Bollinger Shipyards built the new 154-foot Fast Response Cutter (FRC) Sentinel-class vessel which was delivered in February.
Constructed to replace the 110-foot patrol boats on the service, FRCs have a flank speed of 28 knots, state-of-the-art command, control , communications and computer technology, and a stern launch system for the 26-foot cutter boat on the vessel.
The FRC has been described by senior Coast Guard officials as an operational "game changer" and has been deployed from homeport as far as 4,400 nautical miles, demonstrating the increased operational scope and capability of the FRC.
The patrol area of Coast Guard Cutter Edgar Culbertson will cover 900 miles of coastline for the Eighth District of the Coast Guard, from Carrabelle, Fla., to Brownsville, Texas.
Each FRC is named after a hero enlisted to the Coast Guard. The cutter's namesake, Edgar Culbertson, was a 1st-class Coast Guard petty officer and Coast Guard Medal recipient who died April 30, 1967 while attempting to rescue three brothers during a storm in Duluth, Minn. He was a 31-year-old Ferndale native, a Korean War veteran who had served in the Coast Guard since 1952.
Maritime Business World