Bollinger Delivers 21st USCG FRC
Bollinger Shipyards has delivered the USCGC JOHN MCCORMICK, the 21st Fast Response Cutter (FRC) to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The 154 foot patrol craft USCGC JOHN MCCORMICK is the 21st vessel in the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class FRC program, and the first FRC to be stationed at Ketchikan, Alaska. The FRC has been described as an operational “game changer,” by senior Coast Guard officials. Previous cutters have been stationed in the 7th Coast Guard District in Florida or San Juan, PR, and two have been stationed in the 5th Coast Guard District in Cape May, NJ. To build the FRC, Bollinger used a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708. It has a flank speed of 28 knots, state of the art command, control, communications and computer technology, and a stern launch system for the vessel’s 26 foot cutter boat.
The Coast Guard took delivery on December 13, 2016 in Key West, Florida and is scheduled to commission the vessel in Ketchikan, Alaska in April, 2017.
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 John McCormick, who was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal on November 7, 1938 for his heroic action in affecting the rescue of Surfman Richard O. Bracken in treacherous conditions in the outer breaks on Clatsop Spit, near the mouth of the Columbia River.