fyi Secretary Class Cutter
 

378-Foot High Endurance Cutter (WHEC)



Function: Law Enforcement, Defense Operations, Search and Rescue.


Description: The 378-foot High Endurance Cutter class are the largest cutters, aside from the two Polar Class Icebreakers, ever built for the Coast Guard. They are powered by diesel engines and gas turbines, and have controllable-pitch propellers. Equipped with a helicopter flight deck, retractable hangar, and the facilities to support helicopter deployment, these 12 cutters were introduced to the Coast Guard inventory in the 1960s. Beginning in the 1980s and ending in 1992, the entire class was modernized through the Fleet Renovation and Modernization (FRAM) program. The first of the class was the Hamilton (WHEC-715) commissioned in 1967. Highly versatile and capable of performing a variety of missions, these cutters operate throughout the world's oceans.


General Characteristics, 378-Foot High Endurance Cutter

Length, Overall:
378 feet


Beam:
43 feet


Maximum Range:
14,000 miles


Maximum Speed:
29 knots



Armament:
One Mark 75 76-mm gun (anti-air capable)

Two 25-mm machine guns

One 20-mm Phalanx, close-in weapons system (CIWS)


Crew:
167 Personnel (19 Officers, 148 Enlisted)





378-Foot WHECs in Service:
Boutwell (WHEC-719)
Chase (WHEC-718)
Dallas (WHEC-716)
Gallatin (WHEC-721)
Hamilton (WHEC-715)
Jarvis (WHEC-725)
Mellon (WHEC-717)
Midgett (WHEC-726)
Morgenthau (WHEC-722)
Munro (WHEC-724)
Rush (WHEC-723)
Sherman (WHEC-720)