Fast Response Cutters
The first Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter (FRC), USCGC Bernard C. Webber.
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Sentinel class |
| Operators: | United States Coast Guard |
| Planned: | 58 |
| Active: | 23 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Cutter |
| Displacement: | 353 long tons (359 t) |
| Length: | 46.8 m (154 ft) |
| Beam: | 8.11 m (26.6 ft) |
| Depth: | 2.9 m (9.5 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) |
| Endurance: |
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| Boats & landing craft carried: |
1 × Cutter Boat - Over the horizon - Jet-drive |
| Complement: | 4 officers, 20 crew |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
L-3 C4ISR suite |
| Armament: |
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The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as Fast Response Cutter due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. At 46.8 metres (154 ft) it is similar to, but larger than the eight unseaworthy 123-foot (37 m) lengthened 1980s-era 110-foot Island-class patrol boats, like USCGC Matagorda taken out of service in December 2006. Up to 58 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.
On March 14, 2007, United States Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen announced that the USCG had withdrawn a contract from Bollinger for the construction of a new class of vessels, but had not entirely cancelled the program. The new program would focus more on existing "off-the-shelf" technology.
On September 26, 2008, Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, United States, was awarded US$88 million to build a prototype. The vessel would be the first of a series of 24-34 46.8-meter (154 ft) cutters built to a design 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.
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