- Marine Protector class coastal patrol boat
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The class leader, USCGC Barracuda, underway. Note the ramp at the stern for the Short Range Prosecutor boarding party launch. The fifty caliber machine guns mount on pintles, port and starboard, just forward of the red stripe. The black smudge in the hull abaft the superstructure is the exhaust of the port engine.Class overview Name: Marine Protector class Builders: Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana Operators: United States Coast Guard Active: 73 General characteristics Displacement: 91 lt Length: 87 ft (27 m) Beam: 19 ft 5 in (5.92 m) Draft: 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) Propulsion: 2 x MTU diesels Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)+ Range: 900 nmi (1,700 km) Endurance: 5 days Complement: 10 Armament: 2 × .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns Notes: [1] 
USCGC Cochito launching a small boat from the stern ramp
USCGC Sailfish in New York CityThe Marine Protector class is a class of coastal patrol boats of the United States Coast Guard. The 87-foot-long vessels are based on the Stan 2600 design by Damen Group, and were built by Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, Louisiana. Each boat is named after a marine predator.
The Coast Guard placed its original order in 1999 for 50 boats, which were delivered by mid-2002.[2] Several additional orders brought the class to a total of 73 ships, with the last, Foreign Military Sales, with two each going to Malta and Yemen.[4]
The Marine Protector class replaced the 82-foot Point class. These older boats had one small and one large berthing area, and they had to stop for five or more minutes to deploy or retrieve their pursuit inflatable boat via a small crane. The last Point class cutter was decommissioned in 2003.
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General characteristics
Missions include combating smuggling, illegal immigration, marine fisheries enforcement and search and rescue support. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks many have a homeland security mission in the form of ports waterways and coastal security (PWCS) patrols.[5]
Boarding parties can be launched while the vessel is underway, through the cutter's stern launching ramp. The attached rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) has been upgraded since the initial inception of this class of cutter, in an effort to increase speed and sea state sustainability for boarding parties and rescue and assistance teams. The stern launching system requires just a single crewmember to remain on deck to launch or retrieve the boarding party.
The cutter burns approximately 165 gallons of diesel per hour at its max speed of 26 knots.
Like all new US Coast Guard vessels the Marine Protector-class are designed to accommodate crews of mixed gender with five separate small berthing spaces accommodating standard crews of ten with maximum berthing for 12.
Boats in class
Name Hull Number Homeport Eureka, CA Woods Hole, MA Cape May, NJ Fort Myers Beach, FL Mobile, AL Crescent City, CA Port Townsend, WA New London, CT Little Creek, VA Tybee Island, GA Mobile, AL Monterey, CA Fort Pierce, FL Cape May, NJ Port Isabel, TX Lihue, HI Santa Barbara, CA Fort Pierce, FL Charleston, SC Freeport, TX Panama City, FL Mayport, FL Carrabelle, FL Port Aransas, TX Little Creek, VA Oxnard, CA Abbeville, LA Montauk, NY Little Creek, VA Galveston, TX Jonesport, ME Gulfport, MS Port Angeles, WA Dania, FL Corona Del Mar, CA Grand Isle, LA Bodega Bay, CA Cape May, NJ Gulfport, MS Marina Del Rey, CA Pensacola, FL Port Canaveral, FL San Francisco, CA Sabine Pass, TX Port Angeles, WA Boston, MA San Diego, CA Corpus Christi, TX Portsmouth, VA San Diego, CA Bellingham, WA Galveston, TX Miami, FL St. Petersburg, FL Sandy Hook, NJ Key West, FL Port Angeles, WA Newport, RI USCGC Blue Shark WPB-87360 Everett, WA Portsmouth, VA San Diego, CA Corpus Christi, TX Honolulu, HI San Francisco, CA Bellingham, WA Kings Bay, GA Bangor, WA St Petersburg, FL Miami Beach, FL San Juan, PR St. Petersburg, FL Kings Bay, GA Bangor, WA References
- ^ "Coastal Patrol Boat". USCG Acquisition Directorate. http://www.uscg.mil/acquisition/programs/pdf/cpb.pdf. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
- ^ "Patrol Boat". Marine Talk. 1999-10-18. Archived from the original on 2009-10-10. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marinetalk.com%2Farticles-marine-companies%2Fart%2FPatrol-Boat-121947N.html&date=2009-10-10.
- ^ Keyon K. Jeff (2009-10-11). "Bollinger Shipyards delivers final Marine Protector-class CPB". Tri-Parish Times. Archived from the original on 2009-10-11. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tri-parishtimes.com%2Farticles%2F2009%2F05%2F11%2Fbusiness_news%2F239_50_bollinger.txt&date=2009-10-11. "We're very sad to see the Sea Fox leave. This contract was supposed to end at 51 vessels, and now we're at 75," said Christopher Bollinger, executive vice president of new construction. "We're excited to see the workmanship continue as we start the next contract for 36 boats."
- ^ "International Acquisition Programs". United States Coast Guard. 2009-12-15. Archived from the original on 2009-12-28. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uscg.mil%2FACQUISITION%2Finternational%2F&date=2009-12-28.
- ^ http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg532/pwcs.asp
External links
- Globalsecurity.org - WPB 87' Marine Protector Class
- U.S. Coast Guard: 87-foot Coastal Patrol Boat (WPB) - Marine Protector Class
Categories:- Patrol vessels of the United States
- Ships of the United States Coast Guard
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