The US Coast Guard has taken delivery of its 57th Sentinel-class fast response cutter from Bollinger Shipyards in Key West, Florida.
The USCGC Florence Finch (WPC-1157) is part of a US Department of Defense effort begun in 2008 to replace the service’s Island class commissioned in the 1980s.
WPC-1157 will sail as the second of three Sentinel ships to be homeported in Sector Columbia River, a coast guard division responsible for security, maritime law enforcement, environmental protection, and rescue along the Oregon Coast.
“We’re confident that pound for pound, the quality and capabilities of the FRC platform are unmatched and that this vessel will outperform its mission requirements and expectations in the challenging conditions where it will operate in the Pacific Northwest,” Bollinger CEO and President Ben Bordelon stated during the ceremony.
USCGC Florence Finch
Including the latest vessel, each fast response cutter is named after an enlisted service member who performed with valor in the field.
The Finch is named after the first woman to be decorated with an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon.
She also received a Medal of Freedom for services rendered in the Philippines against Japanese forces during World War II. Accounts involved sabotaging the enemy’s critical stocks and aiding American Prisoners of War in Luzon.
Finch was captured and tortured by the Japanese military and was later rescued by US troops.
The Sentinel Program
Bollinger has signed 67 fast response cutter contracts with the US Coast Guard since the Sentinel program’s inception.
Fifty-five of these ships are already operational, with the remaining being constructed at the company’s center in Lockport, Louisiana.
Bollinger handed over the 56th Sentinel to the coast guard in March. In May, the firm secured a contract option to build two additional cutters for the service.
The company wrote that the overall initiative supports more than 650 direct jobs in Lafourche Parish and about 4,000 shipbuilders across 13 hubs in the states of Louisiana and Mississippi.
“This program isn’t just an economic benefit for our region, but a national security priority that continues to enjoy the support of a bipartisan, bicameral coalition in the United States Congress,” Bordelon said.
“That being said, these additional vessels allow for the continued prosperity and economic well-being for over 650 families in South Louisiana.”
“The hardworking men and women of Bollinger Shipyards take tremendous pride in every single vessel we build and deliver for the US government knowing we’re helping to keep our homeland safe.”