USCG commissions cutter Florence Finch
Florence Finch (WPC-1157) was commissioned on 24 October. (Photo: USCG/ Petty Officer Will Kirk)
Bollinger Shipyards has been contracted to produce 67 Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) with the 57th, which was delivered in June, now commissioned.
The US Coast Guard (USCG) commissioned its 57th Sentinel-class FRC, Florence Finch (WPC-1157), on 24 October. It will be the second of the type to operate out of Astoria in Washington state and will eventually be joined by a third.
The cutter’s namesake, Florence Ebersole Smith Finch, was a Filipino-American and a member of the World War II resistance against the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.
The cutter will primarily operate in the Pacific Ocean, Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Columbia River. The Sentinel-class FRC has been designed for multiple missions, including national defence, search and rescue, drug and migrant interdiction, and coastal security.
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The FRCs feature advanced C4ISR equipment, over-the-horizon cutter boat deployment to reach vessels of interest, and improved habitability and seakeeping. They will replace the 1980s-era Island-class 110ft patrol boats.
Shephard Defence Insight noted that the ship is 47m long with a beam of 7.62m, a draft of 3m and a displacement of 353t. It is capable of a maximum speed of 28kt and a range of 2,500nm,
It is powered by two 20-cylinder MTU 4000 diesel engines developing a total power output of 4,300kW. The vessels have an endurance of five days with a crew of 24.
In May this year, the USCG exercised a contract option to award Bollinger Shipyards two additional FRCs bringing the total number of FRCs awarded to the company up to 67 vessels since the programme’s inception.
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