This article is about a United States Coast Guard patrol vessel class. For the Royal Navy 195 foot patrol vessel class, see Island-class patrol vessel.
USCGC Knight Island, commissioned in 1992, is the second newest Island-class boat.
The Island-class patrol boat is a class of cutters of the United States Coast Guard. Of the 49 cutters of the class that were built, 3 remain in commission. Their hull numbers are WPB-1301 through WPB-1349.[4]
Overview
The 110 feet (34 metres) Island-class patrol boats are a U.S. Coast Guard modification of a highly successful British-designed Vosper Thornycroft patrol boat built for Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore.[2] With excellent range and seakeeping capabilities, the Island class, all named after U.S. islands, replaced the older 95 feet (29 metres) Cape-class cutters. These cutters are equipped with advanced electronics and navigation equipment, and are used in support of the Coast Guard's maritime homeland security, migrant interdiction, drug interdiction, defense operations, fisheries enforcement, and search and rescue missions.[5] The cutters have 10 tons worth of space and weight reservations for additional weapons.[6]
The Sentinel-class cutters, selected under the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program, are slated to replace the Island class. Six Island class cutters (USCGC Adak, Aquidneck, Baranof, Maui, Monomoy, and Wrangell) were stationed in Manama, Bahrain, as a part of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia to provide the Navy's Fifth Fleet with combat ready assets[7] but all have been replaced by Fast Response Cutters.[8]
Conversion problems
As built, these vessels were all 110 feet (34 m) in length. In 2002 as part of the Integrated Deepwater System Program, the Coast Guard began refitting some of these vessels, adding 13 feet (4.0 m) to the stern to make room for a high-speed stern launching ramp, and replacing the superstructure so that these vessels had enough room to accommodate mixed-gender crews. The refit added about 15 tons to the vessel's displacement, and reduced its maximum speed by approximately one knot. The eight cutters[9] modified were;
In 2005, then-Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thomas H. Collins made the decision to stop the contractor's conversion at eight hulls when sea trials revealed intractable structural flaws.[10][11]
In August 2006, a Lockheed Martin engineer went public with allegations that the company and the Coast Guard were ignoring serious security flaws in the refitting project, and that they were likely to repeat the same mistakes on similar projects. The flaws included blind spots in watch cameras, FLIR equipment not suitable for operating under extreme temperatures, and the use of non-shielded cables in secure communications systems, a violation of TEMPEST standards.[12]
In late November 2006 all eight of the 123 ft (37 m) WPBs were taken out of service due to debilitating problems with their lengthened hulls – all eight hulls were cracking when driven at high speed in heavy seas. These as well as other issues – such as C4ISR problems – drove the program $60 million over budget, triple the original bid for the eight boats converted. The 41 unmodified 110s were pressed harder to take up the slack.[13] The eight modified were moved to the United States Coast Guard Yard and moored in Arundel Cove.[14]
Transfers to foreign operators
Unloading of P191 "Starobilsk" of the Ukrainian Navy
^"WPB 110' Island Class". GlobalSecurity.org. Global Security. Archived from the original on 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2018-06-09. There are three variants of the Island Class. The A & B classes use two Paxman-Valenta 16 CM engines as there propulsion plants while the C class uses two Caterpillar 3516s.
^ abMcCarthy, Frank N. (1986). "The Coast Guard's New Island in the Drug War". Proceedings. 112 (2). United States Naval Institute: 109&110.
^"Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA)". United States Coast Guard Atlantic Area, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Defense Media Activity. Retrieved 31 May 2024. In the midst of a fleet transition from WPBs to WPCs, the PATFORSWA squadron currently consists of six 154' Sentinel Class Fast Response Cutters, a cutter relief crew, and a 150-member mission support detachment in Bahrain.
^"Μαντούβαλος, Γαλάνης, Λιάσκος, Γιαλοψός: Αθάνατοι, δίνουν το όνομα τους στα 4 Island" [Mantuvalos, Galanis, Liaskos, Gialopsos: Immortals, give their name to the 4 Island] (in Greek). Flight. 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2024-09-19. Όπως ανακοίνωσε το Πολεμικό Ναυτικό σε συνεδρίαση του Ανωτάτου Ναυτικού Συμβουλίου τη Δευτέρα 3/7/2023, ορίσθηκαν τα ονόματα των 4 νέων παράκτιων περιπολικών Island που παραλαμβάνονται από την Αμερικανική Ακτοφυλακή (τα πρώτα δύο ήδη έφθασαν στο Ναύσταθμο Σαλαμίνας). [As announced by the Navy at a meeting of the Supreme Naval Council on Monday, 3rd July 2023, the names of the 4 new Island-class coastal patrol vessels, which are being received from the U.S. Coast Guard, were designated (the first two have already arrived at the Salamis Naval Base).]
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Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft 1946-1990. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 62–63. ISBN0-87021-719-4.