New Cutter to be Launched

On Saturday, February 7 the Marinette Marine Corp. (MMC) will launch the U. S. Coast Guard cutter Alder. Alder is part of the plan to replace the Coast Guard’s World War II era 180-foot cutters. Alder is a 225-foot Juniper Class seagoing buoy tender with icebreaking capabilities. It is the 16th cutter of a planned fleet of sixteen to be built by MMC in Marinette. MMC also built fourteen 175-foot Keeper Class coastal buoy tenders for the Coast Guard. In October 2001 MMC was award the contract to build an icebreaker to replace the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw, ‘the Great Lakes Icebreaker’. Mrs. Judy Hull, wife of Vice Admiral James Hull, is the cutter’s sponsor. Vice Admiral Hull, the Atlantic Area commander, will be the keynote speaker. Alder will be homeported in Duluth, Minn. The cutter is scheduled to be delivered to the Coast Guard on September 2 and should arrive at its homeport in Late September.