Island-class patrol boat

The Island-class patrol boat is a class of cutters of the United States Coast Guard. 49 cutters of the class were built, of which 37 remain in commission. Their hull numbers are WPB-1301 through WPB-1349.[3]

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, which was commissioned in 1992, is the second newest Island-class boat.
Class overview
Name: Island class
Builders: Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana, U.S.
Operators:
Built: 1985–1992[1]
In service: 1985–present
Completed: 49
Active: 37
General characteristics
Displacement: 168 tons
Length: 110 ft (34 m)
Beam: 21 ft (6.4 m)
Draft: 7.3 ft (2.2 m)[2]
Propulsion: 2 Paxman Valenta or Caterpillar diesels
Speed: 29.5 knots
Range: 3,300 miles
Endurance: 5 days
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 1 – Cutter Boat Medium (Yamaha 90 HP outboard engine)
Complement: 16 (2 officers, 14 enlisted)
Sensors and
processing systems:		 AN/SPS-73 radar
Armament:
Aircraft carried: None

Overview

The 110 ft (34 m) 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 ft (29 m) 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. The 58 ordered Sentinel-class cutters, selected under the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program, are slated to replace the Island class. Six Island class cutters are currently stationed in Manama, Bahrain as a part of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia to provide the Navy's Fifth Fleet with combat ready assets.[4] The cutters have 10 tons worth of space and weight reservations for additional weapons.[5]

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[6] modified were;

  • USCGC Matagorda (WPB-1303)
  • USCGC Attu (WPB-1317)
  • USCGC Metompkin (WPB-1325)
  • USCGC Padre (WPB-1328)
  • USCGC Manitou (WPB-1302)
  • USCGC Monhegan (WPB-1305)
  • USCGC Nunivak (WPB-1306)
  • USCGC Vashon (WPB-1308)

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.[7][8]

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.[9]

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 110's are now being pressed harder to take up the slack.[10] The eight modified were moved to the United States Coast Guard Yard and moored in Arundel Cove.[11]

Transfers to foreign operators
Unloading of P191 "Starobilsk" of Ukrainian Navy

The U.S. Coast Guard has transferred several ships to foreign navies and coast guards via the Defense Security Cooperation Agency's Office of International Acquisition’s Excess Defense Articles Program (EDA).[12]

Operators

Dispositions
disposition of Island class cutters
imagenamecommissioneddecommissionednotes
Farallon (WPB-1301)
Manitou (WPB-1302)
Matagorda (WPB-1303)
Maui (WPB-1304)
Monhegan (WPB-1305)
Nunivak (WPB-1306)
Ocracoke (WPB-1307)
Vashon (WPB-1308)
Aquidneck (WPB-1309)
Mustang (WPB-1310)
Naushon (WPB-1311)
Sanibel (WPB-1312)
Edisto (WPB-1313)
Sapelo (WPB-1314)
Mantinicus (WPB-1315)
Nantucket (WPB-1316)
Attu (WPB-1317)
Baranof (WPB-1318)
Chandeleur (WPB-1319)
Chincoteague (WPB-1320)
Cushing (WPB-1321)transferred to Ukraine, renamed P190 Sloviansk
Cuttyhunk (WPB-1322)
Drummond (WPB-1323)transferred to Ukraine, renamed P191 Starobilsk
Key Largo (WPB-1324)
Metompkin (WPB-1325)
Monomoy (WPB-1326)19 May 1989
Orcas (WPB-1327)
Padre (WPB-1328)
Sitkanak Island (WPB-1329)
Tybee (WPB-1330)
Washington (WPB-1331)
Wrangell (WPB-1332)
Adak (WPB-1333)
Liberty (WPB-1334)
Anacapa (WPB-1335)
Kiska (WPB-1336)
Assateague (WPB-1337)
Grand Isle (WPB-1338)transferred to Pakistan
Key Biscayne (WPB-1339)transferred to Pakistan
Jefferson Island (WPB-1340)transferred to Georgia
Kodiak Island (WPB-1341)
Long Island (WPB-1342)transferred to Costa Rica, renamed Juan Rafael Mora Porras
Bainbridge Island (WPB-1343)purchased by Sea Shepherd, renamed MV Sharpie
Block Island (WPB-1344)purchased by Sea Shepherd, renamed MY Jules Verne
Staten Island (WPB-1345)transferred to Georgia
Roanoke Island (WPB-1346)transferred to Costa Rica, renamed Gen. Jose M. Canas Escamilla
Pea Island (WPB-1347)purchased by Sea Shepherd, renamed MY Farley Mowat
Knight Island (WPB-1348)
Galveston Island (WPB-1349)
  • USCG Sanibel moored in Boston Harbor
  • Four WPBs transported to the Mediterranean aboard MV BBC Spain
  • USCGC Anacapa sinks derelict Ryou-Un Maru fishing vessel with fire hose, 5 April 2012.

See also

References
  1. "WPB 110' Island Class". 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.
  2. McCarthy, Frank N. (1986). "The Coast Guard's New Island in the Drug War". Proceedings. United States Naval Institute. 112 (2): 109&110.
  3. "USCG: 110 ft Patrol Boat". Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  4. "Patrol Forces Southwest Asia". USCG.mil. US Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  5. "UNITED STATES COAST GUARD ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE (ASW) IN THE MARITIME DEFENSE ZONE (MDZ)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-04-28. Retrieved 3 May 2018. The new Island Class of 110-foot Patrol Boat (WPB) was designed with "a ten-ton space and weight reservation for additional weapon systems."
  6. Bruce Alpert (August 18, 2011). "Feds Sue Bollinger Shipyards Over 'Unseaworthy' Coast Guard Ships". New Orleans Business News. Archived from the original on 2018-06-09. Retrieved March 28, 2012. The suit contends that Lockport-based Bollinger exaggerated the structural hull strength of the eight boats it had contracted to lengthen from 110 feet to 123 feet.
  7. Nathaniel R. Helms (2005-06-23). "Coast Guard Scramble Over Deepwater Snag". Military.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  8. "Coast Guard ends cutter conversion program". MarineLog. 2005-07-18. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  9. Griff Witte (2006-08-29). "On YouTube, Charges of Security Flaws". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2009-10-08.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  10. Eric Lipton (2006-11-30). "Coast Guard to Idle 8 Cutters After $100 Million Renovation". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2012-05-15. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  11. U. S. Coast Guard Patrol Craft Archived 2014-05-26 at the Wayback Machine. HMC James T. Flynn, Jr. USNR(ret). 2012.
  12. "EDA". dsca.mil. Archived from the original on September 7, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  13. "U.S. Donates Two Patrol Boats to Georgian Coast Guard". Civil Georgia. Tbilisi. 1 October 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-12-12. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  14. "USCG Transfers Cutters". dcms.uscg.mil. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  15. "Costa Rica to commission former US Coast Guard cutters in April". Naval Today. 2018-03-07. Retrieved 2018-06-08. The Coast Guard formally transferred the two patrol boats – the former cutters Long Island and Roanoke Island – to Costa Rica through the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) Program in October 2017.
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-03. Retrieved 2015-06-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. User, Super. "Sea Shepherd Launches New Anti-poaching Vessel M/V Sharpie". Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Archived from the original on 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
  18. "Ukraine to receive two former U.S. Coast Guard Island-class cutters". navaltoday.com. navaltoday.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
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