Commodore Ellsworth Price Bertholf

The United States Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter to be named after Hero and first USCG Commandant

Washington, D.C. – United States Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Thomas H. Collins, has announced the name for the first in the class of a new, highly capable, Deepwater National Security Cutter (NSC) platform.

This important ship, NSC 1 will fittingly bear the name, of an American icon and hero, Ellsworth Price Bertholf, the first Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. Bertholf was born on April 9th, 1866, in New York City.

As a Second Lieutenant with the US Revenue Cutter Service, he volunteered for an arctic rescue mission aboard the USRC Bear. When the ice-locked sea off the coast of Alaska became impassable, he joined others on a 1,600 mile overland trek from the Bering Sea to Point Barrow, the northernmost Alaskan point. Once there, his expedition rescued over 200 American whalers facing starvation because their fleet of vessels had become trapped and damaged by Arctic ice.

For this achievement, Congress awarded him a special Gold Medal of Honor. In 1911, President Taft appointed him commandant of the US Revenue Cutter Service. On Jan. 28, 1915, when President Woodrow Wilson signed a law consolidating the Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life Saving Service, he accepted Bertholf's suggestion that: 'Coast Guard' was the logical name for both the old Revenue Cutter Service as well as the new combination...". As the first commandant, Bertholf was instrumental in implementing the successful merger of the two services. He died in New York City on November 11, 1921.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is building the ship at their Pascagoula facility, under contract from Integrated Coast Guard Systems LLP, a joint venture of Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

The NSC will be a 418-foot vessel with a 4,300-ton displacement at full load. Powered by a twin screw combined diesel and gas turbine power propulsion plant, the NSC is designed to travel at 29 knots max speed. The cutter will include an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats; a flight deck to accommodate a range of rotary wing manned and unmanned aircraft and state of the art command and control electronics.

Deepwater is a critical multi-year, multi-billion dollar program to modernize and replace the Coast Guard's aging ships and aircraft, and improve command and control and logistics systems. It is the largest recapitalization effort in the history of the Coast Guard.