The US Coast Guard has taken delivery of its 59th Sentinel-class fast response cutter from Bollinger Shipyards in Florida.
The milestone aligns with a 2008 program to replace the service’s aging patrol boats, including the Island-class vessels operational since the 1980s.
Designated as the USCGC Earl Cunningham (WPC-1159), the new platform will serve as the second of three Sentinel cutters to be stationed in Kodiak.
It will then be transferred to an under-construction center in Seward, where future Sentinels will also be homeported upon the site’s completion.
The Cunningham is named after a guardsman recipient of the Gold Life Saving Medal for rescuing stranded fishermen on Lake Michigan in 1936 while off duty.
The Sentinel System
The Sentinel fast response cutter measures 47 meters (154 feet) long and has a beam of 8 meters (26 feet).
It has two MTU engines with 5,800 horsepower each and a single bow thruster with 101 horsepower.
The vessel was developed for missions requiring a straight five-day deployment and maneuvers at speeds over 28 knots (52 kilometers/32 miles per hour).
Its design can accommodate more than 20 personnel, has space for small boats, and offers integration of crew-served shipboard machine guns or mounted heavy machine guns.
The US Coast Guard is now awaiting more deliveries to complete the 67-hull Sentinel fleet it had contracted from Bollinger.
Before the Cunningham’s arrival, the service accepted the 58th Sentinel, the USCGC John Witherspoon (WPC-1158), in Key West last November.
