USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753)

USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753)

History
United States
Namesake	Alexander Hamilton
Ordered	November 2010
Builder	Huntington Ingalls Industries, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down	5 September 2012
Launched	10 August 2013
Sponsored by	Linda Kapral Papp
Christened	26 October 2013
Commissioned	6 December 2014
Identification	MMSI number: 368883000 Callsign: NMAG
Status	In service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Legend-class cutter
Displacement	4500 LT
Length	418 ft (127 m)
Beam	54 ft (16 m)
Height	140 ft (43 m)
Draft	22.5 ft (6.9 m)
Decks	4
Propulsion	Combined diesel and gas
Speed	28+ knots
Range	12,000 nm
Endurance	60 days
Complement	111 (15 Officers, 15 CPO, 81 Enlisted) and can carry up to 148 depending on mission[1]
Sensors and processing systems	EADS 3D TRS-16 AN/SPS-75 Air Search Radar SPQ-9B Fire Control Radar AN/SPS-73 Surface Search Radar AN/SLQ-32
Electronic warfare & decoys	AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System 2 SRBOC/ 2 x NULKA countermeasures chaff/rapid decoy launcher
Armament	1 x MK 110 57mm gun 1 × 20 mm Block 1B Phalanx Close-In Weapons System 4 × .50 caliber machine guns 2 × M240B 7.62 mm machine guns
Armor	Ballistic protection for main gun
Aircraft carried	2 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH, or 4 x VUAV or 1 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH and 2 x VUAV
Aviation facilities	50-by-80-foot (15 m × 24 m) flight deck, hangar for all aircraft

USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753) is the fourth Legend-class cutter, also known as the National Security Cutter (NSC), of the United States Coast Guard. She is the fifth cutter named after Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, who was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury and in that position requested the formation of the United States Coast Guard (as the United States Revenue Cutter Service). The cutter's sponsor is Linda Kapral Papp, the wife of Coast Guard Commandant Robert J. Papp Jr.^[2]

Construction began in September 2011 by Northrop Grumman's Ship System Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, with the keel was laid on 5 September 2012. Hamilton was launched on 10 August 2013, and her christening was on 26 October 2013.^[3] She was delivered to the Coast Guard in September 2014. The cutter is homeported at Joint Base Charleston in North Charleston, South Carolina.

In January 2020 Hamilton became the first NSC to participate in a Navy Composite Training Unit Exercise, integrated with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and Carrier Strike Group 10. After operating with the Carrier Strike Group, the cutter patrolled the Eastern Pacific Ocean in support of Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South. The cutter returned in April after the 80-day patrol, during which she captured three drug smuggling vessels, including two narco-subs, and eight suspected drug smugglers. After the patrol she offloaded $324 million worth of cocaine and marijuana.^[4]