U.S. Coast Guard Takes Delivery Of 62nd Fast Response Cutter Honouring 9/11 Hero Vincent Danz

The U.S. Coast Guard has accepted delivery of its 62nd Fast Response Cutter (FRC), USCGC Vincent Danz (WPC 1162), in Key West.

The vessel will be homeported in Guam. It is named after Vincent Danz, a New York City police officer and Coast Guard reservist who lost his life responding to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

USCGC Vincent Danz becomes the fourth Sentinel-class FRC assigned to Guam.

The vessel will support maritime security missions across Micronesia and neighboring Pacific waters. Its deployment enhances U.S. presence in one of the world’s largest and most strategically important maritime regions.

The Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters are designed to replace the 1980s-era Island-class 110-foot patrol boats.

These modern cutters are equipped with advanced 21st-century command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C5ISR) systems.

They offer improved seakeeping, endurance, and crew habitability.

The Coast Guard has ordered a total of 77 FRCs. These vessels perform a wide range of missions, including:

• Countering illegal fishing and maritime smuggling
• Search and rescue operations
• Bilateral and multilateral international patrols
• Protection of ports, waterways, and coastal infrastructure

Currently, 61 FRCs are in active service across the United States and overseas locations, including Florida (13), Puerto Rico (7), Bahrain (6), Massachusetts (6), Alaska (5), California (4), Guam (3), Hawaii (3), Texas (3), New Jersey (3), Mississippi (3), North Carolina (2), and Oregon (2).

Each Fast Response Cutter is named after an enlisted Coast Guard hero who demonstrated extraordinary service.

Vincent Danz served as a New York City police officer and Coast Guard reservist. He was assigned to the New York City Police Department’s Emergency Services Unit, Truck 3, and responded to the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. He was killed when the towers collapsed.

Danz was also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He joined the New York City Police Department in 1987 and continued serving in the Coast Guard Reserve as a Port Security Specialist Second Class. He was posthumously awarded the NYPD Medal of Honor.

Petty Officer David Somera, part of the commissioning crew, stated that bringing a new cutter into service requires building not only operational readiness but also a unified team prepared to protect the people of Guam and the Pacific.

The addition of Vincent Danz strengthens Guam’s FRC fleet, which already includes USCGC Myrtle Hazard (WPC 1139), USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC 1140), and USCGC Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143), all commissioned in 2021.

Since their commissioning, Guam-based cutters have conducted joint patrols with Papua New Guinea, operationalised bilateral maritime law enforcement agreements, supported humanitarian missions during drought conditions in Yap, rescued mariners in the Federated States of Micronesia, and carried out port visits across the Pacific, including Tacloban in the Philippines during the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

The cutters have also conducted maritime security patrols in the Marianas, countered illegal fishing, suppressed irregular migration, and delivered critical supplies to island communities.

Reference: USCG

Source: Maritime Shipping News