The US Coast Guard’s eighth national security cutter, USCGC Midgett, has completed acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico, shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries announced.

Midgett (WMSL 757) spent two days underway proving its systems with the US Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) on board.

Ingalls’ test and trials team led the sea trials and conducted extensive testing of the propulsion, electrical, damage control, anchor-handling, small boat operations and combat systems. The team finished the trials with a completed full-power propulsion run on Midgett.

“With the success of these trials, NSC 8 is one step closer to becoming another highly capable, vital asset to the men and women of our Coast Guard,” said Derek Murphy, Ingalls’ Coast Guard program manager.

Ingalls has delivered seven Legend-class NSCs and has two more under construction, including Midgett (WMSL 757), set to deliver before the end of the year. Stone (WMSL 758) is scheduled for delivery in 2020.

In December of 2018, Ingalls received two fixed-price incentive contracts with a combined value of $931 million to build NSCs 10 and 11.

Legend-class NSCs are the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter fleet. Designed to replace the 378-foot (115 m) Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that entered service in the 1960s, they are 418 feet (127 m) long with a 54-foot (16.4 m) beam and displace 4,500 tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 110.

NSCs include an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft.