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Sentinel-class cutter
The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as the Fast Response Cutter or FRC due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. 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. At least 77 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.
In March 2007, newly appointed United States Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen announced that the USCG had withdrawn a contract from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the construction of an initial flawed design of what would eventually become the Sentinel class. 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.
The design chosen was largely based on the Damen Stan 4708 patrol vessels from the Netherlands firm the Damen Group. The South African government operates three similar 154 ft Lillian Ngoyi-class vessels for environmental and fishery patrol.
In September 2008, Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, was awarded US$88 million to build the prototype first vessel in its class. That prototype was the first of a projected series of 46.8-meter (154 ft) cutters. In September 2008 the series was expected to comprise a maximum of 24 to 34 cutters but by the time the prototype cutter, which became USCGC Bernard C. Webber, entered service in 2012 the planned number of Sentinel-class cutters had grown to 58. They replaced the 37 remaining aging, 1980s-era 110 ft Island-class patrol boats.
USCGC Bernard C. Webber and all following Sentinel-class vessels are named after enlisted Coast Guard heroes. Bernard C. Webber was launched in April 2011, and commissioned in April 2012 at the Port of Miami. She and five sister ships are stationed in Miami, Florida. The second cohort of six vessels is homeported in Key West, Florida. The third cohort of six vessels is homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico. As of October 2024, the Coast Guard plans to station most of the Sentinel-class cutters in the United States, but a cohort of six is stationed with the Coast Guard's largest unit outside the United States, Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA), whose homeport is Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. As many as six more are planned to be stationed in the Indo-Pacific region.
A second contract was awarded on December 15, 2009 for an additional three Sentinel-class cutters at a cost of US$141 million. By April 2010 the Coast Guard's contract with Bollinger allowed for the order of up to 34 Sentinel-class cutters at a cost of up to US$1.5 billion. Even then, the Coast Guard was planning to build a total of 58 Sentinel-class cutters.
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.
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.
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Sentinel-class cutter
The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as the Fast Response Cutter or FRC due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. 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. At least 77 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.
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. 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.
The design chosen was largely based on the Damen Stan 4708 patrol vessels from the Netherlands firm the Damen Group. The South African government operates three similar 154 ft Lillian Ngoyi-class vessels for environmental and fishery patrol.
In September 2008, Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, was awarded US$88 million to build the prototype first vessel in its class. That prototype was the first of a projected series of 46.8-meter (154 ft) cutters. In September 2008 the series was expected to comprise a maximum of 24 to 34 cutters but by the time the prototype cutter, which became USCGC Bernard C. Webber, entered service in 2012 the planned number of Sentinel-class cutters had grown to 58. They replaced the 37 remaining aging, 1980s-era 110 ft Island-class patrol boats.
USCGC Bernard C. Webber and all following Sentinel-class vessels are named after enlisted Coast Guard heroes. Bernard C. Webber was launched in April 2011, and commissioned in April 2012 at the Port of Miami. She and five sister ships are stationed in Miami, Florida. The second cohort of six vessels is homeported in Key West, Florida. The third cohort of six vessels is homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico. As of October 2024, the Coast Guard plans to station most of the Sentinel-class cutters in the United States, but a cohort of six is stationed with the Coast Guard's largest unit outside the United States, Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA), whose homeport is Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. As many as six more are planned to be stationed in the Indo-Pacific region.
A second contract was awarded on December 15, 2009 for an additional three Sentinel-class cutters at a cost of US$141 million. By April 2010 the Coast Guard's contract with Bollinger allowed for the order of up to 34 Sentinel-class cutters at a cost of up to US$1.5 billion. Even then, the Coast Guard was planning to build a total of 58 Sentinel-class cutters.
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.
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.
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