Posted on February 25, 2020
The old Charleston Naval Shipyard will be brought back into substantial military service again as the Coast Guard announces plans to add more boats, buildings and bodies to make it one of the branch’s largest bases in the nation.
Adm. Karl Schultz said the branch plans to homeport five national security cutters and a group of offshore patrol cutters that have yet to be built. Additionally, he referenced the ongoing dredging of Charleston Harbor. By the 2021 completion date, it will become the deepest on the East Coast.
“This gives Charleston the potential to grow into the largest concentration of assets and people in the Coast Guard,” Schultz said in a visit to USCG Sector Charleston. “A community like Charleston understands just how important our defense contributions are to the nation. And for generations, the people of this great port city have also appreciated the importance of maritime commerce to our nation.”
As of 2020, Charleston’s sector has two national security cutters and one additional cutter in its fleet. Roughly 1,000 guardsmen call the station home. But that is going to substantially grow, Shultz said.
During the next five years, the branch plans to consolidate its offices and various properties that stretch from downtown and North Charleston to the old Naval Shipyard. The addition of the cutters could mean doubling the existing Coast Guard population to 2,000, Schultz added.
The plans also call for closing the historic Charleston Coast Guard Station on Tradd Street, according to Schultz and Capt. John Reed, the commanding officer of Sector Charleston. That campus was first commissioned in 1914, and the structures on the property date to the 1850s.
All Coast Guard assets would be consolidated at the old Naval Shipyard in North Charleston. The sprawling 2,800-acre property consists of public and private assets, including Deytens Shipyard, the State Department, the Naval Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, the State Port Authority and the Naval Reserve Center. Reed said the early estimates of the consolidation on the campus could be as much as $500 million. All five of the national security cutters would be harbored in the Cooper River.
Source: postandcourier.com
