The Coast Guard took delivery of its 15th Fast Response Cutter when the Bollinger Shipyards LLC-built Joseph Napier arrived at Key West, Fla., Tuesday.
The 154’x25’x9’6” Sentinel-class cutter is assigned to the Coast Guard Seventh District, and will be formally christened in January at San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the vessel and crew will be based. The FRC program is replacing the Coast Guard’s aging fleet of 1980s-era 110’ Island-class patrol boats.
Bollinger based its FRC design on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708, obtaining a vessel with 28 knots flank speed. The Napier has the Coast Guard’s command, control, communications and computer technology, interoperable the systems of the departments of Homeland Security and Defense. The cutter carries a 26’ over-the-horizon long range cutter boat with a stern launch and recovery system.
FRCs are named for distinguished members of the Coast Guard and its predecessor, the U.S. Lifesaving Service. The newest is named for Joseph Napier, the keeper of Life-Saving Station 6 at St. Joseph, Mich., who led his men into an October 1877 gale to rescue the crew of a wrecked Great Lakes schooner.
