US Coast Guard commissions 24th FRC Oliver Berry

The US Coast Guard (USCG) has commissioned the 24th Sentinel-class fast response cutter (FRC), Oliver Berry, at its homeport in Honolulu.

The USCGC Oliver Berry is the first FRC stationed in Hawaii and in the Coast Guard’s Fourteenth District, which spans over an area of more than 12 million square miles of land and sea in the Western and Central Pacific.

The 154ft-long patrol craft has been built by Bollinger Shipyards and is designed based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708.

The FRCs are capable of deploying independently to carry out several missions that include port, waterways and coastal security; fishery patrols; drug and migrant interdiction; search and rescue; and national defence.

Also, the crafts feature latest command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment; over-the-horizon cutter boat deployment to reach vessels of interest; and enhanced seakeeping and habitability.

The USCG has planned to purchase a total of 58 Sentinel-class cutters to replace its 110ft-long Island-class patrol boats. So far, 44 have been ordered of which 24 vessels are in service.

Of the 24 ships, 12 are in Florida, six in Puerto Rico, two in Alaska, two in New Jersey, one in Mississippi and one in Hawaii.

In future, the new cutters will also be homeported in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, and San Pedro, California, US.

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Image: Crew members man the rails aboard Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Berry as two MH-65 Dolphin helicopters from Air Station Barbers Point conduct a flyover during a commissioning ceremony at Coast Guard Base Honolulu. Photo: courtesy of US Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Tara Molle.