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Keeper class characteristics
Lighthouse keepers Auxiliary tender classes {{US-mil-ship-stub
The 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 ...
commissioned a new Keeper class of coastal buoy tender
A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. This term can also apply to an actual person who does this work.
The United States Coast Guard uses buoy tenders to accomplish one of its primary missions of main ...
s in the 1990s that are 175 feet (53 m) in length and named after lighthouse keeper
A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...
s.
Keeper-class cutters serve the Coast Guard in a variety of missions and are tasked with maintaining aids to navigation (ATON), search and rescue (SAR), law enforcement (LE), migrant interdiction, marine safety inspections, environmental protection and natural resources management. Keeper-class cutters are also used for light ice breaking operations.
These vessels are 175' long and replaced the World War II era 180', 157' and 133' tenders. The new class of buoy tender cut crew size from 50, 35 and 26, respectively, to 25, saving the already cash-strapped Coast Guard financial and personnel resources.
Keeper-class cutters were built by Marinette Marine of Marinette, WI.
Keeper-class cutters are equipped with mechanical Z-drive
A Z-drive is a type of marine propulsion unit. Specifically, it is an azimuth thruster. The pod can rotate 360 degrees allowing for rapid changes in thrust direction and thus vessel direction. This eliminates the need for a conventional rudder.
...
azimuth thruster
An azimuth thruster is a configuration of marine propellers placed in pods that can be rotated to any horizontal angle (azimuth), making a rudder unnecessary. These give ships better maneuverability than a fixed propeller and rudder system.
Ty ...
propulsion units instead of the standard propeller and rudder configuration. These mechanical drives are designed to independently rotate 360 degrees. Combined with a thruster in the bow, they enable Keeper-class tenders to dynamically maneuver in a variety of sea states. This creates an extremely maneuverable platform which, when combined with modern navigation aids such as GPS, DPS, and ECDIS to allow the Cutter to maintain static positions. This allows the cutter to precisely place an aid to navigation (ATON).
Keeper-class boarding teams are armed with modern small arms.
List
The following 175-foot WLMs in service (as of 2006):See also
* USCG seagoing buoy tender *USCG inland buoy tender There are two classes of USCG Inland Buoy Tenders.
The 100-foot Class Inland Buoy Tenders consists of the following boats:
* USCGC ''Bluebell'' (WLI-313); Portland, Oregon, (commissioned 28 September 1944)
* USCGC ''Buckthorn'' (WLI-642); Sault ...
* USCG inland construction tender
Notes
References
* Baker, A. D. ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1998–1999''. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1998. . * Saunders, Stephen. ''Jane's Fighting Ships 2002–2003''. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Information Group, 2002. .Further reading
* Putnam, George R., ''Lighthouses and Lightships of the United States'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1933). * United States Coast Guard, ''Aids to Navigation'' (Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945). *External links
*Keeper class characteristics
Lighthouse keepers Auxiliary tender classes {{US-mil-ship-stub