WASHINGTON — Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, will be home to future offshore patrol cutters, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters announced Aug. 12.
“I am excited to announce the homeporting of two offshore patrol cutters at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island,” Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Karl L. Schultz said. “NAVSTA Newport provides strategic operational reach and significant logistics support to our service, helping secure our national interests in the Atlantic. I am grateful to the community and its leadership for their continued support of the U.S. Coast Guard and our families assigned to the region.”
OPCs are the Coast Guard’s top acquisition priority and will provide the majority of the Coast Guard’s offshore presence, bridging the capabilities of the 418-foot national security cutters and the 154-foot fast-response cutters.
OPCs will conduct missions such as law enforcement, drug and migrant interdiction, search and rescue, homeland security, and defense operations. Each OPC will be capable of deploying independently or as part of a task group and be capable of serving as a mobile command and control (C2) platform for surge operations such as hurricane, mass migration, or other contingency response operations.
The Coast Guard earlier told Seapower that the first homeport of the OPC would be San Pedro, California.
