Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2022)

UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of the CGC Juniper

SMALL CUTTERS

PROVE THEY CAN

PATROL A BIG OCEAN

By Edward Lundquist he Coast Guard’s 353-ton, 154-foot fast response cutter In some respects, the FRC is closer to a 210-foot medium (WPC) is capable of deploying independently to con- endurance cutter (MEC) mission set than a 110-foot patrol duct missions that include port, waterways and coastal boat (WPB) the FRCs are replacing. However, the FRCs

T security; ? shery patrols; search and rescue; and nation- don’t have the endurance that the MECs do. al defense. The service plans to build 64 of them to replace In the Coast Guard’s 14th District, which covers a huge the 110-foot Island class patrol boats. The FRC has a range amount of the Paci? c Ocean, three FRCs are based at Guam of 2,500 miles, but the endurance of the 24 crewmembers is and three in Honolulu. These cutters are now conducting dis- normally limited to about ? ve days based on the quantity of tant patrols that previously required larger ships.

provisions carried. Both the 110s and 154s have about the “Our mission is different from other FRCs because we same speed and range, but the FRC has much better seakeep- don’t have a lot of ports we can pull into as we transit to our ing qualities, which affects crew endurance. operating areas,” said Lt. j.g. Joseph Fox, executive of? cer

Named after Coast Guard enlisted heroes, the FRCs are of USCGC Joseph Gerczak (WPC 1126), assigned to Sector replacing the aging Island-class 110-foot patrol boats. Built Honolulu. “If an FRC back in CONUS goes north for an ex- by Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, La., the Coast Guard peditionary operation to the Arctic, for example, they can stop commissioned its 48th FRC, the USCGC Pablo Valent (WPC along the way. When we go to Tahiti or American Samoa, 1148) on May 11, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Florida. there’s nothing in between. We’ll usually travel with a ‘black 42 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • June 2022

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