May 24, 2021 —
The Honorable Lucille Roybal-Allard, congresswoman from California and chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, and Joey D’Isernia, president of Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG), hold a plaque authenticating the keel of Chase, the second offshore patrol cutter, May 24. Joined by Adm. Karl Schultz, commandant of the Coast Guard, and Brian D’Isernia, chairman and chief executive officer of ESG, the group declared the keel of Chase to be “truly and fairly laid.”
The Coast Guard and Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) authenticated the keel for the second offshore patrol cutter (OPC), Chase, today, in Panama City, Florida.
The keel authentication, a time-honored tradition in shipbuilding, was conducted by Capt. Andrew Meverden, commanding officer of Coast Guard Project Resident Office Panama City, and Joey D’Isernia, ESG president. Cory Brooks, a welder with ESG, applied the initials of the sponsor, the Honorable Lucille Roybal-Allard, congresswoman from California and chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, to the ceremonial plate, which declares the keel of Chase to be “truly and fairly laid.”
Roybal-Allard is the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress and the first Latina to serve on the House Appropriations Committee as well as chair a House Appropriations subcommittee. Roybal-Allard has represented California’s 40th congressional district since 1992.
Six vessels bearing the name Chase figure into Coast Guard history. Three were named after Salmon Portland Chase, who served as secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln, and two were named for Samuel Chase, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. The USS Chase, built by the Navy and manned by a Coast Guard crew, landed troops in Africa, Italy and Normandy during World War II.
The OPC acquisition program meets the service’s long-term need for cutters capable of deploying independently or as part of task groups and is essential to stopping smugglers at sea, interdicting undocumented migrants, rescuing mariners, enforcing fisheries laws, responding to disasters and protecting ports. The acquisition of 25 OPCs will complement the capabilities of the service’s national security cutters, fast response cutters and polar security cutters as an essential element of the Department of Homeland Security’s layered security strategy.
The Coast Guard ordered construction of the third OPC and acquisition of long lead-time material for the fourth OPC April 29. Contract delivery of the third OPC, to be named Ingham, is scheduled to occur in 2024.
For more information: Offshore Patrol Cutter Program page