Ingalls Delivers National Security Cutter Stone

MarineLink November 10, 2020

National Security Cutter Stone (WMSL 758) sails in the Gulf of Mexico during builder’s sea trials earlier this year. (Photo by Lance Davis / HII)

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division has delivered National Security Cutter Stone (WMSL 758) to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Documents signed Monday mark the official transfer of custody of the ship from HII to the Coast Guard. Stone is scheduled to sail away from the Pascagoula, Miss. shipyard at the end of this year to its homeport in Charleston, S.C.

The Legend-class NSC is the most technologically advanced ship in the Coast Guard’s fleet, which enables it to meet the high demands required for maritime and homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions. NSCs are 418 feet long with a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 120.

The ninth national security cutter built by Ingalls for the U.S. Coast Guard, NSC 9 is named to honor Coast Guard Commander Elmer “Archie” Fowler Stone, Coast Guard aviator number one, who made history in 1919 for being one of two Coast Guard pilots in the four man air crew who completed the first trans-Atlantic flight in a Navy seaplane.