The Los Angeles Post

First California-based Fast Response Cutter commissioned in San Pedro

by · Published · Updated

Coast Guard Cutter Forrest Rednour is commissioned by the Coast Guard during a ceremony, Nov. 8, 2018, in San Pedro, California. The Forrest Rednour is the 29th Fast Response Cutter to be commissioned by the Coast Guard. (U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Kelley /Released)
The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Forrest Rednour mans the rail during the cutter’s commissioning ceremony, Nov. 8, 2018, in San Pedro, California. The Forrest Rednour is the 29th Fast Response Cutter to be commissioned by the Coast Guard. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Fireman Taylor Bacon /Released) Rear Adm. Peter Gautier, commander, Coast Guard 11th District, Lt. Graham Sherman, commander, Coast Guard Cutter Forrest Rednour and the official party all salute during the Forrest Rednour's Commissioning ceremony on Nov. 8th, 2018, San Pedro, Calif. The USCGC Forrest Rednour is not the only vessel that was named after Petty Officer 2nd Class Forrest Rednour. Navy officials recognized PO2 Rednour's heroism by commissioning the USS REDNOUR (APD-102), a Crosley-class high-speed transport, with PO2 Rednour's widow, Ruth Harriet Rednour, serving as the USS Rednour's sponsor. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class DaVonte' Marrow) Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony Medlar of the Coast Guard Forrest Rednour (WPC-1129) accepts the long glass from Chief Petty Officer Elizabeth Meister during the Forrest Rednour's Commissioning Ceremony on Nov. 8, 2018 in San Pedro, California. The presenter of the long glass for the Forrest Rednour's Commissioning is Chief Petty Officer who was the 2017 recipient of the Forrest O. Rednour Memorial Awards for Culinary Specialist of the Year. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class DaVonte' Marrow) The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Forrest Rednour (WPC-1129) stand along the deck of the Forrest Rednour as a Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco Forward Operating Base Point Mugu MH-65 Dolphin Helicopter performs a flyover during the commissioning ceremony in San Pedro, California, Nov. 8, 2018. The USCGC Forrest Rednour is the 29th Fast Response Cutter of 58 FRC's that the Coast Guards plans on building. Each of the 58 planned FRC's will be named after an enlisted hero. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class DaVonte' Marrow)

Editors’ Note: Click on images to download full-resolution version.

SAN PEDRO, Calif. — The Coast Guard commissioned the first California-based 154-foot Fast Response Cutter in San Pedro, Thursday.

The Coast Guard Cutter Forrest Rednour is the first of four Sentinel-Class Fast Response Cutters (FRC) to be homeported at Base Los Angeles-Long Beach.

 

Three additional FRCs are scheduled to be commissioned by summer of 2019. While these ships will be based in San Pedro, they will operate throughout the 11th Coast Guard District, which includes all of California and international waters off of Mexico and Central America.

 

“This cutter is specifically designed to face today’s threats in the maritime domain,” said. Rear Adm. Peter Gautier, the 11th Coast Guard District commander. “This cutter is faster, goes further and can do more than any other Coast Guard patrol boat.”

 

FRC’s are 154-foot multi-mission ships designed to conduct: drug and migrant interdictions; ports, waterways and coastal security operations; fisheries and environmental protection patrols; national defense missions; and search and rescue.

 

“This crew and I are truly honored and humbled to be assigned to serve as plank owners aboard this cutter named for a true Coast Guard hero,” said Lt. Graham Sherman, the Forrest Rednour commanding officer.

 

To date, the Coast Guard has accepted delivery of 31 FRCs. Each ship is designed for a crew of 24, has a range of 2,500 miles and is equipped for patrols up to five days. The FRCs are part of the Coast Guard’s overall fleet modernization initiative.

 

FRCs feature advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment as well as over-the-horizon response boat deployment capability and improved habitability for the crew. The ships can reach speeds of 28 knots and are equipped to coordinate operations with partner agencies and long-range Coast Guard assets such as the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutters.

 

FRCs are named in honor of Coast Guard enlisted leaders, trailblazers and heroes. The four California-based FRCs are scheduled to be:

 

  • Forrest Rednour (WPC-1129) – Rednour aided in the rescue of 133 people during the sinking of the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, Feb. 3, 1943. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his actions. Rednour lost his life in the sinking of the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba in June 1943.
  • Robert Ward (WPC-1130) – Ward operated beach-landing boats during the Normandy invasion. He landed his craft on the Cotentin Peninsula and rescued two stranded boat crews in the face of a heavily fortified enemy assault.
  • Terrell Horne III (WPC-1131) – Horne was murdered by suspected drug smugglers who intentionally rammed the boat he and fellow Coast Guardsmen were aboard during law enforcement operations near Santa Cruz Island off the Southern California coast in December 2012. Horne pushed one of his shipmates out of the way of the oncoming vessel attack and sustained fatal injuries.
  • Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132) – Bottoms was part the Coast Guard aircrew that rescued an Army aircrew from a downed B-17 off the west coast of Greenland in 1942. Bottoms and the pilot conducted the first landing of a cutter plane on an icecap and commenced a two-day rescue over a rugged arctic terrain that required multiple flights. During the second day of rescue operations, radio contact with Bottoms’ plane was lost and he was declared missing in action.

More information on Coast Guard FRCs can be found at: https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Assistant-Commandant-for-Acquisitions-CG-9/Programs/Surface-Programs/Fast-Response-Cutters/