The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as the Fast Response Cutter due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program.[2][3][4] At 154 feet (46.8 m), it is similar to, but larger than, the 123-foot (37 m) lengthened 1980s-era Island-class patrol boats that it replaces. Up to 66 vessels are to be built by the Louisiana-based firm Bollinger Shipyards, using a design from the Netherlands-based Damen Group, with the Sentinel design based on the company's Damen Stan 4708 patrol vessel. The Department of Homeland Security's budget proposal to Congress, for the Coast Guard, for 2021, stated that, in addition to 58 vessels to serve the Continental US, they requested an additional six vessels for its portion of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia.[5]
The USCGC Benjamin Bottoms in San Francisco
| |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Sentinel class |
Operators | United States Coast Guard |
Planned | 66 |
Completed | 54 |
Active | 53 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Cutter |
Displacement | 353 long tons (359 t) |
Length | 46.8 m (154 ft) |
Beam | 8.11 m (26.6 ft) |
Depth | 2.9 m (9.5 ft) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 28+ knots |
Endurance |
|
Boats & landing craft carried | 1 × Cutter Boat – Over the Horizon – Jet-drive |
Complement | 4 officers, 20 crew |
Sensors and processing systems |
|
Armament | 1 × Mk 38 Mod 2 25 mm Machine Gun System (and 4 × crew-served Browning M2 machine guns on some cutters) |
In March 2007, newly appointed United States Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen announced that the USCG had withdrawn a contract from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the construction of an initial flawed design of what would eventually become the Sentinel class.[6][7][8][9] Allen announced that instead of the initial high-tech design Bollinger would build vessels based on an existing design, and the new program would focus more on existing "off-the-shelf" technology.
In September 2008, Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, United States, was awarded US$88 million to build a prototype.[10] The vessel was the first of a series of 24–34 46.8-meter (154 ft) cutters built to a design largely based on the Damen Stan 4708 patrol vessels from the Netherlands firm the Damen Group.[11] The South African government operates three similar 154 ft Lillian Ngoyi-class vessels for environmental and fishery patrol.[12]
The first cutter, USCGC Bernard C. Webber, and all future Sentinel-class vessels have been named after enlisted Coast Guard heroes.[13] Bernard C. Webber was launched in April 2011, and commissioned in April 2012 at the Port of Miami.[14]
Bernard C. Webber, and five sister ships, are stationed in Miami, Florida. The second cohort of six vessels are homeported in Key West, Florida. The third cohort of six vessels are homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[15]
In September 2013, Marine Link reported that the Coast Guard had placed orders with Bollinger Shipyards for additional cutters, bringing the number of such cutters ordered by then to thirty.[16] As of June 2016, eight more for a total of 38 FRCs have been ordered, 17 are in service, with six in Miami, Florida; six in Key West, Florida; and five in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[17] The 18th fast response cutter, Joseph Tezanos, was delivered to the Coast Guard in Key West, Florida, in June 2016. That cutter will be the sixth stationed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and will complete the USCG complement there.
The Coast Guard has announced four future FRCs will be stationed in San Pedro, California by 2019 and two more will be stationed in Astoria, Oregon starting in 2021. A total of six FRCs will eventually be homeported in Alaska, with one cutter in Sitka, one in Seward, and two in Kodiak, joining two already operating from Ketchikan.[18][19][20] Boston, Massachusetts and St. Petersburg, Florida will eventually be FRC homeports.[21][22]
In June 2019, the United States House Committee on Armed Services approved a requirement for the US Navy to study the possibility of buying a version of the FRC, and basing them in Bahrain, where the USCG currently plans to base four FRCs.[23]
In 2019 Lieutenant Commander Collin Fox (USN), and columnist David Axe suggested that, when the US Navy started to develop unmanned patrol ships to replace the Cyclone class, which are similar in size to the Sentinel class, the hulls and other elements of the robot ships would be based on the Sentinels, and built in the same factory.[24][25]
In 2022, the Coast Guard awarded a $30 million contract to install a fixed pier and two floating docks to accommodate FRCs at East Tongue Point in Oregon. The first new cutter is expected to arrive at Astoria, Oregon in March 2024 rather than in 2021 as originally planned.[26]
The vessels perform various Coast Guard missions which include but are not limited to PWCS (Ports, Waterways, and Coastal Security), Defense Operations, Maritime Law Enforcement (Drug/migrant interdiction and other Law Enforcement), Search and Rescue, Marine Safety, and environment protection.[27]
