Coast Guard to get proposal for eco friendly alternative to Sentinel FRC

Written by Nick Blenkey

USCG-Sea-Eagle-E-Class-PRSauter Carbon Offset Designs (SCOD) has developed a design for what Richard Sauter calls an “presents the ultra green homeland security vessel that’s tough on the bad guys, but kind to the ecology.” It would also, he says, be first U.S. Coast Guard cutter to provide extensive surveillance on, above and below the ocean.

“Government Agencies like the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security while protecting us can also play a major roll in protecting our way of life for future generations,” says Mr. Sauter. “They have the opportunity, if not a duty, to do this by insuring that only the best examples of fuel efficient eco conscious vessels are to be found in our Coast Guard and Navy.”

Mr. Sauter says his E Class Sea Eagle catamaran is such a vessel and that he is submitting the design for review under the U.S. Coast Guard’s Unsolicited Proposal Program.

The E Class Search and Rescue Sea Eagle with helipad and underwater ROV (Remote Ocean Vehicle) is claimed to use less than half as much fuel to go 10 percent faster than the USCG Sentinel Class Fast Response Cutter’ in use today. At the same time the Sea Eagle’s waterjet propulsion, dynamic positioning and small wave making signature would do far less harm to the marine ecology.

Instead of the Sentinel’s 11,500 hp from Tier 2 diesel engines, the Sea Eagle concept uses a total of 5,000 hp from solar hybrid power sources that include MTU Tier 4 diesels. With less than half the fuel consumption of the Sentinel Class FRCs, the Sea Eagle would deliver a maximum speed of 32 as opposed to 29 knots due to the greater overall efficiency of high-speed catamarans versus monohulls.

In silent electric mode the Sea Eagle would navigate inland water ways and dock with zero emissions. Plugged in, itssolar cells can harness and return over 200 MW of energy to the grid a year, enough power to offset 3,000 NM of carbon neutral cruising at 18 knots.

“As a Certified Carbon Offset Project this state of the art E Class Coast Guard Cutter can reduce GHG emissions by 12,000 tons per year,” says Mr. Sauter.

Energy from the grid or captured from the vessel’s 100 kW solar array is stored in a Corvus 2 MW Lithium UPS. The 16 ton weight of the batteries also serves as the mass in a MDR (motion damping regeneration) system that acting like a TMD (tuned mass damper) in a skyscraper will generate electricity as it dampens the motion of the vessel.

Combining the MDR with the self leveling T-Foils in each hull greatly improves the ride and the level of safety in many operations at sea. At the same time it also enhances the accuracy of the stabilized remotely operated 25 mm chain gun, and the four crew operated .50 caliber machine guns.

The Sea Eagle FRC can accommodate more than 30 crew members and like all USCG Fast Response Cutters its command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) system would be fully interoperable with those of the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.

USCG-Sea-Eagle-E-Class--PV-Top

Specifications.

Length Overall: 43 m

Beam: 12.4 m

Draft: 1.5 m

Construction: KMI (Kvichak Marine Industries} Marine grade aluminum

Solar Power: 100 kW Solbian photo voltaic top deck

Wave Power: 30 kW Wave Motion Regeneration (AMT ServoRams, Corvus UPS, Maura Sohnes ATMD)

Battery Power: 2 MW Corvus Lithium UPS

Shaft Power: 4 x 1,000 kW

Main Engines: 4 x ZF Hybrid MTU Series 2000 Tier 4i V12, 1 Siemens MTU Tier4i 650 kW genset

Propulsion: 4 x RR Kamewa A series waterjets

Cruising speed: 29 knots

Maximum speed: 32 knots

Range: 1,200NM

Range: 3,500NM at Economical speed

Endurance: 7Days

Replenishment: Fueling at Sea, Vertical Replenishment

Bridge: 360 Visibility, Integrated Bridge

Crew: 30+

Aircraft: HH- 65A Dauphin US Coast Guard

Remote Ocean Vehicle (ROV): ISE with Launch and Recover System (LARS)

Boats: Stern Ramp (1) CG Short Range Prosecutor (SRP)

May 4, 2012

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