Ingalls Shipbuilding christens sixth NSC Munro (WMSL 755)
Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (NYSE:HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division on November 14 2015 christened the company’s sixth U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter (NSC), Munro (WMSL 755), the shipbuilding company said in its news release.
Julie Sheehan, the great niece of the ship’s namesake, Signalman First Class Douglas Munro, is the ship’s sponsor. At the culmination of the ceremony, she smashed a bottle across the bow of the ship, proclaiming, “May God bless this ship and all who sail in her.”
Munro died heroically on Sept. 27, 1942, on Guadalcanal. Having volunteered to evacuate a detachment of U.S. Marines who were facing annihilation by a large and unanticipated enemy force, he succeeded in safely extricating them and in doing so was mortally wounded.
For his heroic and selfless actions in the completion of this rescue mission, Munro was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. He is the Coast Guard’s sole recipient of the award.
Ingalls has delivered five NSCs, and three more, including Munro, are currently under construction.
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 during 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.
NSCs are capable of meeting all maritime security mission needs required of the High-Endurance Cutter. They include an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft. The Legend class is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the Coast Guard, with robust capabilities for maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions. NSCs play an important role enhancing the Coast Guard’s operational readiness, capacity and effectiveness at a time when the demand for their services has never been greater.
About Huntington Ingalls Industries
Huntington Ingalls Industries is America’s largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of engineering, manufacturing and management services to the nuclear energy, oil and gas markets. For more than a century, HII’s Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs approximately 37,000 people operating both domestically and internationally.