The vessels are armed with a remote-control Mark 38 25 mm Machine Gun System and four crew-served .50-caliber (12.7 mm) M2HB heavy machine guns. They have a bow thruster for maneuvering in crowded anchorages and channels. They have small underwater fins, for coping with the rolling and pitching caused by large waves. They are equipped with a stern launching ramp, like the Marine Protector-class and the eight failed expanded Island-class cutters. They are manned by a crew of 22. The Fast Response Cutter deploys the 26-foot (7.9 m) Cutter Boat - Over the Horizon (OTH-IV) for rescues and interceptions.[28]
Modifications to the Coast Guard vessels from the Stan 4708 design include an increase in speed from 23 to 28 knots (43 to 52 km/h; 26 to 32 mph), fixed-pitch rather than variable-pitch propellers, stern launch capability, and watertight bulkheads.[29] The vessels are built to ABS High Speed Naval Craft rules and some parts of the FRC also comply to ABS Naval Vessel Rules.[30] The vessels meet Naval Sea Systems Command standards for two compartment damaged stability and meet the Intact and Damage Stability and reserve buoyancy requirements in accordance with the “Procedures Manual for Stability Analyses of U.S. Navy Small Craft".[31][32]
The vessels have space, weight, and power reserved for future requirements which includes weapons and their systems. The cutters have a reduced radar cross-section through shaping.[33] The bridge is equipped with a handheld device that allows crew members to remotely control the ship's functions, including rudder movement and docking.[34]
In September 2008, Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, was awarded US$88 million to build the prototype first vessel in its class.[10] That vessel became USCGC Bernard C. Webber, which is the first of 58 planned Sentinel-class cutters to go into the U.S. Coast Guard fleet to replace their remaining 37 aging, 1980s-era 110 ft Island-class patrol boats.[35]
In February 2013, the Department of Homeland Security requested tenders from third party firms to independently inspect the cutters, during their construction, and their performance trials.[36]
In July 2014, it was announced that the U.S. Coast Guard had exercised a $225 million option at Bollinger Shipyards for construction through 2017 of an additional six Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs), bringing the total number of FRCs under contract with Bollinger to 30. Later that number was increased to 32 cutters.
In May 2016, Bollinger Shipyards announced that the U.S. Coast Guard awarded it a new contract for building the final 26 Sentinel-class fast-response cutters. That brings to 58 the total number of FRCs that the USCG ordered from Bollinger.[37] Acquiring the 58 cutters is expected to cost the federal government $3.8 billion — an average of about $65 million per cutter.
In August 2021, it was announced that U.S. Coast Guard had exercised a contract option for 4 additional FRCs, bringing the total number to 64. They will be built at Bollinger's Lockport, Louisiana facility.[38]
In March 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2022, which provided $130 million in funding for two additional FRCs, bringing the total number to 66.[39][40] In August 2022, the Coast Guard exercised its contract option for the first of these additional cutters, to be delivered by Bollinger in 2025.[41]
At the September 2022 commissioning of USCGC Douglas Denman, it was announced that she had several upgrades compared to the two cutters deployed to Ketchikan, Alaska six years previously. These include an improved bow thruster and radar system and the addition of a forward-looking infrared camera.[42] Though initially stationed at Ketchikan, Douglas Denman will eventually be homeported at Sitka when port infrastructure improvements have been completed there.[43]
Prior to the deployment of the Marine Protector class, the Coast Guard decided that all its cutters, even its smallest, should be able to accommodate mixed-gender crews. The Sentinel-class cutters are able to accommodate mixed-gender crews. When Rollin A. Fritch was commissioned, a profile in The Philadelphia Inquirer asserted off-duty crew members had access to satellite television broadcasts.[34] The vessels come equipped with a desalination unit.[34]
In October 2010, the Coast Guard released the names of the first 14 Coast Guard enlisted heroes for whom the Sentinel-class FRCs will be named.[44][45][46]
Name | Hull number |
Builder | Delivered | Commissioned | Home port |
Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bernard C. Webber | WPC-1101 | Bollinger Shipyards | April 21, 2011 | April 14, 2012 | Miami, Florida | Active service |
Richard Etheridge | WPC-1102 | Bollinger Shipyards | August 18, 2011 | August 3, 2012 | Miami, Florida | Active service[47] |
William Flores | WPC-1103 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2011-11-10 | 2012-11-03 | Miami, Florida | Active service[48] |
Robert Yered | WPC-1104 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2012-11-23 | 2013-02-15 | Miami, Florida | Active service[49][50] |
Margaret Norvell | WPC-1105 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2013-01-13 | 2013-06-01 | Miami, Florida | Active service[51][52][53][54] |
