USCGC ''Hamilton'' (WHEC-715) was a

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

high endurance cutter and the lead ship of its

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

. It was based at

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts from commissioning until 1991, then out of San Pedro, California before it was moved to its last home port in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, California. It was launched on December 18, 1965 at

Avondale Shipyard Avondale Shipyard was an independent shipbuilding company, acquired by Litton Industries, in turn acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation. In 2011, along with the former Ingalls Shipbuilding, the yard was part of Huntington Ingalls Industries. It ...

s near

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, Louisiana and named for

Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

Alexander Hamilton, the first

United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

and founder of the

United States Revenue Cutter Service ) , colors= , colors_label= , march= , mascot= , equipment= , equipment_label= , battles= , anniversaries=4 August , decorations= , battle_honours= , battle_honours_label= , disbanded=28 January 1915 , flying_hours= , website= , commander1= , co ...

. It was commissioned on March 18, 1967. It was decommissioned on March 28, 2011 and transferred to the Philippine Navy as an excess defense article under the Foreign Assistance Act on May 13, 2011 as .

Design

The

designed a high level of habitability into ''Hamilton''. Living compartments and areas provided fairly comfortable accommodations, including air conditioning, for the 173 men and women aboard.

Propulsion

''Hamilton'' was the first U.S. military vessel to employ the now common shipboard application of aircraft

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

jet engines and controllable pitch propellers. Its two Pratt & Whitney gas turbines could propel it at speeds up to . It also has two

Fairbanks-Morse Fairbanks, Morse and Company was an American manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinders, radios, farm tractors, fee ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s, capable of driving it economically at for up to without refueling. A retractable/rotatable bow propulsion unit provides exceptional maneuverability in tight situations.

Flight support

''Hamilton''s

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopte ...

and

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

, capable of handling both Coast Guard and

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

helicopters, extended the vessel's rescue and maritime law enforcement operations.

Renovation

In 1988, ''Hamilton'' completed a three-year fleet renovation and modernization that provided it with modern weapons and electronics systems, including Harpoon missiles and a modernized

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

suite. All spaces and machinery were also overhauled and refurbished. The new technology enabled it to operate seamlessly with the United States Navy.

Missions

''Hamilton'' served a variety of missions with distinction. During a 1969–1970 deployment to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, it interdicted weapons smugglers and fired more than 4,600 rounds in support of U.S. and South Vietnamese troops ashore. From 1965–1975, it served on

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

stations, collecting valuable oceanographic data and conducting frequent search and rescue missions. It also directed the interdictions of over 21,000 Haitian migrants throughout the Caribbean during Operation Able Manner. In 1994, it received the

Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...

for rescuing 135 Haitians after their sailboat capsized and sank. In 1996, it transited the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

and served as the command and control platform for Operation Frontier Shield, a multi-agency effort to curtail the influx of narcotics into the United States. ''Hamilton'' intercepted 14 drug-laden vessels carrying more than 115 tons of contraband worth 200 million dollars. In 1999, ''Hamilton'' seized over of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

bound for the U.S. in the Eastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. It frequently patrolled the Bering Sea off the

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

n coast at the Maritime Boundary Line (MBL) which separates the Russian and the United States exclusive economic zones (EEZ). ''Hamilton''s presence on the MBL deters foreign fishing vessels from fishing in the U.S. EEZ. In March 2007, ''Hamilton'' assisted in the largest recorded maritime drug bust in history. The two vessels intercepted the Panamanian-flagged fishing vessel ''Gatun'' in international waters and seized of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $600 million. It was the largest drug bust in US history, and the largest interdiction at sea.

Additional

The U.S. Navy League Cadet Corps (NLCC) has a commissioned unit named after USCGC ''Hamilton''. The unit's name is Training Ship Hamilton; it is located in San Pedro, California.

References

External links

home page

USCG Decommissioning announcement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton (Whec-715) Ships of the United States Coast Guard Hamilton-class cutters 1965 ships Ships built in Bridge City, Louisiana Ships named for Founding Fathers of the United States