Austal USA Lays Keel For First Heritage-Class Offshore Patrol Cutter For U.S. Coast Guard

Austal USA has laid the keel for Pickering (WMSM 919), the first Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) it is building for the U.S. Coast Guard at its ship manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama.

The vessel is the first of up to 11 cutters covered under a contract with a potential value of $3.3 billion, for which the Coast Guard has so far exercised options for six cutters.

The keel was authenticated during a ceremony attended by more than a hundred guests, including senior Coast Guard officials, elected representatives, local leaders and members of the shipbuilding teams.

Dr Meghan Pickering Seymour, the ship sponsor, welded her initials onto the keel plate as part of the longstanding naval tradition. She completed the weld with assistance from Austal USA advanced welder Ravi Khamsourin.

Dr Seymour is the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Colonel Timothy Pickering, after whom the first USCGC Cutter Pickering, launched in 1798, was named.

The event was also attended by The Hon Mike Ezell, who represents Mississippi’s 4th District in the U.S. House of Representatives and chairs the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, as well as Admiral Kevin Lunday, acting Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The OPC programme is intended to replace the Coast Guard’s ageing medium endurance cutters and create a capability link between the service’s National Security Cutters, which operate in the open ocean, and the Fast Response Cutters that patrol closer to shore.

Austal USA President Michelle Kruger said in a company release that the milestone was an important step for the OPC programme.

She said the ceremony showed the dedication of the workforce and the strong cooperation between Austal USA, the Coast Guard and suppliers. She also said the company is proud to build cutters that will support national security.

The 360-foot-long OPCs will provide the bulk of the Coast Guard’s offshore presence and support missions including law enforcement, drug and migrant interdiction, and search and rescue.

Each cutter will have a range of 10,200 nautical miles at 14 knots and endurance for up to 60 days, enabling them to deploy independently or as part of task groups.

The vessels are also expected to support Arctic operations by assisting in the regulation and protection of emerging commercial and energy activities in Alaska.

Pickering is one of two Heritage-class OPCs currently under construction at Austal USA’s Mobile facility and one of ten surface vessels being built at the yard. Construction of the second OPC, Icarus (WMSM 920), began in August 2025.

Reference: Austal USA

Source: Maritime Shipping News