Paul Clark | WPC-1106 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2013-05-18 | 2013-08-24 | Miami, Florida | Active service[55] |
Charles David Jr. | WPC-1107 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2013-08-17 | 2013-11-16 | Key West, Florida | Active service[51][52][56][57][58][59][60][61] |
Charles W. Sexton | WPC-1108 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2013-12-10 | 2014-03-08 | Key West, Florida | Active service[51][52][62][63] |
Kathleen Moore | WPC-1109 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2014-03-28 | 2014-05-10 | Key West, Florida | Active service[64] |
Raymond Evans[65] | WPC-1110 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2014-06-25 | 2014-09-06 | Key West, Florida | Active service[51][52][66][67][68][69] |
William Trump | WPC-1111 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2014-11-25 | 2015-01-24 | Key West, Florida | Active service[51][52][70][71][72][73] |
Isaac Mayo | WPC-1112 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2015-01-13 | 2015-03-28 | Key West, Florida | Active service[51][52][74] |
Richard Dixon | WPC-1113 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2015-04-14 | 2015-06-20 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active service[15][51][75] |
Heriberto Hernandez | WPC-1114 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2015-07-30 | 2015-10-16 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active service[15][76][77] |
Joseph Napier | WPC-1115 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2015-10-20 | 2016-01-29 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active service[15][78][79] |
Winslow W. Griesser | WPC-1116 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2015-12-23 | 2016-03-11 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active service[15][78] |
Donald Horsley | WPC-1117 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2016-03-05 | 2016-05-20 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active service[78][80] |
Joseph Tezanos | WPC-1118 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2016-06-22 | 2016-08-26 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active service[78][81] |
Rollin A. Fritch | WPC-1119 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2016-08-23 | 2016-11-19 | Cape May, New Jersey | Active service[78] |
Lawrence O. Lawson | WPC-1120 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2016-10-20 | 2017-03-18 | Cape May, New Jersey | Active Service |
John F. McCormick | WPC-1121 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2016-12-13 | 2017-04-12 | Ketchikan, Alaska | Active service[82] |
Bailey T. Barco | WPC-1122 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2017-02-07 | 2017-06-14 | Ketchikan, Alaska | Active service[78][83][84][85] |
Benjamin B. Dailey | WPC-1123 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2017-04-20 | 2017-07-04 | Pascagoula, Mississippi | Heavily damaged by fire on December 10, 2021[78][86][87][88] |
Oliver F. Berry | WPC-1124 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2017-06-27 | 2017-10-31 | Honolulu, Hawaii | Active service |
Jacob Poroo | WPC-1125 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2017-09-05 | 2017-12-08 | Pascagoula, Mississippi | Active service |
Joseph Gerczak | WPC-1126 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2017-11-09 | 2018-03-09 | Honolulu, Hawaii | Active service |
Richard Snyder | WPC-1127 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2018-02-08 | 2018-04-20 | Atlantic Beach, North Carolina | Active service[78][89] |
Nathan Bruckenthal | WPC-1128 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2018-03-29 | 2018-07-25 | Atlantic Beach, North Carolina | Active service |
Forrest Rednour | WPC-1129 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2018-06-07 | 2018-11-08 | San Pedro, California | Active service[90][91][92] |
Robert Ward | WPC-1130 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2018-08-21 | 2019-03-02 | San Pedro, California | Active service[18][93][91] |
Terrell Horne | WPC-1131 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2018-10-25 | 2019-03-22 | San Pedro, California | Active service[18][94][91] |
Benjamin Bottoms | WPC-1132 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2019-01-08 | 2019-05-01 | San Pedro, California | Active service[18][91][95] |
Joseph Doyle | WPC-1133 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2019-03-21 | 2019-06-08 | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Active service[96] |
William Hart | WPC-1134 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2019-05-23 | 2019-09-26 | Honolulu, Hawaii | Active service[97][98] |
Angela McShan | WPC-1135 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2019-08-01 | 2019-10-26 | Cape May, New Jersey | Active service[99][100][101] |
Daniel Tarr | WPC-1136 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2019-11-07 | 2020-01-10 | Galveston, Texas | Active service[99][102][103][104][105][106][107] |
Edgar Culbertson | WPC-1137 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2020-02-06 | 2020-06-11 | Galveston, Texas | Active service[99][104][108][109][110][111] |
