Bf. Bentgen et F. Mcgrath, WLB AND WLM - THE NEXT-GENERATION OF UNITED-STATES-COAST-GUARD BUOY TENDERS, MARINE TECHNOLOGY AND SNAME NEWS, 33(2), 1996, pp. 141-163
The U.S. Coast Guard's current fleet of buoy tenders consists of appro
ximately 40 cutters of the WLM and WLB classes. The majority of these
vessels were built in the 1942-1944 time frame and have undergone nume
rous modifications, overhauls, and renovations in their 50-year servic
e lives. In 1979, the U.S. Coast Guard, facing increasing costs associ
ated with operating this aging fleet of buoy tenders and increasing pr
essure to control budget growth by operating fewer ships with fewer me
n, embarked on an ambitious replacement program. This paper discusses
the procurement approach resulting from this U.S. Coast Guard initiati
ve and describes the WLB and WLM designs which were selected for procu
rement. It also discusses a number of the significant design tradeoffs
and design drivers and provides the rationale for selection of both t
he overall ship configuration and specific shipboard systems for the t
wo designs.