CG Cutters Vigorous, Dependable Will Shift to Virginia Homeport

CAPE MAY – As Coast Guard and all military personnel know too well, service needs come first. Thus, the pending redeployments of the 210-foot cutters Vigorous and Dependable to Virginia will mean potential moves for crew members and their families, although some may opt to remain here.
“The (World War II-era) pier is the problem,” said CWO Donnie Brzuska, Coast Guard Training Center spokesman. “More than 45 percent of the support beams are severely degraded.” Without the ability of heavy equipment to go out on the pier, to conduct critical maintenance when they return from patrols, means degraded operational readiness and longer deployments.
“The pier is the lifeline for supplies,” Brzuska said.
Vigorous will depart this summer; Dependable will relocate at some point later.
New homeport for Vigorous and Dependable will be Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Va. in the Virginia Beach area. That’s about a five-hour drive, 183 miles south of Training Center Cape May.
Replacing both vessels will be three new fast response cutters. They will be 154-feet and have crews of 24 per ship.
Commanding officers of each will be a lieutenant commander (pay grade O-4).
Brzuska said the service is aware of the role it plays in the local economy and community, and thus the impact the relocations may have on Cape May City Elementary School. Because of that, “steps to mitigate the impact” of the cutters’ departure from here are being taken. One such concession is to allow families with children enrolled in Cape May Elementary School to remain.
He noted that staggering the cutters’ relocations as well as bringing new assets to the base “over the course of the next several years” would mitigate the impact of the shift.
In the future scheme of the service, offshore patrol cutters will be the next generation of vessels that would be like the two medium endurance cutters. They would, however, have a deeper draft than the 11-foot draft of Vigorous and Dependable, meaning they would not be able to enter Cape May Inlet.
The three planned fast-response cutter replacements will be “more capable assets in this strategic location for the Coast Guard in proximity to Cape May with 20 years of service,” Brzuska said.
In addition, the Coast Guard intends to spend $21 million over the next five years at the base to support the new cutters, he continued.
Part of that will be an addition onto Pier 4, where 80-foot vessels are moored. In addition, there will be support structures and offices for the support crews of the cutters.
“Net loss, after all is said and done, after we get the fast response cutters in 2018, will be a net loss of 60 personnel,” Brzuska said.
Those new vessels will provide 8,900 operational hours, which is more resource hours than are provided by 110-foot patrol vessels.
Brzuska said each fast-response cutter is anticipated to operate about 2,500 hours per year. Thus the service will have 12,500 operational hours per year from five fast-response cutters, three of which will be stationed in Cape May, the remaining two in other ports.