Harold Miller | WPC-1138 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2020-04-02 | 2020-07-15 | Galveston, Texas | Active service[99][103][104][110][112] |
Myrtle Hazard | WPC-1139 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2020-05-28 | 2021-07-29 | Santa Rita, Guam | Active service[99][104][113][114][115][116] |
Oliver Henry | WPC-1140 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2020-07-30 | 2021-07-29 | Santa Rita, Guam | Active service[99][104][115][116][117] |
Charles Moulthrope[118] | WPC-1141 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2020-10-22 | 2021-01-21 | Manama, Bahrain | Active service[99][104][119][120] |
Robert Goldman | WPC-1142 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2020-12-21 | 2021-03-12 | Manama, Bahrain | Active service[99][104][119][121][122] |
Frederick Hatch | WPC-1143 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2021-02-10 | 2021-07-29 | Santa Rita, Guam | Active service[99][115][116][123][124] |
Glen Harris | WPC-1144 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2021-04-22 | 2021-08-06 | Manama, Bahrain | Active service[99][104][125][126][127][128] |
Emlen Tunnell | WPC-1145 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2021-07-01 | 2021-10-15 | Manama, Bahrain | Active service[129][130] |
John Scheuerman | WPC-1146 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2021-10-22 | 2022-02-23 | Manama, Bahrain | Active service[99][104][126][131][132] |
Clarence Sutphin Jr. | WPC-1147 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2022-01-06 | 2022-04-21 | Manama, Bahrain | Active service[99][104][126][133][134] |
Pablo Valent | WPC-1148 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2022-03-17 | 2022-05-11 | St. Petersburg, Florida | Active service[99][104][135][136] |
Douglas Denman | WPC-1149 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2022-05-26 | 2022-09-28 | Ketchikan, Alaska | Active service[137][99][104][138] |
William Chadwick | WPC-1150 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2022-08-04 | 2022-11-10 | Boston, Massachusetts | Active service[139][99][104][140] |
Warren Deyampert | WPC-1151 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2022-12-22 | 2023-03-30 | Boston, Massachusetts | Active service[99][141][142][143][144][145] |
Maurice Jester | WPC-1152 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2023-03-02 | 2023-06-02 | Boston, Massachusetts | Active service[99][141][142][146][147][148] |
John Patterson | WPC-1153 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2023-05-11 | 2023-08-10 | Boston, Massachusetts | Active service[99][141][142][146][149][150] |
William Sparling | WPC-1154 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2023-07-20 | 2023-10-19 | Boston, Massachusetts | Active service[99][141][142][151][152][153] |
Melvin Bell | WPC-1155 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2023-11-16 | 2024-03-28 | Boston, Massachusetts | Active service[141][142][154][155][156][157] |
David Duren | WPC-1156 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2024-03-14 | Astoria, Oregon | Sea trials[141][142][154][155][158][159] | |
Florence Finch | WPC-1157 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2024-06-13 | Astoria, Oregon | Under construction[142][154][155][160][161] | |
John Witherspoon | WPC-1158 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2024-10-24 | Kodiak, Alaska | Under construction[142][154][155][160][162] | |
Earl Cunningham | WPC-1159 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2024 | Kodiak, Alaska | Under construction[154][155][160][163] | |
Frederick Mann | WPC-1160 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2024 | Under contract[154][155][160] | ||
Olivia Hooker | WPC-1161 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2025 | Under contract[154][155][164] | ||
Vincent Danz | WPC-1162 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2025 | Under contract[154][155][164] | ||
Jeffrey Palazzo | WPC-1163 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2025 | Under contract[154][155][164] | ||
Marvin Perrett | WPC-1164 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2025 | Under contract[154][155][164] | ||
TBD | WPC-1165 | Bollinger Shipyards | 2025 | Under contract[41] | ||
TBD | WPC-1166 | Bollinger Shipyards | Authorized by Congress[40] |
In February 2015, the USCG solicited vendors to bid to provide temporary lodging services for pre-commissioning crews in Lockport for each of 19 specific cutters to be launched for 19 specific date periods per vessel from April 2015, out through to December 2018.[165]
Press coverage of the vessels' operational histories suggests they have been effective at interdicting refugees who resort to dangerous overloaded small boats, and effective at capturing drug smugglers.[168][169][170][171][172][173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][excessive citations]
The cutters have intercepted smugglers carrying large shipments of drugs.[182] In February 2017 Joseph Napier intercepted a shipment of over four tons of cocaine, reported to be the largest drug-bust in the Atlantic Ocean since 1999.
