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National security cutter ‘capable’

Coast Guard acquisition officials planned to sign the paperwork in “early May” to accept the first national security cutter, the Bertholf, after the ship got a clean bill of health from a Navy inspection team brought in to give an independent analysis.

A Navy Board of Inspection and Survey team, also known as InSurv, went aboard the Bertholf in mid-April to give the cutter a top-to-bottom assessment. InSurv identified 2,816 points on the ship, listed as “trial cards,” that were incomplete or needed attention, and highlighted eight major systems that needed improvement. Overall, Navy inspectors wrote that the ship “was found to be a unique and very capable platform with great potential for future service” in the Coast Guard.

The InSurv report provides one of the most detailed looks yet at the state of the $641 million Bertholf, the first in a class of eight ships that are to take over for the Coast Guard’s current fleet of a dozen 40-year-old Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters.

“In general, builder fit, finish and cleanliness on the main deck and above were very good and in many areas met or exceeded new construction trial expectations,” the report said, although the ship was not as squared-away below decks. And the InSurv said that 1,360 trial cards were carried over from previous machinery trials, “a testament to the superb quality assurance oversight provided during ship construction and testing by the USCG project manager’s representative office and the Navy supervisor of shipbuilding.”

But one key detail went unresolved — an assessment of the Bertholf’s command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance suite, commonly known as C4ISR. Much of the information systems gear was not yet installed when InSurv came onboard, according to the report, nor did Navy inspectors conduct full tests on the ship’s radios, although overall the communications section of the InSurv gave the highest grade, “satisfactory.”

Coast Guard systems officials said in a March blog post that “issues” with the Bertholf’s C4ISR information security posed “some risk” of a delay in the ship’s delivery schedule, although Coast Guard and industry officials have continued to insist that the ship is adhering to its revised timetable.

The InSurv recommended that the Coast Guard accept the Bertholf only after resolving a to-do list of eight problems with the ship’s systems, which included:

* An “unstable” machinery control monitoring system.

* Leaky line shaft bearings with “significant deficiencies.”

* A starboard anchor with a broken brake that couldn’t free-fall to 45 fathoms, as required.

* Mooring capstan controllers that could be unsafe.

* Gantry cranes, for raising and lowering the ship’s boats, that didn’t work as designed.

* A broken ammunition hoist in the ship’s 57mm main gun.

* A broken incinerator.

* “Major deficiencies” with the still-incomplete flight deck, which was tangled with hoses; needed more communications gear and tie-downs; and needed new markings before it could handle Coast Guard helicopters. Although a Coast Guard H-65C Dolphin helicopter has flown close by the Bertholf as it was underway, no service helicopter has so far landed on the flight deck, acquisitions officials said. Smaller civilian helicopters from shipbuilder Northrop Grumman have landed on the flight deck.

The InSurv makes one of three recommendations needed by top Coast Guardsmen to determine whether to sign for the cutter; the others were to come from the Bertholf’s captain, Capt. Patrick Stadt, and a committee of top acquisitions officials. It appeared likely the service would accept the ship, and the InSurv report confirmed the Bertholf was ready for its crew to move aboard.