The U.S. Coast Guard fast-response cutter Glen Harris sails in the Arabian Gulf, Oct. 24, 2023. (William Hunter/U.S. Army)
The U.S. Coast Guard has ordered two more Sentinel-class fast-response cutters from Bollinger Shipyards, the company announced in a press release Monday.
The vessels will be built at Bollinger’s facility in Lockport, La., but the projected delivery date for the vessels was not announced.
The contract is part of the 2004 Coast Guard Cutter Procurement Program, which calls for 104 ships to replace the 90 patrol craft and high- and medium-endurance cutters in the Coast Guard inventory at the time.
Each fast-response cutter costs about $65 million, according to a Congressional Research Service report March 25.
The Coast Guard originally planned on acquiring 65 fast-response cutters to replace the aging Island-class patrol boats. However, this most recent order brings the total number of fast-response cutters awarded to Bollinger to 67, according to the release.
In addition to the search-and-rescue operations the Coast Guard is famous for, fast-response cutters are used for drug interdiction, defense operations, law enforcement and environmental protection. Each vessel comes equipped with four .50-caliber machine guns and a 25 mm cannon.
They can reach speeds up to 28 knots, range more than 2,500 nautical miles and remain at sea for up to five days, according to the Coast Guard.
“Our unique experience building for the Coast Guard is unparalleled and has shown time and time again that we can successfully deliver the highest quality and most capable vessels,” Ben Bordelon, Bollinger Shipyard’s president and CEO, said in the release.
Three Sentinel-class cutters built by Bollinger — the Frederick Hatch, Myrtle Hazard and Oliver Henry — were homeported at the Coast Guard station on Guam in 2021. That year, the Coast Guard ordered four Sentinel cutters that are slated for delivery between fall of this year and the summer 2025.
Bollinger is also contracted to build a polar security cutter for the Coast Guard and a towing, salvage and rescue ship; a berthing barge; a new oceanographic survey ship; and unmanned mine countermeasures surface vessels for the Navy, according to the release.
