USCGC Charles Sexton

Last updated
Newly delivered USCGC Charles Sexton, underway.jpg
Charles Sexton, underway.
History
Flag of the United States Coast Guard.svgUnited States
NameCharles Sexton
Namesake Charles W. Sexton
Operator United States Coast Guard
Builder Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana
LaunchedDecember 10, 2013
AcquiredDecember 10, 2013 [1]
CommissionedMarch 8, 2014 [2]
Homeport Key West, Florida
Identification
MottoSacrifice through service
Statusin active service
Badge USCGC Charles Sexton (WPC 1108) CoA.jpg
General characteristics
Class and type Sentinel-class cutter
Displacement353 long tons (359  t)
Length46.8 m (154 ft)
Beam8.11 m (26.6 ft)
Depth2.9 m (9.5 ft)
Propulsion
  • 2 × 4,300 kW (5,800 shp)
  • 1 × 75 kW (101 shp) bow thruster
Speed28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Range2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km; 2,900 mi)
Endurance5 days
Boats & landing
craft carried		1 × Short Range Prosecutor RHIB
Complement2 officers, 20 crew
Sensors and
processing systems		L-3 C4ISR suite
Armament

USCGC Charles Sexton (WPC-1108) is the eighth Sentinel-class cutter, and the second to be based in Key West, Florida. [3] [4] She was delivered to the United States Coast Guard for a final evaluation and shakedown on December 10, 2013, [1] and the vessel was commissioned on March 8, 2014. [2]

Contents

Design

The Sentinel-class cutters were designed to replace the shorter 110-foot (34 m) Island-class patrol boats. [5] Charles Sexton is armed with a remote-control 25 mm (0.98 in) Bushmaster autocannon and four crew-served M2HB .50-caliber machine guns. She has a bow thruster for maneuvering in crowded anchorages and channels. She also has small underwater fins for coping with the rolling and pitching caused by large waves. She is equipped with a stern launching ramp, like the Marine Protector-class and the eight failed expanded Island-class cutters. She has a complement of twenty-two crew members. Like the Marine Protector class, and the cancelled extended Island-class cutters, the Sentinel-class cutters deploy the Short Range Prosecutor rigid-hulled inflatable (SRP or RHIB) in rescues and interceptions. [6] According to Marine Log , modifications to the Coast Guard vessels from the Stan 4708 design include an increase in speed from 23 to 28 knots (43 to 52 km/h; 26 to 32 mph), fixed-pitch rather than variable-pitch propellers, stern launch capability, and watertight bulkheads. [7]

Charles Sexton has an overall length of 153 feet 6 inches (46.79 m), a beam of 25 feet (7.6 m), and a displacement of 325 long tons (330 t; 364 short tons). Her draft is 9 feet 6 inches (2.90 m) and she has a maximum speed of over 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph). The Sentinel-class cutters have endurances of five days and a range of 2,950 nautical miles (3,390 mi; 5,460 km). [5]

Operational career

Crew of the USCGC Charles Sexton intercepts undocumented migrants. Crew of the USCGC Charles Sexton intercepts undocumented migrants (cropped).jpg
Crew of the USCGC Charles Sexton intercepts undocumented migrants.

On May 21, 2015, the Charles Sexton intercepted 117 undocumented migrants from the Dominican Republic from a dangerously overloaded boat. [8] 93 men and 24 women were repatriated home.

Charles Sexton joined in the search for the freighter El Faro, which disappeared during an October 2015 Hurricane Joaquin. [9]

The cutter intercepted 39 Cuban refugees, for return to Cuba, in November 2015. [10] Three separate refugee craft were intercepted.

In November, 2018, the Charles Sexton, and her sister ship, the William Trump, interdicted 36 Cuban migrants, and repatriated 35 of them to Cabañas, Cuba. [11] One migrant seemed to suffer from respiratory arrest. The onboard EMT treated the victim, who was then sent to a US port for further medical treatment.

Namesake

The vessel is named after Charles W. Sexton, who served as a Machinery Technician in the United States Coast Guard. [12] [13] [14] Sexton lost his life while rescuing fishermen off the mouth of the Columbia River.

Related Research Articles

Sentinel-class cutter United States Coast Guard cutter class

The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as the Fast Response Cutter due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. At 154 feet (46.8 m), it is similar to, but larger than, the 123-foot (37 m) lengthened 1980s-era Island-class patrol boats that it replaces. Up to 58 vessels are to be built by the Louisiana-based firm Bollinger Shipyards, using a design from the Netherlands-based Damen Group, with the Sentinel design based on the company's Damen Stan 4708 patrol vessel. The Department of Homeland Security's budget proposal to Congress, for the Coast Guard, for 2021, stated that, in addition to 58 vessels to serve the Continental US, they requested an additional six vessels for its portion of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia.

