USCG receives 23rd FRC
The US Coast Guard (USCG) has accepted delivery of its 23rd Sentinel class Fast Response Cutter (FRC), Benjamin Dailey, the agency announced on 20 April.
The FRC will be stationed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, following its commissioning in July 2017. The cutter will be the first FRC stationed in the USCG's Eighth District, which includes coastlines along the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida panhandle.
The cutter features advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment; over-the-horizon boat deployment to reach vessels of interest and improved habitability and seakeeping. The cutter is replacing the Island-class 110ft patrol boats.
The Sentinel class cutters have a top speed of over 28 knots and endurance of five days. They are designed for multiple missions, including drug and migrant interdiction, ports, waterways and coastal security, fishery patrols, search and rescue and national defence.
Twenty-one FRCs are already in service, Of the 58 FRCs planned by the USCG, 38 have been ordered to date.
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