Bear Diesels
Bluewater Navy guys are used to turbines. Surface guys know GE LM-2500 gas turbines which have been in just about everything (Sprucans/Kidds, Ticos, OHPs, Burkes, LHD8, etc) made after 1972. Carrier and sub nerds know their very peculiar types of glow-in-the-dark steam turbines. Even before that, you had the old oil-fired steam turbine era of the Knoxes and Adams, Fletchers and Gearings, Brooklyns and Cleavelands. You get the idea.
The Coast Guard, however, is all about diesel (except for the Ingalls-built frigate-sized Legend-class National Security Cutters which use LM-2500s). They are simple. They work. They can be maintained even under tough circumstances in third-world ports.
Take the story of the baker’s dozen Famous (Bear) class 270-foot cutters built in the 1980s. These corvette-sized 1,800 tonners use a pair of turbo-charged Beloit-built ALCO V18 diesel engines that have been dishing it out for 40 years.
Class leader USCGC Bear (WMEC-901) just hit 100,000 service hours on her original #1 Main Diesel Engine throughout 65 operational deployments since 1983.
The USCG Yard at Baltimore recently offered a rare look at the engine room of one of the class, USCGC Spencer (WMEC-905), which was commissioned in 1986. She is at the CGY swapping out her diesels for a new (to her) set.
A CG Yard team of professionals successfully removed two Main Diesel Engines this week, the first time on a 270-foot MEC. Preparations and planning took more than a year. Advance work included removing the “traveling” center section, the fixed hangar and massive accesses in the flight and and main decks. New MDEs will be set in place in the coming months. Congratulations Team on this historical evolution, completing it safely, professionally, and all fantastically before lunch! Wow!
