USCGC Bertholf
Legend-class U.S. Coast Guard cutter
title: "USCGC Bertholf" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["legend-class-cutters", "2006-ships", "ships-built-in-pascagoula,-mississippi"] description: "Legend-class U.S. Coast Guard cutter" topic_path: "general/legend-class-cutters" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Bertholf" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Legend-class U.S. Coast Guard cutter ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox ship"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| section1 | {{Infobox ship/image |
| image | USCG National Security Cutter BERTHOLF (WMSL-750).jpeg |
| image_caption | USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750) |
| section2 | {{Infobox ship/career |
| country | United States |
| flag | |
| namesake | Commodore Ellsworth P. Bertholf, USCG |
| ordered | January 2001 |
| builder | Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Pascagoula, Mississippi, U.S. |
| original_cost | 641 million |
| laid_down | March 29, 2005 |
| launched | September 29, 2006 |
| christened | November 11, 2006 |
| commissioned | August 4, 2008 |
| homeport | Integrated Support Command Alameda |
| identification | * |
| motto | "Legends Begin Here" |
| status | In active service |
| badge | [[Image:USCGCBertholfCrest.jpg |
| section3 | {{Infobox ship/characteristics |
| displacement | 4500 LT |
| length | 418 ft |
| beam | 54 ft |
| draft | 22.5 ft |
| propulsion | *Combined diesel and gas |
| *1 × 22.000 kW gas turbine engine{{cite web | url |
| speed | 28+ knots |
| range | 12,000 nm |
| complement | 113 (14 officers + 99 enlisted) and can carry up to 167 depending on mission |
| sensors | *EADS 3D TRS-16 AN/SPS-75 Air Search Radar |
| EW | *AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System |
| armament | * 1 x MK 110 57mm gun a variant of the Bofors 57 mm gun and Gunfire Control System |
| armor | *Ballistic protection for main gun |
| aircraft | 2 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH, or 4 x VUAV or 1 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH and 2 x VUAV |
| aircraft_facilities | 50 x flight deck, hangar for all aircraft |
| :: |
|section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=USCG National Security Cutter BERTHOLF (WMSL-750).jpeg |image_caption=USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750)
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United States |flag= |name= |namesake=Commodore Ellsworth P. Bertholf, USCG |owner= |operator= |registry= |route= |ordered=January 2001 |awarded= |builder=Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Pascagoula, Mississippi, U.S. |original_cost=641 million |yard_number= |way_number= |laid_down=March 29, 2005 |launched=September 29, 2006 |sponsor= |christened=November 11, 2006 |completed= |acquired= |commissioned=August 4, 2008 |recommissioned= |decommissioned= |maiden_voyage= |in_service= |out_of_service= |renamed= |reclassified= |refit= |struck= |reinstated= |homeport=Integrated Support Command Alameda |identification=*
- Callsign: NBCQ |motto="Legends Begin Here" |nickname= |honors= |captured= |fate= |status= In active service |notes= |badge=[[Image:USCGCBertholfCrest.jpg|left|125px]]
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class= |tonnage= |displacement=4500 LT |length=418 ft |beam=54 ft |height= |draft=22.5 ft |depth= |hold_depth= |decks= |deck_clearance= |ramps= |ice_class= |power= |propulsion=*Combined diesel and gas
- 2 × 7.400 kW diesel engines
- 1 × 22.000 kW gas turbine engine |sail_plan= |speed=28+ knots |range=12,000 nm |endurance= |test_depth= |boats= |capacity= |troops= |complement=113 (14 officers + 99 enlisted) and can carry up to 167 depending on mission |crew= |time_to_activate= |sensors=*EADS 3D TRS-16 AN/SPS-75 Air Search Radar
- SPQ-9B Fire Control Radar
- AN/SPS-73 Surface Search Radar
- AN/SLQ-32 |EW=*AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System
- 2 SRBOC/ 2 x NULKA countermeasures chaff/rapid decoy launcher |armament= * 1 x MK 110 57mm gun a variant of the Bofors 57 mm gun and Gunfire Control System
- 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=2 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH, or 4 x VUAV or 1 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH and 2 x VUAV |aircraft_facilities=50 x flight deck, hangar for all aircraft |notes=
USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750) is the first maritime security cutter of the United States Coast Guard. She is named for Commodore Ellsworth P. Bertholf, fourth commandant of both the Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard.
In 2005, construction began at Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on September 29, 2006, christened November 11, 2006, and commissioned on August 4, 2008. The cutter's home port is Alameda, California. Bertholf was the first to fire the Bofors 57 mm gun aboard a U.S. vessel on 11 February 2008.
Operational history
On March 3, 2016, Bertholf responded to a sighting off the Pacific Coast of Panama of a semi-submersible narco-submarine, reported by a P-3 Orion. The semi-submersible surrendered to a boarding party launched from Bertholf, and four suspects were captured along with 6 tons of cocaine. The boarding party then sank the semi-submersible. During the 2012 RIMPAC exercises Bertholf detected and tracked missile threats and also provided naval gunfire support for troops ashore during the training exercise, demonstrating the capability of moving with other naval forces and being able to perform other defense operations.
On 25 March 2019, USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54), in concert with Bertholf transited the contested Taiwan Strait. On 15 April of same year, the ship visited Hong Kong, the first Coast Guard vessel to do so in seventeen years.
Legend-class cutter
Bertholf is the lead ship of the design and the first large ship to be built under the Coast Guard's multi-year Deepwater acquisitions project. The NSCs replaced the fleet's aging 1960s-era 378-foot s.
Features
- Automated weapon systems
- Medium-caliber deck gun (57 mm) capable of stopping rogue merchant vessels far from shore
- Helicopter launch and recovery pad with rail-based aircraft retrieval system and two aircraft hangars
- Stern launching ramp for small boat launch and recovery
- Bow thruster
- State-of-the-art C4ISR improving interoperability between Coast Guard and Department of Defense assets
- Detection and defense capabilities against chemical, biological, or radiological attack
- Advanced sensors for intelligence collection and sharing
- Real-time tracking and seamless common operational picture/maritime domain awareness via integration with Rescue 21
- Advanced state-of-the-art Ships Integrated Control System (machinery control, steering, navigation) for reduced manpower requirements and improved automation
- Cassidian (EADS) TRS-3D/16-ES air search radar for area surveillance
- The cutter can have an anti-terrorism/force protection suite that will include underwater sonar that will allow the cutter to scan ports, approaches, facilities and high-value assets for underwater mines and mine-like devices and detect swimmers.
Gallery
File:USCGC Bertholf 57mm.JPG|Test firing of the MK110 57mm gun aboard USCGC Bertholf. File:U.S. Coast Guard flight deck crew members aboard maritime security cutter USCGC Bertholf (WMSL 750) tie down an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter arriving from Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles to the deck to secure it 120822-G-VS714-324.jpg|Flight deck crew members aboard Bertholf tie down an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter. File:USCG long range interceptor aboard Bertholf.jpg|USCG long range interceptor using the stern launching ramp of the USCGC Bertholf. File:USCG Bertholf Clipperton Island.png| Approaching Clipperton Island
References
References
- (11 September 2007). "USCG National Security Cutters: Bad News, Good News".
- (30 January 2008). "MTU Powers Deepwater National Security Cutter".
- "National Security Cutter: Program Profile".
- (29 September 2006). "CGC Bertholf Is Launched".
- (11 November 2006). "Photo Release – Bertholf Christening Honors U.S. Coast Guard's First National Security Cutter and Celebrates Recovery Milestone".
- U.S. Coast Guard. (1 July 2008). "Full length feature of the USCGC Bertholf".
- (28 March 2016). "Video: Coast Guard intercepts narco submarine".
- (29 March 2016). "Video of Coast Guard's $200 million cocaine bust off Panama released".
- Myers, Meghann. (7 August 2017). "Coast Guard cutter busts fifth cocaine sub in less than a year".
- Faram, Mark. (1 May 2013). "National Security Cutters Demonstrate Capabilities".
- "US Navy and Coast Guard Ships pass through strategic Taiwan Strait".
- "隔牆有耳： 美防衞隊海巡艦17年來首訪港 - 李八方".
- "Maritime Security Cutter, Large (WMSL)".
- Peters, Katherine McIntire. (29 May 2009). "National security cutter approved for classified operations".
- "TRS 3D - MSSR 2000I".
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