Cutters are given tasks like looking for shipping containers full of toxic cargo that have fallen from container ships, as USCGC Margaret Norvell did in December 2015, when 25 containers fell from the barge Columbia Elizabeth.[183][184] Similarly, Charles Sexton helped search for the freighter El Faro when she was lost at sea during Hurricane Joaquin in October 2015.[185]
In 2018 and 2019 Oliver Berry and Joseph Gerczak made voyages beyond the design range, on missions from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands and American Samoa.[186][187] Both voyages took nine days.
In August 2022, one of the ships in the Sentinel class, Oliver Henry, was stuck in the Solomon Islands after the country's government failed to respond to a fuel request.[188]
In February 2024, Clarence Sutphin Jr. intercepted a shipment of weaponry on its way to the Houthi militia in the Red Sea.[189]
Charles "Skip" W. Bowen, who was then the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, is credited with leading the initiative of naming the vessels after enlisted rank individuals who served heroically in the Coast Guard or one of its precursor services.[190] Originally, the first vessel of the class was to be named USCGC Sentinel.[191]
In October 2010 the Coast Guard named the first fourteen individuals the vessels will be named after, and has provided biographies of them.[192] They are: Bernard C. Webber, Richard Etheridge, William Flores, Robert Yered, Margaret Norvell, Paul Clark, Charles David Jr, Charles Sexton, Kathleen Moore, Joseph Napier, William Trump, Isaac Mayo, Richard Dixon, Heriberto Hernandez. A second group of eleven names was announced on April 2, 2014.[78]
In 2013 the name of Joseph Napier was reassigned to WPC-1115 when WPC-1110 was named after the recently deceased Commander Raymond Evans. The other ten new namesakes were: Winslow W. Griesser, Richard H. Patterson, Joseph Tezanos, Rollin A. Fritch, Lawrence O. Lawson, John F. McCormick, Bailey T. Barco, Benjamin B. Dailey, Donald R. Horsley, and Jacob L. A. Poroo. The 17th cutter (ex-USCGC Richard H. Patterson) was renamed as Donald R. Horsley after request of the Patterson Family, and the 24th cutter (ex-USCGC Donald R. Horsley) then was renamed as Oliver F. Berry.
In July 2014, Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft announced that the Coast Guard would name an additional cutter after Senior Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne, the first Coast Guard member to be murdered in the line of duty since 1927.[193][194][195]
In February 2015, the Coast Guard publicized ten more names tentatively assigned to cutters 26 through 35.[196] They were: Joseph Gerczak, Richard T. Snyder, Nathan Bruckenthal, Forrest O. Rednour, Robert G. Ward, Terrell Horne III, Benjamin A. Bottoms, Joseph O. Doyle, William C. Hart, and Oliver F. Berry.
In December 2017, the Coast Guard announced the names of the 35th through 54th cutters.[99] The twenty namesakes are: Angela McShan, Daniel Tarr, Edgar Culbertson, Harold Miller, Myrtle Hazard, Oliver Henry, Charles Moulthrope, Robert Goldman, Frederick Hatch, Glen Harris, Emlen Tunnell, John Scheuerman, Clarence Sutphin, Pablo Valent, Douglas Denman, William Chadwick, Warren Deyampert, Maurice Jester, John Patterson, and William Sparling. The 35th cutter (ex-USCGC Oliver F. Berry) is to be named as Angela McShan since the 24th cutter (ex-USCGC Donald R. Horsley) was renamed as Oliver F. Berry.
In October 2019, the Coast Guard named the namesakes of cutters 55 through 64.[155] They are: Melvin Bell, David Duren, Florence Finch, John Witherspoon, Earl Cunningham, Frederick Mann, Olivia Hooker, Vincent Danz, Jeffrey Palazzo, and Marvin Perrett.[154]
The new robotic patrol boat could borrow the hull of the Coast Guard's 350-ton-displacement Sentinel-class cutter, Fox pointed out.
