NEWPORT – State and Coast Guard officials Friday officially welcomed two 270-foot Coast Guard cutters and 200 crew members to their new home port at Naval Station Newport.
The Tahoma and the Campbell relocated from a base at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire. The two ships have crews of 100 each and are two of a fleet of 29 medium-endurance cutters in service. A shore-based maintenance support team has transferred with the ships to Rhode Island.
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Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who played role in get the vessels relocated to Newport, was joined by Admiral Linda Fagan, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, and other dignitaries.
“The Coast Guard plays an essential role in safeguarding our nation and I am pleased the Coast Guard is bringing more assets home to the Ocean State,” Reed said.
The ships are Famous-class cutters that began service in the late 1980s. While primarily under the command of Coast Guard Atlantic Area, they support district commanders, including Coast Guard District One, conducting search and rescue and fisheries enforcement off the coast of New England. They also support the Coast Guard’s drug interdiction and migrant interdiction missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Oceans.
Both cutters are equipped with sophisticated communication and navigation equipment and are armed with a 76mm deck gun and carry an embarked MH-65 Dolphin helicopter. Specifications include a beam of 38 feet, a draft of 14.5 feet, displacement of 1,800 tons and a cruising speed of 19.5 knots. Propulsion is by twin turbo-charged ALCO V-18 diesel engines.
Both vessels were built in Rhode Island. The keels for both ships were laid at the now defunct Derecktor Shipyard in Middletown in 1983 (Tahoma) and 1984 (Campbell).
Last summer, the Coast Guard deployed both ships in the North Atlantic region to participate in joint military and search and rescue exercises. The vessels will continue conducting missions pertaining to maritime law enforcement, homeland security, and search and rescue missions in support of Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere.
“The homeporting of these cutters in Newport is good news for Rhode Island,” Reed said. “From a strategic, operational, and cost-benefit perspective, moving these cutters to Newport makes sense. Naval Station Newport offers an ideal location for the Coast Guard to homeport these vessels and their crews. It offers the benefits and amenities of a secure naval facility and an outstanding quality of life for crewmembers and their families.”
Newport is already home to Coast Guard cutters: Oak, Sycamore and Ida Lewis. In several years, these vessels will be joined by two new state-of-the-art 360-foot Heritage-class vessels that are under construction in Florida.
