USCG receives 13th Sentinel-class fast response cutter from Bollinger Shipyards

The US Coast Guard (USCG) has taken delivery of its 13th Sentinel-class fast response cutter (FRC) from Bollinger Shipyards.

Built under the Coast Guard’s Sentinel-class FRC programme, the 154ft patrol craft Richard Dixon features in-service parent craft design based on Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708.

Scheduled for commissioning in June 2015, this vessel is named after Coast Guard hero Richard Dixon, a First Class Boatswains Mate stationed at Tillamook Bay.

Bollinger Shipyards president and CEO Ben Bordelonb said: "We are very pleased to announce the delivery of the latest FRC built by Bollinger, the Richard Dixon, to the 7th Coast Guard District in Puerto Rico."

The new vessel has been built as part of the USCG’s Deepwater programme to replace the ageing fleet of the 110ft-long Island-class cutters.

The Sentinel-class FRCs can house a crew of 22 and deploy rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIB) to carry out rescue and interception missions.

Claimed to be an operational ‘game changer’ by senior Coast Guard officials, the vessel boasts flank speed of 28k, while featuring latest command, control, communications and computer technology, and a stern launch system for the vessel’s 26ft cutter boat.

Designed to link the capability to comply with the potential mission necessities, the FPVs are capable of supporting maritime homeland security, search and rescue (SAR), fishery patrol and national-defence missions.

The USCG took delivery of 12th FRC, Isaac Mayo, in January.

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Image: The US Coast Guard’s Richard Dixon during builders trials in the US Gulf of Mexico. Photo: courtesy of Bollinger Shipyards LLC.