The US Coast Guard’s Los Angeles-Long Beach base is welcoming the second California based 154-foot fast response cutter in San Pedro, on Wednesday, October 31.
US Coast Guard Cutter Robert Ward is the second California-based Sentinel-class FRC and the 30th ship in its class. It was delivered to the service by Bollinger Shipyards in August this year.
A total of 31 FRC were delivered by the shipbuilder. The 31st FRC, USCGC Terrell Horne, was delivered on October 25.
The Robert Ward is slated to be the second of four FRCs to be homeported at Base Los Angeles-Long Beach and is scheduled to be officially commissioned in February.
Two additional FRCs are scheduled to arrive and be commissioned by summer of 2019. While these ships will be based in San Pedro, they will operate throughout the 11th Coast Guard District, which includes all of California and international waters off of Mexico and Central America.
FRC’s are 154-foot multi-mission ships designed to conduct: drug and migrant interdictions; ports, waterways and coastal security operations; fisheries and environmental protection patrols; national defense missions; and search and rescue.
Each cutter is designed for a crew of 24, has a range of 2,500 miles and is equipped for patrols up to five days. The FRCs are part of the Coast Guard’s overall fleet modernization initiative.