US Coast Guard receives sixth national security cutter Munro

The U.S. Coast Guard received USCGC Munro, the service’s sixth national security cutter, from Huntington Ingalls Industries on December 16.

According to HII, Munro is scheduled to sail away in February and will be commissioned in Seattle on April 1, 2017.

Munro is the sixth Legend-class National Security Cutter Ingalls has built for the Coast Guard. Ingalls currently has two more NSCs under construction: Kimball (WMSL 756) and Midgett (WMSL 757).

These ships are scheduled to be delivered in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Munro is named to honor Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro, the Coast Guard’s sole recipient of the Medal of Honor. He was mortally wounded on Sept. 27, 1942, while evacuating a detachment of Marines from Guadalcanal.

“Three years ago, this ship consisted of nothing more than steel plates, raw pipe and bundled wire,” said Derek Murphy, Ingalls’ NSC 6 program manager. “Since then, we’ve seen an amazing transformation, made possible by the thousands of people who poured their heart and soul into this ship.”

Legend-class NSCs are the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter fleet. Designed to replace the 378‐foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that entered service in the 1960s, they are 418 feet long with a 54-foot beam and displace 4,500 tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 110.