USCGC Margaret Norvell, delivered to the USCG on March 21, 2013, and commissioned June 1, 2013. | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USCGC Margaret Norvell |
Namesake | Margaret Norvell |
Operator | United States Coast Guard |
Builder | Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana |
Launched | January 13, 2013 |
Acquired | March 21, 2013 [1] |
Commissioned | June 1, 2013 [2] |
Homeport | Miami, Florida |
Identification |
|
Motto | True steady unfailing |
Status | in active service |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Sentinel-class cutter |
Displacement | 353 long tons (359 t) |
Length | 46.8 m (154 ft) |
Beam | 8.11 m (26.6 ft) |
Depth | 2.9 m (9.5 ft) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) |
Range | 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) |
Endurance | 5 days |
Boats & landing craft carried | 1 × Cutter Boat – Over the Horizon RHIB |
Complement | 4 officers, 20 crew |
Sensors and processing systems | L-3 C4ISR suite |
Armament |
|
USCGC Margaret Norvell (WPC-1105) is the fifth Sentinel-class cutter, based at Miami, Florida. [3] [4] She was launched on January 13, 2012, and delivered to the Coast Guard on March 21, 2013. [1] [5] [6] [7] She was commissioned on June 1, 2013. [2] [8] [9] She was commissioned at Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, near where her namesake, Margaret Norvell, staffed a lighthouse for decades.
The Key News reported that Margaret Norvell was in Key West on April 2, 2013, finishing her outfitting. [10]
The Sentinel-class cutters were designed to replace the shorter 110-foot (34 m) Island-class patrol boats. [11] Margaret Norvell is armed with a remote-control 25 mm 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 originally deployed the Short Range Prosecutor rigid-hulled inflatable (SRP or RHIB) in rescues and interceptions. [12] The current outfit is the Cutter Boat - Over The Horizon (CB-OTH-IV), the same as deployed on the Reliance , Famous , and Legend classes of cutters. [13] 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. [14]
Margaret Norvell 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 an endurance of five days and a range of 2,950 nautical miles (3,390 mi; 5,460 km). [11]
In October 2013, while her crew were undergoing training in Key West, Margaret Norvell intercepted two individuals who were using jet-skis, out in the Gulf Stream, whose craft was equipped with GPS navigation devices, extra water and extra fuel. [15] The operators were stopped after a 45-minute chase, and were charged with "failure to heave to." The men were first seen heading south, and it was believed they were headed towards Cuba.
On December 6, 2015, the barge Columbia Elizabeth was proceeding to Puerto Rico with a cargo of shipping containers, when crew members noticed some were missing. [16] She was diverted to the Port of Palm Beach where it was determined 25 shipping containers were missing. Margaret Norvell, and other elements of the Coast Guard, were assigned to look for the missing containers. [17]
In January 2019, the Margaret Norvell was deployed to Puerto Rico for Operation Unified Resolve. During this deployment, the cutter interdicted $3 million worth of cocaine and apprehended 4 suspected smugglers. [18] [19]
From August to October, the Margaret Norvell conducted a 55-day patrol throughout the Southeastern United States. As Hurricane Dorian approached in late August and early September 2019, Margaret Norvell and other cutters pre-staged in Key West for post-storm operations. [20] Once the storm had passed, the Margaret Norvell conducted Task Force-Southeastern United States (TF-SEUS) offshore SAR and port security operations under the tactical control of USCGC Dauntless. [21] On September 29, 2019, the Margaret Norvell assisted the Motor Yacht Viking Lady, disabled and adrift 39 nautical miles north of Freeport, Bahamas. While towing the Viking Lady to commercial salvage near Fort Lauderdale, the seas began to increase due to the effects of Hurricane Lorenzo. [22] After sunset, one of the Viking Lady crew members fell overboard due to the seas, and a small boat crew from Margaret Norvell rescued the person in the water. After transferring the vessel to commercial salvage, the Margaret Norvell received two Haitian migrants for transfer to the Bahamian Immigration Department. [23] The next day, the Margaret Norvell assisted a Bahamian-flagged fishing vessel that was adrift south of Bimini. They towed the vessel near Bimini and transferred the tow to the Royal Bahamas Defense Force.
