FAST RESPONSE CUTTERS REQUIRE A NEW MINDSET, The Sentiel class is a solid ride.

BY EDWARD LUNDQUIST

The Sentinel-class fast response cutter (FRC) is the Coast Guard’s new multi-mission platform designed to replace the 110-foot Island-class patrol boats (WPB)built between 1985 and 1992. The FRC has greater range, stability, and habitability to enable crews to better conduct the missions of drug and migrant interdiction; ports, waterways and coastal security; fishery patrols; search and rescue; and national defense.

According to Coast Guard Acquisition Directorate spokesman Brian Olexy, the Coast Guard is acquiring 58 FRCs, which are being built by Bollinger Shipyards at Lockport, Louisiana, a company with years of experience building ships for the Coast Guard. Of those, 50 have been funded and ordered, including two for Patrol Forces Southwest Asia in Bahrain. As of Oct. 25, 2018, 30 have been delivered.

The new patrol cutters have advanced command, control, communications, and computers (C4) capabilities; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, providing each crew significant operational advantages over previous ship classes; and carry the over-the-horizon cutterboat to reach vessels of interest.

Twenty-nine FRCs are in service, with the first, CGC Bernard C. Webber, delivered in 2012. District 7, headquartered in Miami, received the initial 18 FRCs, based on the priorities of interdiction in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico: The first six boats were assigned to Miami, followed by six to Key West, then six to San Juan. The next two were delivered to Pascagoula, Mississippi, in District 8, in New Orleans. District 17, in Alaska, has two FRCs now homeported in Ketchikan, but that number will eventually reach six, and provide a 19 percent increase in operational capacity. There are two in Honolulu, Hawaii, and two in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. The newest, Forrest Rednour (WPC 1129), was commissioned Nov. 8, and is the first of four FRCs to be homeported at San Pedro, California, at the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach.

The FRCs are based upon the Stan 4708 patrol vessel design from Dutch shipbuilder Damen, and will also carry out some of the duties of the 87-foot Islandclass patrol boats. “We’re very happy to be getting the four,” said Cmdr. Heather Kelly, deputy enforcement chief for District 11, which covers California, Nevada, and Arizona. “I’m focusing on a law enforcement side, such as illegal smuggling operations and fisheries enforcement, but the Coast Guard is also focused on port safety and security, as well as search and rescue. So, the FRC will be much more capable to respond in [District] 11’s area of responsibility. We have weather conditions that challenge our 87s [coastal patrol boats] in heavy sea states. Especially up north toward San Francisco and Humboldt Bay – the sea states just get nasty in the winter time. Some of the fisheries season openings correspond with that bad weather, and we have to be able to respond.”

Kelly said the FRCs ride well. “When they’re moving, it’s very smooth. It feels completely different from the 110. It’s a solid ride.”

They have better habitability, so the crew is more comfortable. They carry more fresh water and have bigger fuel tanks, which are big factors in endurance. “They’re able to operate out offshore for longer,” Kelly said. “The FRCs can stay out at least five days, comfortably. They can go for longer [periods of time] if they know and plan for it, but they also have a refuelat-sea capability if we need to do that.”

The FRC packs a bigger punch, with .50-caliber machine guns and a remotely operated 25 mm chain gun.

A major difference between the smaller patrol boats and the FRC is the stern launch capability for boats, which allows the crew to get a boat into the water much faster and more safely. While a 110 would have to slow and position itself in regard to the winds and swells to launch its boat, the FRC can get that boat out of the stern quicker, and that is important when conducting a high-speed pursuit.

“The stern launch is a big deal. It’s definitely made a huge difference,” said Kelly. “It’s much safer in heavier seas. And it’s made a big difference in launch and recovery time – especially for law enforcement operations. A 110 would have to make sure they maneuvered to have optimal conditions to put their boat in the water. But in the time that it takes a 110 to have those perfect conditions, and slew that boat over the side, a fast response cutter’s boat would already be chasing after somebody. And because they’re so fast and so capable, they can wait to launch their boat until the last minute, because they’re able to keep up with the smuggler.”

Kelly previously served at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and recalls an incident where the FRC proved its worth. The cruise ship Caribbean Fantasy, coming from Santo Domingo to San Juan with 511 passengers aboard, caught fire close to shore, where the Coast Guard had vessels and aircraft that could assist.

“We used one of our new FRCs, CGC Joseph Tezanos, to be the on-scene coordinator for that entire effort, for all the interagency coordination, and it was challenging with English and Spanish [speakers], but they did a fantastic job with that,” Kelly said. “So, it’s a highly capable communications platform, and … it demonstrated that this 154-foot patrol cutter was able to manage all those different things.”

According to Lt. Cmdr. Matt Kroll, the assistant project officer for FRC introduction in District 11, “All four of our FRCs are going to be stationed in San Pedro. They’ve got a brand-new building down there to support the FRCs, with the maintenance facility and all of [the] parts they’ll need. These ships are so advanced compared to the patrol boats of the past that it’s requiring a completely new look at how they schedule maintenance. Instead of conducting longer maintenance availabilities, they’re now doing more frequent but shorter maintenance periods.”

At the outset, rather than spreading the initial FRCs around to different ports, the Coast Guard has basically stood up one location at a time, giving the homeport the resources, maintenance, and support they need for the ships and crews. San Pedro, like the other FRC ports, has a cadre of specialists who can perform the required maintenance on the ships.

Whereas much of the maintenance performed on the 87s and 110s was conducted by diesel engine machinery technicians, the new FRCs feature a more high-tech propulsion system that is maintained by electronics technicians. And underway, the engineer is not down in the engine room monitoring gauges; that watch is now performed on the bridge in front of a computer display.

“They had to rethink maintenance completely, just because these ships are so high tech,” said Kroll.

Like the national security cutters, FRCs have the L3 Technologies Integrated Communications System, featuring the L3 MarCom/KITE (Keyswitch Integrated Terminal Equipment) system that brings all the communications circuits – from UHF and VHF and various bands and frequencies – together at one location, allowing the FRCs to better interoperate with the rest of the fleet and other partner agencies, as was illustrated in the cruise ship fire off San Juan.

District 11 had one Island-class patrol boat, CGC Edisto, which was recently decommissioned. The 110s have a top speed of 30 knots, while the FRCs are advertised at 28.5 knots. However, some observers say the new cutters are faster, since many of the older boats can’t perform as they used to. Plus, the FRCs are much more fuel efficient. Nevertheless, it will be a while before most of the 110s are replaced.

While the national security cutters are named for Coast Guard legends, FRCs are named for more contemporary enlisted heroes. “We’re starting to reach back into a more recent history for the namesakes,” said Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Brickey, the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area public affairs officer. “The FRCs help us to remember the stories of each one of these heroes. And so, if you’re looking at 60 different cutters, that’s 60 people that, for the most part, would have just remained relatively unknown. We’re able to use the commissionings and the story of the cutter to tie into their legacy and how it moves us forward into the future.”

Vice Adm. Linda Fagan, who commands the Pacific Area, said the FRC requires a new mindset, because it is in many ways more similar to the much larger 210- foot and 270-foot medium-endurance cutters than it is to patrol boats. That new mindset is looking at how the Coast Guard can deploy the FRC, and how far it can reach to effectively carry out their multiple missions, and most important, how advanced technologies and capabilities can extend the capabilities of the maritime guardians, as challenges continue to change and expand.