Medium Endurance Cutter

Famous class

Famous-class cutter USCGC Thetis (WMEC-910)
Class overview
Builders:	Robert Derecktor Shipyard Inc., Middletown, Rhode Island Tacoma Boatbuilding Company, Tacoma, Washington
Operators:	United States Coast Guard
Built:	1979–1989
In commission:	1983–present
Completed:	13
Active:	13
General characteristics
Displacement:	1,800 long tons (1,829 t)
Length:	270 ft (82 m)
Beam:	38 ft (12 m)
Draft:	14 ft 5 in (4.39 m)
Installed power:	2 × Caterpillar V12 diesel generators
Propulsion:	2 × turbo-charged ALCO V-18 diesel engines 2 × 9-foot-diameter (2.7 m) controllable pitch propellers
Speed:	19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph)
Range:	9,900 nmi (18,300 km; 11,400 mi)
Complement:	100 (14 officers, 86 enlisted)
Sensors and processing systems:	FCS MK 92 Mod 1 SPS-78 Surface Search Radar
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32A(V)2 2 x Mark 36 SRBOC
Armament:	1 × OTO Melara Mark 75 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun 2 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns
Aviation facilities:	Helipad

Reliance class

Cutter USCGC Reliance (WMEC-615)
Class overview
Builders:	Todd Shipyards, Houston, Texas American Ship Building Company, Lorain, Ohio U.S. Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland Christy Corporation, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Operators:	United States Coast Guard Sri Lanka Navy Colombian Navy Coast Guard
Built:	1962–1968
In commission:	1964–present
Completed:	16
Active:	16
General characteristics
Displacement:	1,127.2 long tons (1,145 t) full load
Length:	210 ft 6 in (64.16 m) LOA 200 ft (61 m) LWL
Beam:	34 ft (10 m)
Draft:	10 ft 9 in (3.28 m)
Propulsion:	2 × 2,500 hp (1,864 kW) ALCO 251B diesel engines
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range:	8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	75
Armament:	1 × 25mm Mk 38 autocannon 2 × M2HB .50 caliber (12.7mm) machine guns
Aviation facilities:	Helipad

The Medium Endurance Cutter or WMEC is a type of United States Coast Guard cutter mainly consisting of the 270-foot Famous- and 210-foot Reliance-class cutters. These larger cutters are under control of Area Commands (Atlantic Area or Pacific Area). These cutters have adequate accommodations for crew to live on board and can do 6 to 8 week patrols.

Other ships in the WMEC classification are the 282-foot (86 m) USCGC Alex Haley, and the now-decommissioned 213-foot (65 m) USCGC Acushnet, and 230-foot (70 m) USCGC Storis, and 205-foot (62 m) USCGC Tamaroa (WAT/WMEC-166) which began as the U.S. Navy Cherokee-class fleet tug USS Zuni (ATF-95) launched in 1943.

There are 13 vessels in the Famous class, and 14 vessels still in active US service in the Reliance class. The Coast Guard plans to eventually phase out the vessels in both of these cutter classes and replace them with the Offshore Patrol Cutter as part of the Integrated Deepwater System Program.

After World War II, the Coast Guard used the US Navy hull classification system. The large, sea-going cutters were classified primarily as Coast Guard gunboats (WPG), destroyer escorts (WDE), and seaplane tenders (WAVP). In 1965 the Coast Guard adopted its own designation system and these large cutters were then referred to as Coast Guard High Endurance Cutters (WHEC). The coastal cutters once known as Cruising Cutters, Second Class and then as Coast Guard patrol craft (WPC) were now Coast Guard Medium Endurance Cutters (WMEC)."

AN/SLQ-32A(V)2

The Famous-class vessels have hull numbers in the range from WMEC-901 through WMEC-913. Entering service in the 1980s, the Famous-class cutters were designed as replacements for the 327-foot (100 m) Treasury-class cutters, and their mission profile emphasized law enforcement, particularly patrolling the newly established 200-mile (320 km) exclusive economic zone.