US Coast Guard commissions ‘Joseph Napier’

U.S. Coast Guard’s newest fast response cutter, the USCGC Joseph Napier, was commissioned January 29 in a ceremony in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Cutter Joseph Napier will join the fleet of Coast Guard fast response cutters stationed in San Juan and heighten the Coast Guard’s offshore presence in the Caribbean.

Lt. Ryan Newmeyer, commanding officer of the Cutter Joseph Napier, said: “It is a tremendous honor and privilege to command one of the finest ships the Coast Guard has ever had. The Joseph Napier will be a tremendous asset to Coast Guard efforts to combat transnational organized crime in the eastern Caribbean as well as a sentinel for all those who take to the sea.”

The 15th Fast Response Cutter (FRC) was delivered to the United States Coast Guard by the American constructor of ships and patrol vessels Bollinger Shipyards on October 20, 2015.

The 154 foot patrol craft Joseph Napier is the 15th vessel in the Coast Guard’s Sentinel-class FRC program. To build the FRC, Bollinger used a craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708.

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 Joseph Napier.

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