Coast Guard chooses new patrol boat

[unhappycamper]

The 153-and-a-half foot-long Sentinel-class patrol boats are based on the Damen 4708 design for the South African Coast Guard's three Lilian Ngoyi-class patrol boats.


Coast Guard chooses new patrol boat
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Sep 30, 2008 19:51:17 EDT

Years after Congress urged the Coast Guard to speed up its patrol boat replacement program, the service finally picked a design and a shipbuilder for its new cutters.

The winner: Bollinger Shipyards, with a proven design from Dutch shipbuilder and ship designer Damen.

“It’s imperative that we get this program under way,” Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard, told reporters gathered Monday at service headquarters in Washington.

The $88 million contract announced Sept. 26 is for the design and construction of the first Sentinel-class patrol boat.

The firm fixed-price contract includes six option periods which, if exercised, would add up to 34 new cutters at an ultimate price of $1.5 billion. The average unit price of the new ships, once the program kicks into production, should be $45 million to $50 million, said Rear Adm. Gary Blore, the Coast Guard’s top acquisition official.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/09/defense_newcutters_093008/%2e