The Dutch design was selected in 2008 because in 2007, the Coast Guard was finally forced to admit defeat in its effort to build an earlier design for Fast Response Cutters. The shipbuilders (Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman) screwed up, big time. While the Coast Guard shares some of the blame, for coming up with new concepts that didn't work out, the shipbuilders are the primary culprits because they are, well, the shipbuilding professionals and signed off on the Coast Guard concepts. Under intense pressure from media, politicians, and the shame of it all, the Coast Guard promptly went looking for an existing (off-the-shelf) design and in a hurry. That had become urgent because of an earlier screw-up.
With six cutters operating out of Miami, Florida, and six based in Key West, plus the two in San Juan, the USCG has 14 FRCs in service.
The Navy should latch onto the Coast Guard's WPC program to acquire a PC(R) that could also serve as a MDUSV development platform and, eventually, a MDUSV... A vessel based on the WPC would take advantage of the Coast Guard's sunk development costs and production learning curve, while also leveraging multiyear procurement to achieve still greater cost savings.
If the United States and Iran go to war in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy's smallest warships could be the first to see combat.
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Design features include reduced signature through shaping
Although the cutter is far from luxurious, its crew quarters provide slightly more room and comfort than earlier models, with larger staterooms, more toilets and sinks, greater storage space, and DirecTV access in the mess areas.
Crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge reveal the ship's name placard during the cutter's commissioning.
The William Flores' location of the commissioning honored the history of the cutter's namesake. On the night of Jan. 28, 1980, Coast Guard Seaman William "Billy" Flores, 18, died while assisting his shipmates after the Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn, collided with a large merchant vessel in the Tampa Bay ship channel.
Of those 58, six will stay in Key West: the Charles David, Charles Sexton, Kathleen Moore, Joseph Napier, William Trump and Isaac Mayo, one arriving every three months.
The 154 foot patrol craft 'Margaret Norvell' is the fifth vessel in the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class FRC program. To build the FRC, Bollinger Shipyards used a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708.
The Coast Guard accepted delivery of Paul Clark, the sixth vessel in the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter (FRC) recapitalization project on May 18 in Key West, Florida.
The first of six brand spanking new 154-foot Sentinel-class ships called Fast Response Cutters is set to arrive on Aug. 17 in Key West and crews of the new vessels are arriving to train.
The 154-foot patrol craft Charles David Jr. is the seventh vessel in the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class FRC program. To build the FRC, Bollinger Shipyards used a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708. It has a flank speed of 28 knots, state of the art command, control, communications and computer technology, and a stern launch system for the vessels 26 foot cutter boat. The FRC has been described as an operational "game changer," by senior Coast Guard officials.
The 154-foot Charles David Jr. was delivered Friday to the 7th Coast Guard District in Key West, Florida, where it will be commissioned in November.
With commissioning set for Saturday of the fast-response cutter Charles David Jr., U.S. Coast Guard Sector Key West will take the first step in a two-year overhaul of the locally homeported fleet.
The vessel was delivered to the 7th Coast Guard District in Key West, Fla., where the Coast Guard expects to commission it in March 2014.
Coast Guard Cutter Charles Sexton was commissioned into service March 8 at Coast Guard Sector Key West, Fla. The Sexton is the second of six Fast Response Cutters to be homeported in Key West, and the eighth vessel to be delivered through the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class FRC recapitalization project.
The Coast Guard took delivery on March 28, 2014 in Key West, Florida and is scheduled to commission the vessel in Key West, Florida during May, 2014.
The Coast Guard took delivery on June 25, 2014 in Key West, Florida and is scheduled to commission the vessel in Key West, Florida during September, 2014.
Be a SPONSOR of the commissioning and be part of the excitement as our local Coast Guard Sector builds the newest local fleet! Next Commissioning is September 6, 2014 for CGC RAYMOND EVANS (WPC-1110).
A World War II hero will be honored when the Coast Guard's newest cutter is commissioned into service in Key West on Sept. 6.
Coast Guard Sector Key West officially becomes home today for the 154-foot Cutter Raymond J. Evans. The Raymond J. Evans will be commissioned as it becomes the fourth of six new Fast Response Cutters that will be stationed in the Southernmost City.
We are extremely happy to announce the delivery of the latest FRC built by Bollinger, the William Trump, to the 7th Coast Guard District in Key West, Florida," said Bollinger Chief Operating Officer, Ben Bordelon. "We are looking forward to honoring and celebrating the heroic acts of William Trump at the vessel's commissioning.
