Eighth Damen-Designed Fast Response Cutter Delivered to U.S. Coast Guard

Sistership of the USCGC CHARLES SEXTON, MARGARET NORVELL operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Image: Bollinger

Bollinger Shipyards delivered the 154 foot patrol craft CHARLES SEXTON yesterday to the 7^th Coast Guard District located in Key West, FL.  She is the eighth Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter (FRC) ordered by the United States Coast Guard to be delivered by Bollinger.

To build the FRC, Bollinger Shipyards used a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708.  She has a flank speed of 28 knots, state of the art command, control, communications and computer technology, and a stern launch system for the vessels 26 foot cutter boat.  The FRC has been described as an operational “game changer,” by senior Coast Guard officials.

The Coast Guard is scheduled to commission the vessel in Key West, Florida in March 2014.

Namesake

Each FRC is named for an enlisted Coast Guard hero who distinguished him or herself in the line of duty. This vessel is named after Coast Guard Hero, Petty Officer Charles W. Sexton, who was posthumously awarded the Coast Guard Medal for extraordinary heroism.

Sexton exhibited courage and devotion to save others in the face of grave danger. Petty Officer Sexton was on duty at Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment, Washington on January 11, 1991 as the fishing vessel SEA KING, a 75’ trawler, was taking on water four miles NW of the Columbia River bar.  Four fishermen were aboard and the decks were awash, the engine room was filling up with water.  After stabilizing an injured crewmember on board, Sexton focused on dewatering the vessel. The SEA KING was so flooded that it required several pumps to remove the seawater from the engine room.  After more than six exhaustive hours of Sexton manning the pumps, the SEA KING rolled over without warning and threw its passengers into the agitated seas.  Sexton, along with two fishermen, was trapped in the enclosed pilothouse.  He and the two fishermen went down with the vessel.

About Bollinger Yards

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc, based in Lockport, Louisiana is a designer and builder of fast military patrol boats, ocean-going double hull barges, offshore oil field support vessels, tug boats, rigs, liftboats, inland waterways push boats, barges, and other steel and aluminum products from its new construction shipyards along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Bollinger is also the largest vessel repair company in the Gulf of Mexico region with a total of 28 dry-docks in Louisiana and Texas.

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