Bollinger Shipyards and the Coast Guard on Friday at the company’s shipyard in Louisiana laid the keel for the first 154-foot Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter, the Bernard C. Webber, which is slated to be delivered in spring 2011 and be home ported in Miami.
The keel laying ceremony marks the official start of construction.
Bollinger is currently under contract to build four FRCs. The Coast Guard plans to purchase up to 34 of the cutters at a cost of around $1.5 billion. The service plans to build 58 Sentinel-class FRCs.
The Sentinel-class patrol boats will each be named for one of the service’s enlisted heroes. Bernard Weber. As a coxswain in February 1952, Weber led his three-man crew through a winter storm to save the lives of 32 crewmen from a sinking freighter.
“Today, we introduced the Sentinel class of multi-mission cutters which will serve the Coast Guard for many years to come,” Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen said in a statement. “We’ve honored the spirit and courage of our enlisted heroes by naming these cutters in their honor.”
The FRC design is based on the Dutch Damen Stan Patrol 4798 patrol boat.