The Coast Guard commissioned Isaac Mayo, the 12th fast response cutter and sixth to be based in Key West, Florida, March 28, 2015.
We are very pleased to announce the delivery of the latest FRC built by Bollinger, the Richard Dixon, to the Seventh Coast Guard District in Puerto Rico," said Bollinger's President and CEO, Ben Bordelon. "We are looking forward to honoring and celebrating the heroic acts of Richard Dixon at the vessel's commissioning.
The Coast Guard took delivery on July 30, 2015 in Key West, FL, and is scheduled to commission the vessel in Puerto Rico during October, 2015.
All of these boats will be named after enlisted Coast Guard heroes, who distinguished themselves in USCG or military service. The first 25 have been named, but only 8 have been commissioned...
Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, LA, has delivered the Joseph Napier, the 15th Fast Response Cutter (FRC) to the United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard took delivery on October 20, 2015 in Key West, Florida, and is scheduled to commission the vessel in Puerto Rico during January, 2016.
The 154-foot patrol craft is the 17th vessel in the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class FRC program.
It is Alaska's first Fast Response Cutter and the first to be stationed west of the Mississippi River.
The U.S. Coast Guard has taken delivery of USCGC Bailey Barco on February 7, 2017 in Key West, Fla. The vessel is scheduled to be commissioned in Ketchikan, Alaska in June, 2017.
This vessel is named after McCormick, awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal on Nov. 7, 1938, for his heroic action in rescuing a fellow Coast Guardsman in treacherous conditions where the mouth of the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean in northwest Oregon.
The Coast Guard took delivery of the 154-foot patrol craft on April 20, 2017 in Key West, Fla. The vessel's commissioning is scheduled for July 4, 2017 in Pascagoula, Miss.
Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, La., has delivered the 154'x25'5″x9'6″ Benjamin Dailey to the Coast Guard, the 23rd fast response cutter (FRC).
This vessel is named after Coast Guard Hero Benjamin Dailey. Dailey, Keeper of the Cape Hatteras Life-Saving Station, was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal on April 24, 1885 for his exceptional bravery in one of the most daring rescues by the Life-Saving Service.
USCGC Richard Snyder will be the first Sentinel-class cutter (FRC) stationed in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, and will be commissioned in April.
The first of the station's new cutters, the Forrest Rednour, arrived in June and will be commissioned next week. The Coast Guard expects the Terrell Horne III and Benjamin Bottoms to arrive by summer 2019.
The U.S. Coast Guard has announced the names and corresponding hull numbers for its next 20 Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs), each vessel being named for a deceased leader, trailblazer or hero of the Coast Guard and its predecessor services of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, the U.S. Lifesaving Service and the U.S. Lighthouse Service, according to a Dec. 12 Coast Guard release.
The cutter will be the first of three planned FRCs stationed in Galveston, Texas.
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Lockport-based Bollinger Shipyards delivered the USCGC Daniel Tarr, the 36th fast response cutter, to the U.S. Coast Guard on Nov. 7 in Key West, Florida.
The Charles Moulthrope will be based in Manama, Bahrain, replacing a 110-foot Island Class Patrol Boat built by Bollinger 30 years ago. The new ship will support U.S. defense missions in southwest Asia, the Coast Guard's largest overseas presence.
Most of the latest ship's construction occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic and six named storms impacting Louisiana, company officials noted. Among them were hurricanes Cristobal in June and Zeta in October, both of which caused damage and work disruptions in Terrebonne and Lafourche. 'Bollinger undertook precautions to ensure the health and safety of employees and not only maintained its schedule, but delivered the vessel three weeks early,' the company said Monday.
These namesakes include recipients of the Gold Lifesaving Medal, Silver Star Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and Medal of Freedom. These new cutters are scheduled for delivery starting in 2023 and will be named for the following people:
Continuing the Sentinel Class' tradition of honoring women and men who distinguished themselves while serving as enlisted Coast Guard members throughout the history of the Service, FRCs 55–64 bear the names of leaders, trailblazers and heroes of the Coast Guard and its forbearers.
A 20-hour high-speed boat chase that at times resembled a James Bond movie ended about 65 miles west of Cuba on Christmas Eve when the three suspects just gave up, law enforcement officials said.[permanent dead link]
Three suspected boat thieves led the Coast Guard on a 345-mile high-speed chase lasting nearly 20 hours before they were eventually captured off Mexico, officials in Florida said Sunday.
