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USCGC *Hamilton* (WMSL-753)
History
United States
Namesake	Alexander Hamilton
Ordered	November 2010
Builder	Huntington Ingalls Industries, Pascagoula, Mississippi
Laid down	5 September 2012
Launched	10 August 2013
Sponsored by	Linda Kapral Papp
Christened	26 October 2013
Commissioned	6 December 2014
Identification	MMSI number: 368883000; Callsign: NMAG;
Status	In service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Legend-class cutter
Displacement	4500 LT
Length	418 ft (127 m)
Beam	54 ft (16 m)
Height	140 ft (43 m)
Draft	22.5 ft (6.9 m)
Decks	4
Propulsion	Combined diesel and gas
Speed	28+ knots
Range	12,000 nm
Endurance	60 days
Complement	111 (15 Officers, 15 CPO, 81 Enlisted) and can carry up to 148 depending on mission
Sensors and ; processing systems	EADS 3D TRS-16 AN/SPS-75 Air Search Radar; SPQ-9B Fire Control Radar; AN/SPS-73 Surface Search Radar; AN/SLQ-32;
Electronic warfare ; & decoys	AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System; 2 SRBOC/ 2 x NULKA countermeasures chaff/rapid decoy launcher;
Armament	1 x MK 110 57mm gun; 1 × 20 mm Block 1B Phalanx Close-In Weapons System; 4 × .50 caliber machine guns; 2 × M240B 7.62 mm machine guns;
Armor	Ballistic protection for main gun
Aircraft carried	2 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH, or 4 x VUAV or 1 x MH-65C Dolphin MCH and 2 x VUAV
Aviation facilities	50-by-80-foot (15 m × 24 m) flight deck, hangar for all aircraft

USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753) is the fourth Legend-class cutter, also known as the National Security Cutter (NSC), of the United States Coast Guard. She is the fifth cutter named after Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, who was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury and in that position requested the formation of the United States Coast Guard (as the United States Revenue Cutter Service). The cutter's sponsor is Linda Kapral Papp, the wife of Coast Guard Commandant Robert J. Papp Jr.^[2]

Construction began in September 2011 by Northrop Grumman's Ship System Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, with the keel was laid on 5 September 2012. Hamilton was launched on 10 August 2013, and her christening was on 26 October 2013.^[3] She was delivered to the Coast Guard in September 2014. The cutter is homeported at Joint Base Charleston in North Charleston, South Carolina.

In January 2020 Hamilton became the first NSC to participate in a Navy Composite Training Unit Exercise, integrated with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and Carrier Strike Group 10. After operating with the Carrier Strike Group, the cutter patrolled the Eastern Pacific Ocean in support of Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South. The cutter returned in April after the 80-day patrol, during which she captured three drug smuggling vessels, including two narco-subs, and eight suspected drug smugglers. After the patrol she offloaded $324 million worth of cocaine and marijuana.^[4]

Notable interdictions

15 December 2016 - Cutter USCGC Hamilton offloaded 26.5 tons of cocaine estimated at a worth of US$715 million after conducting interdiction operations beside the Royal Canadian Navy since 1 October that same year.^[5]
27 August 2020 - USCGC Hamilton offloaded 11,500 pounds of cocaine and 17,000 pounds of marijuana estimated at an estimated worth of $228 million after a patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean alongside USCGC Resolute and US Navy patrol boat USS Shamal.^[6]
24 November 2021- USCGC Hamilton offloaded 26,250 pounds of cocaine and 3,700 pounds of marijuana estimated at a worth of US$504 million. During the deployment it also intercepted 199 Haitian migrants.^[7]

Black Sea patrol

In May 2021 Hamilton patrolled the Black Sea for nearly three weeks, conducting training exercises with several NATO and friendly navies, including Turkey, Romania, Ukraine, and Georgia. This was the first visit to the Black Sea by a Coast Guard cutter since USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716) in 2008.^[8] The patrol was monitored by Russia whose foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the cutter's presence.^[9]