CG not yet set on which cutters to decom

[unhappycamper]

CG not yet set on which cutters to decom
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Nov 13, 2009 12:10:24 EST

The Coast Guard’s aging fleet of high endurance cutters is in such bad shape that officials can’t choose which ships to retire first as their replacements enter service.

Coast Guard officials took delivery Nov. 6 of their second national security cutter, the Waesche, and work is proceeding on the third, Stratton, said Capt. Bruce Baffer, head of the Coast Guard’s surface acquisitions, but the service doesn’t know yet which of its older ships to replace with the new ones.

“We have a number of schedules, but it seems to change about weekly,” Baffer said. “It’s hard to tell which ones are in worse shape.”

In the past year, the Coast Guard has had to sideline two of its 378-foot high-endurance cutters, the Dallas and Gallatin, for major engineering work. Officials initially would have said those two ships should leave service first — to be replaced by the national security cutters Bertholf and Waesche — but now they don’t want to lose the money they invested in repairing them, Baffer said.

The Coast Guard’s four decade-old Hamilton-class cutters are disintegrating even as crews continue to drive them hard in missions at sea. When the Coast Guard makes its budget submission to Congress each year, Commandant Adm. Thad Allen includes photos that show the results of corrosion, fire and wear on ships that continue to operate at high tempos.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/11/navy_cg_cutters_111309w/



unhappycamper comment: The replacement ships costs at least $641 million a pop.