Eastern Shipbuilding hosts keel-laying ceremony for third USCGC Ingham (WMSM-917)
Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. (ESG) on July 15 hosted the keel authentication ceremony for the U.S. Coast Guard’s future Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC), USCGC INGHAM (WMSM-917), the third vessel in the new Heritage Class built at the Nelson Street facility. The presiding official for the U.S. Coast Guard was Rear Admiral Chad L. Jacoby, Director of Acquisition Programs & Program Executive Officer (CG-93). Congressman Neal Dunn (FL – 2nd District) was the senior official in attendance.
The ship’s sponsor is Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and strong advocate for the national defense and coastal priorities in the Pacific and Arctic regions. USCGC INGHAM will be homeported in Kodiak, Alaska with Senator Murkowski’s signature welded on the keel. She has worked to ensure that those stationed there will have new housing, an updated Child Development Center, and a new fuel pier.
Each of the new Heritage Class Offshore Patrol Cutters aptly represent a naval tradition of naming ships for previous vessels. Three U.S. Revenue Service Cutters and one highly distinguished U.S. Coast Guard Cutter bearing the name Ingham are etched in United States history. The first Ingham was named in honor of U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Samuel D. Ingham and was bestowed with the axiom “semper paratus” in 1836, nearly 60 years before the U.S. Coast Guard adopted this motto in 1896. The most recent, USCGC Ingham (WHEC 35), served for over 50 years from 1936 to 1988 in the North Atlantic, Pacific and Caribbean during World War II, executing vessel escorts, weather patrols and anti-submarine missions. It assisted weather stations and performed search and rescue during peacetime, and it conducted dozens of naval gunfire support missions during the Vietnam War. At her decommissioning, she was the oldest cutter in commission, the most decorated vessel in the U.S. Coast Guard fleet, the last active warship to sink a WWII U-boat, and was the only cutter to be awarded two Presidential Unit Citations. The future USCGC INGHAM (WMSM-917) will carry that legacy for the next forty years.
Joey D’Isernia was accompanied on the podium by Rear Admiral Jacoby and Karlier Robinson, the expert welder charged with welding the sponsor’s initials onto the ceremonial keel authentication plate.
The keel authentication, also known as keel laying, represents the ceremonial start of a ship’s life by commemorating the assembly of the initial modular construction units. Historically, to attest that the keel was properly laid and of excellent quality, the shipbuilder would carve their initials into the keel. This practice is commemorated by welding the ship’s sponsor’s initials into the keel authentication plate.
Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. (ESG) is a leading shipbuilder with operations on the Florida Gulf Coast. ESG is the largest private sector employer in Bay County and is a 2017 recipient of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Small Business of the Year award. They build world class vessels for national defense and commercial clients, including the U.S. Coast Guard’s Heritage Class Offshore Patrol Cutters. With three shipyards and a portfolio of over 350 vessels, ESG is known as one of the most diverse vessel construction companies.