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Home > News Releases > News 2016
Acquisition Update: Coast Guard Accepts 21st Fast Response Cutter
Dec. 13, 2016
The 21st fast response cutter (FRC), John McCormick, sits moored in Key West, Florida, Dec. 13, 2016, following its delivery to the Coast Guard. The cutter will be the first FRC based in Ketchikan, Alaska. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
The Coast Guard accepted delivery of the 21st fast response cutter (FRC), John McCormick, in Key West, Florida, today.
The cutter will be the first FRC stationed in Ketchikan, Alaska. It was the third consecutive FRC delivered with zero production discrepancies, indicating improved stability and efficiency in the production process.
The cutter is named after Boatswain John McCormick, who as officer-in-charge of the wooden 52-foot motor lifeboat Triumph out of Station Point Adams, Oregon, on the Columbia River, saved a crewman who was washed overboard March 26, 1938. Acting with exceptional skill, McCormick maneuvered the lifeboat against a strong current and into the breakers to pick up the drowning man. McCormick received the Gold Lifesaving Medal for his actions that day.
The 154-foot FRC is designed to patrol coastal regions and features advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment; the ability to launch and recover standardized cutter boats from astern or via side davits; and improved seakeeping and habitability. The FRCs, which are replacing the 1980s-era 110-foot Island-class patrol boats, feature an endurance of five days and reach a maximum speed of over 28 knots.
The Coast Guard has ordered 38 of the planned 58 FRCs, and 19 are in service: one in Cape May, New Jersey; six in Miami, six in Key West, Florida; and six in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The FRC is complemented operationally by the extended range and endurance of the offshore patrol cutter and the offshore capabilities of the national security cutter.
For more information: Fast Response Cutter program page