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14 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News The Coast Guard awarded a $166.1m contract option to Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, La., on September 14 to begin production of four Sentinel-class Fast Re- sponse Cutters (FRCs). This option award brings the total number of FRCs under contract with Bollinger to eight with a current contract value of $410.7m. The current FRC contract contains op- tions for up to 34 cutters and is worth up to $1.5b, if all options are exercised. In September 2008, the Coast Guard awarded Bollinger an $88m production contract for the lead FRC. That ship, named the Bernard C. Webber, is ap- proximately 70% complete and expected to be delivered to the Coast Guard in the third quarter of fiscal year 2011. The Bernard C. Webber will be homeported in Miami, Fla., supporting vital law en- forcement and national security missions throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. This first contract option, for construction of three more FRCs, was awarded to Bollinger in December 2009; those ships are currently under construc- tion at Bollinger’s shipbuilding facility in Lockport. The second FRC is approxi- mately 40% complete; FRCs three and four are 15% and 1% complete, respec- tively. The Sentinel-class will eventually replace the Coast Guard’s Island-class 110-ft patrol boat. The FRC uses a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol 4708. It has a required flank speed of 28 knots and will be armed with one stabilized, re- motely-operated 25mm chain gun and four crew-served .50 caliber machine guns. Other requirements include the ability to perform independently for a minimum of five days at sea and capable of underway operations for a minimum of 2,500 hours per year. The cutter will meet ABS design, build and class stan- dards. The Coast Guard plans to build 58 FRCs. Multraship Takes New Damen Tug Multraship strengthened its fleet of spe- cialist tugs and multi-purpose vessels with the addition of the Damen new- building ASD 3213 tug Multratug 3. On September 30, the vessel embarked on its delivery voyage from Vietnam, where it was built by Damen Shipyards, to Terneuzen, Multraship’s home port in The Netherlands. NEWS USCG Sentinel-Class Cutter Contract Option Win U.S.Coast Guar d Photo
