After speaking with Admiral Karl L. Schultz, Coast Guard Commandant, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, today announced that Rhode Island will serve as the homeport for two new 270-foot Coast Guard medium-endurance cutters, which will be based out of Naval Station Newport, each with a crew of 100. These Coast Guard cutters are scheduled to arrive in the fall of next year.
The USGC Tahoma (WMEC-908) and USCGC Campbell (WMEC 909), two of the Coast Guard’s fleet of twenty-nine medium-endurance cutters in service, will be coming to Rhode Island from their previous homeport at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire. Both vessels will continue conducting missions pertaining to maritime law enforcement, homeland security, and search and rescue missions in support of Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere.