This steel plate, bearing the initials of the cutter’s sponsor, authenticates the keel of NSC 5 as “truly and fairly” laid. Photo courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries.

The Coast Guard’s new Response Boat-Small (RB-S) II is loaded aboard an HC-130 Hercules transport at Air Station Clearwater, Fla. The RB-S II is one of the Coast Guard’s most versatile multi-mission boats and is used by the Service’s Deployable Operations Group. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Nicholas Schellman.

The U.S. Coast Guard today awarded a fixed-price incentive firm target contract valued at approximately $487.1 million to Huntington Ingalls Industries for the production of the sixth National Security Cutter (NSC).

A team of 10 researchers from the Coast Guard Research and Development Center, University of Southern California, and University of Chile were recognized April 8, 2013, as the recipients of the 2013 Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice.

The Rescue 21 command, control and communication system covers 41,871 miles of U.S. coastline and has supported more than 50,000 search and rescue cases. U.S. Coast Guard graphic.