Vietnamese Coast Guard Visits John Midgett WHEC 726

28 Januari 2020

Vietnamese delegation visits John Midgett (photo : BaoDatViet)

Vietnam Coast Guard was welcomed by the crew of Midgett, guided to visit the control room, engine room, learn the details of the ship.

Recently, DVIDS website of the US Army reported that members of the Vietnam Coast Guard had a visit to the patrol boat John Midgett (WHEC 726) of the US Coast Guard on January 14 in Seattle, Washington state, USA.

The members of the delegation were welcomed by the officer and crew of Midgett, guided to visit the control room, engine room, learn the details of the ship. The Vietnamese side is expected to receive this ship right after US Coast Guard celebrates the removal of the ship's border in March 2020.

Earlier, on November 20, 2019, during an official visit to Vietnam, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the US would provide Vietnam with the second largest patrol boat by 2020 to help Vietnam strengthen maritime protection capabilities.

Vietnam received from the United States a patrol boat named Morgenthau (WHEC 722) at the end of 2017. This ship is currently serving in the Vietnam Coast Guard with serial number CSB 8020.

John Midgett WHEC 726 (photo : Jack Kelly)

The addition of a Hamilton-class large-sized patrol boat will greatly enhance the capacity of the Vietnam Coast Guard in law enforcement on sovereignty waters, while waiting for the DN-400 larger patrol boat was build.

The patrol boat John Midgett has a displacement of 3,250 tons full load; length 115m; width 13m; draft of 4,6m; 160 crew crew (20 officers, 140 crew members).

WHEC 726 is equipped with a combination of two diesel engines and two gas turbines, with a maximum speed of 29 knots (53.7 km/h), a range of 14,000 nautical miles (22,531). km), time for 45 days to keep on the sea.

The equipment of WHEC 726 includes 2D AN/SPS-40 air reconnaissance radar, 76.2mm Oto Breda gunboat, and 20mm Phalanx CIWS close-range defense system.

In addition, the ship also has a M242 Bushmaster automatic cannon 25 mm, heavy machine gun M2 Browning size 12.7mm and light machine gun M240 caliber 7.62mm.

However, based on the configuration of the CSB 8020, after handover the ship only retained the Oto Breada 76.2mm cannon and fire control radar.

Hamilton-class large patrol boats generally function to patrol territorial waters, search and rescue, survey the ocean, and can operate in all seas around the world, withstand strong winds and high winds, so this ship class also known as a high endurance cutter.

(BaoDatViet)