Cutters not in budget

The Coast Guard is asking for $683 million to build one Bertholf-class national security cutter, the sixth of a planned eight-ship class built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. But there is no request in the 2013 fiscal year budget for long-lead funding for the seventh or eighth NSCs, and the service's five-year capital investment plan shows no money for new Bertholfs beyond the sixth ship. (Source: Navy Times, 02/24/12)