expected finishing work to proceed even more smoothly.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/05/defense_cutter_050808/



uhc comment: Read about this 1/2 billion dollar cutter hare --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=12122