USCGC <i>Knight Island</i>

USCGC Knight Island (WPB-1348) receives her namesake from the Knight Island in the Prince William Sounds of Alaska. Knight Island was commissioned on April 22, 1992, at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana. Knight Island and the other 48 Island class cutter’s construction are based on the internationally known Vosper-Thornycroft design. Her hull is a semi-displacement type monohull made of high strength steel, while the main deck and superstructure are aluminum. Knight Island employs an active fin stabilization system to improve her sea keeping abilities. With a top speed in excess of 30 knots and a cruising speed of 26 knots, the ship is capable of enduring unsupported operations for six days and accommodates two officers and sixteen enlisted personnel.

USCGC <i>Bernard C. Webber</i>

USCGC Bernard C. Webber (WPC-1101) is the first of the United States Coast Guard's 58 Sentinel-class cutters. Like most of her sister ships, she replaced a 110-foot (34 m) Island-class patrol boat. Bernard C. Webber, and the next five vessels in the class, Richard Etheridge, William Flores, Robert Yered, Margaret Norvell, and Paul Clark, are all based in Miami, Florida.

USCGC <i>Richard Etheridge</i>

USCGC Richard Etheridge is the second of the United States Coast Guard's Sentinel-class cutters. Like most of her sister ships she replaced a 110-foot (34 m) Island-class patrol boat. Richard Etheridge was launched in August 2011.

USCGC <i>Robert Yered</i> US Coast Guard cutter

USCGC Robert Yered (WPC-1104) is a Sentinel-class cutter based in Miami, Florida. She was launched on November 23, 2012, and was commissioned on February 15, 2012. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Congressional Representative for the district containing the vessel's base, met the ship when she arrived in Miami on January 27, 2013.

USCGC <i>Margaret Norvell</i>

USCGC Margaret Norvell (WPC-1105) is the fifth Sentinel-class cutter, based at Miami, Florida. She was launched on January 13, 2012, and delivered to the Coast Guard on March 21, 2013. She was commissioned on June 1, 2013. She was commissioned at Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, near where her namesake, Margaret Norvell, staffed a lighthouse for decades.

USCGC <i>Paul Clark</i> American Sentinel-class cutter

USCGC Paul Clark (WPC-1106) is the sixth Sentinel-class cutter. Like the previous five vessels of her class she is homeported in Miami, Florida. She was delivered to the Coast Guard, for testing, on May 18, 2013.

USCGC <i>Charles David Jr.</i>

USCGC Charles David Jr is the seventh Sentinel-class cutter. Upon her commissioning she was assigned to serve in Key West, Florida, as the first of six vessels to be based there. She was delivered to the Coast Guard, for testing, on August 17, 2013. She was officially commissioned on November 16, 2013.

USCGC <i>Kathleen Moore</i> United States Coast Guard vessel

USCGC Kathleen Moore is the ninth Sentinel-class cutter by Bollinger shipyards delivered to the United States Coast Guard. She was delivered to the Coast Guard, for pre-commissioning testing, on 28 March 2014.

USCGC <i>Raymond Evans</i>

USCGC Raymond Evans is the tenth vessel in the United States Coast Guard's Sentinel-class cutter. All the vessels are named after members of the Coast Guard, or its precursor services, who are remembered for their heroism. Names had already been assigned for the first fourteen vessels, when Commander Raymond Evans died, and the USCG Commandant announced that the next Sentinel class cutter would be named after him. Joseph Napier, who was originally scheduled to be the namesake of the tenth vessel, had his name moved to the beginning of the second list of heroes names, and will now be the namesake of the fifteenth vessel.

USCGC <i>William Trump</i> US Coast Guard Sentinel-class cutter

USCGC William Trump (WPC-1111) is a Sentinel-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. When it was delivered to the Coast Guard, on November 25, 2014, it was the eleventh vessel, of its class, and the fifth vessel based in the Coast Guard's station in Key West, Florida.

USCGC <i>Joseph Napier</i>

USCGC Joseph Napier is a Sentinel-class cutter homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is the fifteenth Sentinel class to be delivered, and the third of six to be assigned to Puerto Rico. she was commissioned on 29 January 2016.

USCGC <i>Isaac Mayo</i>

USCGC Isaac Mayo is a Sentinel-class cutter homeported in Key West, Florida. She is the twelfth Sentinel class to be delivered, and the sixth of six to be assigned to Key West.

USCGC <i>Winslow Griesser</i>

USCGC Winslow Griesser (WPC-1116) was the sixteenth Sentinel-class cutter to be delivered. She is the fourth of six Sentinel-class vessels to be stationed in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Bollinger shipyards delivered her to the United States Coast Guard, in Key West, Florida, on December 23, 2015. After she completed her acceptance trials, she was commissioned on March 11, 2016.

