WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard authenticated the keel for the future Coast Guard Cutter Pickering during a ceremony Monday in Mobile, Alabama.
Keel authentication is a time-honored shipbuilding tradition marking the formal start of a vessel’s construction. During the ceremony, the sponsor’s initials are applied to a ceremonial keel plate that will be installed on the cutter, symbolically indicating the keel is “truly and fairly laid.”
Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the Coast Guard, attended the event along with Rep. Mike Ezell of Mississippi, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation; Michelle Kruger, president of Austal USA; and more than 100 guests.
“This event highlights the progress made towards delivering this much-needed asset to the nation,” said Rear Adm. Chad Jacoby, deputy commandant for systems and chief acquisition executive. “With OPC design and modeling activities fully complete and production underway, we are gaining speed towards recapitalization of our medium endurance fleet.”
Ravi Khamsourin, an advanced welder with Austal USA, placed the initials of the sponsor, Dr. Meghan Pickering Seymour, on the ceremonial keel plate. Pickering Seymour is Pickering’s great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter.
Pickering is named after a revenue cutter built in 1798 that bore the same name. The vessel was named in honor of Timothy Pickering, the second secretary of war. Pickering fought in the American Revolution as a colonel and served as adjutant general of Gen. George Washington’s army in 1777. He later served as secretary of state, a U.S. senator and a member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts. He advocated for construction of the first frigates built to enforce tariff and trade laws and prevent smuggling.
Pickering will be the third Coast Guard vessel to carry the name. In addition to the original revenue cutter Pickering, the Coast Guard operated a concrete-hull floating base bearing the name Pickering during the 1920s.
The OPC acquisition program addresses the Coast Guard’s long-term need for cutters capable of deploying independently or as part of task groups. The cutters provide essential capability for the Coast Guard to control, secure and defend U.S. borders and maritime approaches, facilitate maritime commerce vital to economic security and strategic mobility, and respond to contingencies. Acquisition of 25 OPCs will complement the service’s national security cutters, fast response cutters and polar security cutters as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s layered security strategy.
Delivery of Pickering is scheduled for 2027.
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With more than 95,000 miles of shoreline, 25,000 miles of navigable rivers and 4.5 million square miles of U.S. exclusive economic zone, the U.S. Coast Guard defends the Nation, protects the marine transportation system, regulates and safeguards ports and waterways, leads the Nation in drug interdiction and secures the maritime border. As a member of the joint force, a law enforcement organization, a regulatory agency and a member of the U.S. intelligence community, the Coast Guard employs a unique mix of authorities to ensure the safety and integrity of the maritime domain to protect the economic and national security of the nation. The more than 76,000 members of the Coast Guard operate a multi-mission, interoperable fleet of more than 220 cutters, 185 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, 1,300 boats and its own dedicated cyber command to protect critical maritime infrastructure.
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