Bollinger Shipyards LLC and the U.S. Coast Guard officially commissioned a new Sentinel-class fast response cutter (FRC), the John Scheuerman, this week at the Port of Tampa (Fla.)
The cutter is the fifth of six FRCs to be homeported in Manama, Bahrain, which will replace the aging 110' Island-class patrol boats built by Bollinger 30 years ago, supporting the Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA), the Coast Guard’s largest overseas presence outside the U.S.
The Coast Guard took delivery of the 154'x25' USCGC John Scheuerman in Key West, Fla., in October 2021. The cutter is the 169th vessel Bollinger has delivered to the Coast Guard over a 35-year period and the 46th FRC delivered under the current program. Notably, the John Scheuerman was delivered nearly one week ahead of schedule despite a three-week shutdown due to the significant damage sustained to Bollinger’s facilities during Hurricane Ida.
For the FRC, which has a draft of 9'6", Bollinger is using a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708. Main propulsion comes from twin MTU 20V4000 M93L diesel engines, producing 2,900 hp each.
FRCs are being deployed in support of the full range of missions within the Coast Guard and other branches of the U.S. armed services. FRCs have conducted operations as far away as the Marshall Islands — a 4,400-nautical-mile trip from their homeport. The 154' FRCs have a flank speed of 28 knots, state of the art C4ISR suite (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance), and stern launch and recovery ramp for a 26', over-the-horizon interceptor cutter boat.