USCGC <i>Richard Dixon</i>

USCGC Richard Dixon is the United States Coast Guard's thirteenth Sentinel-class cutter, commissioned in Tampa, Florida, on June 20, 2015. She arrived in her home port of San Juan, Puerto Rico on June 24, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winslow W. Griesser</span> US life-saving station keeper (1856–1931)

Winslow W. Griesser (1856–1931) was a station keeper in the United States Life-Saving Service, one of the agencies that were merged to form the United States Coast Guard. In 2016 the Coast Guard honored him by naming one of its new Sentinel-class cutters, USCGC Winslow W. Griesser, after him.

USCGC <i>Lawrence O. Lawson</i>

USCGC Lawrence Lawson is the 20th Sentinel-class cutter to be delivered to the United States Coast Guard. She was built at Bollinger Shipyards, in Lockport, Louisiana, and delivered to the Coast Guard, for her sea trials, on October 20, 2016. She was commissioned on March 18, 2017. She is the second cutter of her class to be the homeported at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, and also the second to be stationed outside of the Caribbean.

USCGC <i>Rollin A. Fritch</i>

USCGC Rollin Fritch is the US Coast Guard's 19th Sentinel-class cutter, and the first to be homeported outside of the Caribbean. She is based at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey.

Coast Guard Station Key West is the most southerly Coast Guard Station in Florida and the fairest of them all.

USCGC <i>Daniel Tarr</i>

USCGC Daniel Tarr (WPC-1136) is the United States Coast Guard's 36th Sentinel-class cutter, and the first of three to be homeported in Galveston, Texas.

References

  1. 1 2 "Acquisition Update: Eighth Fast Response Cutter Delivered to the Coast Guard" (Press release). United States Coast Guard. 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  2. 1 2 "Coast Guard Coast Guard to commission Key West's second fast response cutter". Coast Guard News. 2014-03-07. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
  3. ↑ Jed Lipinski (2013-12-10). "Bollinger delivers eighth Fast-Response Cutter to U.S. Coast Guard". Lockport, Louisiana: New Orleans Times Picayune. Archived from the original on 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2013-12-11. The vessel was delivered to the 7th Coast Guard District in Key West, Fla., where the Coast Guard expects to commission it in March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Coast Guard's Eighth FRC Enters Service". Marine Link. 2014-03-14. Archived from the original on 2014-03-15. Coast Guard Cutter Charles Sexton was commissioned into service March 8 at Coast Guard Sector Key West, Fla. The Sexton is the second of six Fast Response Cutters to be homeported in Key West, and the eighth vessel to be delivered through the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class FRC recapitalization project.
  5. 1 2 "Fast Response Cutter" (PDF). United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Short Range Prosecutor (SRP)". Integrated Deepwater System Program . Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  7. ↑ "Bollinger awarded potential $1.5 billion FRC contract". Marine Log. 2009-09-26. Archived from the original on 2010-01-04.
  8. ↑ "117 Dominicans rescued by Coast Guard Cutter Charles Sexton". Coast Guard News . 2015-05-21. Retrieved 2018-12-10. Sector San Juan watchstanders diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Charles Sexton who arrived on scene and safely embarked the 117 persons with no reported health concerns. The 93 males and 24 females were repatriated to La Romana Cruise Port, Dominican Republic, at approximately 8 a.m. Thursday.
  9. ↑ "Keys-based Coast Guard cutter joined search for 'El Faro'". Keysnet. 2015-10-10.
  10. ↑ "Cutter Charles Sexton Repatriates 39 Cuban Migrants". Military Daily. 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-11-20. This repatriation is a result of three separate interdictions at sea in the south Florida Straits. These were interdictions of Cuban nationals attempting to illegally enter the United States on unseaworthy vessels commonly referred to as "rustics" or "chugs."
  11. ↑ "U.S. Coast Guard Cutter William Trump Crew Interdicted Overloaded Vessel, Repatriates 36 Cuban Migrants". Space Coast Daily . 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2018-11-14. The airplane crew located the migrant vessel and the cutter Charles Sexton crew safely embarked the 29 Cuban males and eight Cuban females.
  12. ↑ Connie Braesch (2010-11-04). "Coast Guard Heroes: Charles Walter David Jr". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2012-09-03. Many of the Coast Guard's heroes fought in wars abroad or found themselves under enemy fire in foreign countries. But, Charles W. Sexton found himself faced with danger in the course of his everyday duties at Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment. Sexton, a machinery technician, was rescuing four fishermen in peril when the seas tragically took him.
  13. ↑ Stephanie Young (2010-10-27). "Coast Guard Heroes". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  14. ↑ "Who are some of the heroes of the Coast Guard?". USCG. 2012-12-03. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2013-01-10. His award citation stated: "Petty Officer SEXTON is cited for extraordinary heroism on 11 January 1991 while serving as emergency medical technician aboard Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-44381.
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