The 10 survivors are believed to be migrants trying to get the United States from the Bahamas.
The four suspected smugglers were transferred to U.S. authorities for prosecution. The Friesland transferred the suspects and contraband to the Coast Guard Cutter Bernard C. Webber who was returning home from a successful counterdrug patrol off of Puerto Rico in support of Operation Unified Resolve.
In this case, the interdiction operation involved the Coast Guard and the HNLMS Friesland, an offshore patrol vessel from the Royal Netherlands Navy.
A Coast Guardsman offloads cocaine at Coast Guard Sector Miami Beach, Florida, Nov. 20, 2015.
On the Webber, Gould and Mike Cortese, commanding officer of Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, show the SLEP group what the Coast Guard does if it catches a target of interest making an illicit run from Bimini to the United States carrying migrants, drugs, money or guns.
Crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge, a 154-foot Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter homeported at Sector Miami, offload approximately 1,500 pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated wholesale value of $23 million, in St. Petersburg, Fla., Monday, March 17, 2014.
The United States Coast Guard Vessel (USCG) William Flores brought 12 Cuban migrants to the Lucayan Harbour Friday, April 1 and handed them over to a team of officers headed by SIO (Senior Immigration Officer) Jerome Hutcheson.
Crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Paul Clark repatriated 66 Cuban migrants to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba, Friday. This repatriation was a result of four separate migrant interdiction events this week.
This repatriation is a result of three separate interdictions at sea in the south Florida Straits. These were interdictions of Cuban nationals attempting to illegally enter the United States on unseaworthy vessels commonly referred to as "rustics" or "chugs."
The Coast Guard Cutters Kathleen Moore, Marlin, along with numerous other Coast Guard patrol boats and aircraft, aggressively patrol the Florida Straits to detect and deter illegal and unsafe maritime migration. Safety of life at sea is always the Coast Guard's top priority.
The agency's cutter Richard Dixon responded and seized the vessel after suspects tossed four packages into the water.
The USCG cutter Richard Dixon repatriated 24 migrants to the Dominican Republic.
The crew of the USCG Richard Dixon transferred the 25 migrants, who claimed to be citizens of the Dominican Republic, on board the cutter for safety and biometric processing.
The Coast Guard Cutter Richard Dixon repatriated the remaining 14 Dominicans to the Dominican Republic during an at-sea transfer of the migrants to a Dominican Navy patrol vessel Friday just south of La Romana.
The crew of the Napier, which is based in Port Canaveral, Florida, towed the 70-foot (21-meter) fishing vessel, the Lady Michelle, to St. Vincent and four men on board from Guyana were taken to the U.S. Virgin Islands to face possible criminal charges. The Coast Guard took the cocaine to Puerto Rico and turned it over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
In July Oliver Berry's crew set a new milestone by deploying over the horizon to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The 4,400 nautical mile trip marked marking the furthest deployment of an FRC to date for the Coast Guard and is the first deployment of its kind in the Pacific.
'It was a good transit, the longest we've conducted yet, nine days at sea and we're proving the capabilities of these new cutters to operate over the horizon throughout the remote Pacific,' said Lt. James Provost, commanding officer of Joseph Gerczak.
After the passing of several well-known Coast Guard heroes last year, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Charles "Skip" Bowen mentioned in his blog that the Coast Guard does not do enough to honor its fallen heroes.
Previously designated to be named the Coast Guard Cutter Sentinel, the cutter Bernard C. Webber will be the first of the service's new 153-foot patrol cutters. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen approved the change of the cutter's name to allow this class of vessels to be named after outstanding enlisted members who demonstrated exceptional heroism in the line of duty. This will be the first class of cutters to be named exclusively for enlisted members of the Coast Guard and its predecessor services.
The Commandant personally informed the Horne family earlier today a fast response cutter will bear Terrell Horne's name in honor of his sacrifice and faithful service in defense of his nation.
Two Mexican nationals from Ensenada who were apprehended on a smuggling panga in December 2012 were convicted today in the death of Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III.
Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III's death made him the first Coast Guardsman murdered in the line of duty since 1927, officials said. Horne, who spent 14 years with the Coast Guard, was posthumously promoted to the rank of senior chief petty officer.
The Coast Guard recently announced the names of the 26th through 35th Sentinel-class fast response cutters through a series of posts on its official blog, the Coast Guard Compass.