In November 2019, the Margaret Norvell and Kathleen Moore deployed in support of Commander, US Navy FOURTH Fleet for Operation Enduring Promise 2019. The two cutters provided waterborne force protection during the US Naval Hospital Ship Comfort's medical mission to Haiti. [24] [25] Later that month, Margaret Norvell and HMBS Cascarilla apprehended the F/V Gerchard II, a Dominican-flagged vessel illegally fishing in Bahamian waters with an estimated $250,000 of catch on board. [26] [27]
The vessel is named after Margaret Norvell, who served as a lighthouse keeper for the United States Lighthouse Service from 1891 to 1932. [28] [29] [30] [31]
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 66 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 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 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.
Margaret Norvell (1860-1934) was a lighthouse keeper, employed by the United States Lighthouse Service, a precursor agency to the United States Coast Guard. Norvell became a lighthouse keeper in 1891, and remained in that service for 41 years. Widows whose husbands were lighthouse keepers, who died in office, were allowed to hold positions as lighthouse keepers themselves. Norvell's husband drowned in the course of his duties. Norvell was credited with saving many lives, including by venturing out into storms in a rowboat to rescue stranded mariners.
Kathleen Moore, also known as Catherine Moore, Kathleen A. Moore, Kathleen Andre Moore, Kate Moore, and Catherine A. Moore, was a lighthouse keeper. She was employed by the United States Lighthouse Service, which was a precursor agency to the United States Coast Guard.
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 Charles Sexton (WPC-1108) is the eighth Sentinel-class cutter, and the second to be based in Key West, Florida. She was delivered to the United States Coast Guard for a final evaluation and shakedown on December 10, 2013, and the vessel was commissioned on March 8, 2014.
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 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 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.
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 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 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.
USCGC Bailey Barco (WPC-1122) is the United States Coast Guard's 22nd Sentinel-class cutter, and the second to be stationed in Alaska, where she was homeported at Coast Guard Base Ketchikan.
USCGC Benjamin Dailey (WPC-1123) was the United States Coast Guard's 23rd Sentinel-class cutter. She was the first cutter of her class stationed in the Coast Guard's Eight District, with a homeport in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
USCGC Joseph Gerczak (WPC-1126) is the 26th Sentinel-class cutter built for the United States Coast Guard. She is one of three Fast Response Cutters homeported in Honolulu, Hawaii.
USCGC William Sparling (WPC-1154) is the United States Coast Guard's 54th Sentinel-class cutter.
USCGC Harold Miller (WPC-1138) is the United States Coast Guard's 38th Sentinel-class cutter.
USCGC Glen Harris (WPC-1144) is the United States Coast Guard's 44th Sentinel-class cutter.
USCGC Edgar Culbertson (WPC-1137) is the United States Coast Guard's 37th Sentinel-class cutter, and the second of three to be homeported in Galveston, Texas.
The first six FRCs for District 7 will be homeported in Miami; the next six in Key West; and the remaining six in Puerto Rico.
The Coast Guard took delivery March 21, 2013 in Key West, Florida and is scheduled to commission the vessel in New Orleans, Louisiana in June, 2013.
Monday's announcement by Chris Bollinger, executive vice president of new construction, says the Margaret Norvell was delivered last week to the 7th Coast Guard District in Key West, Florida, and will be stationed at USCG Sector Miami. It will be commissioned in New Orleans in June.
The 154 foot patrol craft 'Margaret Norvell' is the fifth vessel in the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class FRC program. To build the FRC, Bollinger Shipyards used a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708.
The Miami-bound Margaret Norvell is in Key West right now being outfitted, Hagwood said.
They were stopped by the new fast-response cutter Margaret Norvell that is typically based in Miami, but has been in Key West training as the new ships continue to come online throughout the Coast Guard fleet in South Florida as well as nationwide.
As a member of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, she first served at the Head of Passes Light as an assistant keeper from 1891 to 1896. Her leadership did not go unnoticed and after Head of Passes she was appointed keeper of both the Port Pontchartrain Light from 1896 to 1924 and the West End Light where she served from 1924 to 1932.
Thus Margaret Norvell became a lighthouse keeper in 1891. In 1896, she was reassigned to be the keeper of the Port Pontchartrain Light Station on Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana at the treacherous mouth of the Mississippi River. And for the next 36 years, she handled the job of keeper and was credited with rescuing many shipwrecked sailors.