USCGC Charles Sexton (WPC-1108)

The Charles Sexton, underway.
History
Name: USCGC Charles W. Sexton (WPC-1108)
Namesake: Charles Sexton
Operator: United States Coast Guard
Builder: Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana
Homeport: Key West, Florida
General characteristics
Class & 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:
  • 2 × 4,300 kilowatts (5,800 shp)
  • 1 × 75 kilowatts (101 shp) bow thruster
Speed: 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Endurance:
  • 5 days, 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km; 2,900 mi)
  • Designed to be on patrol 2,500 hours per year
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 1 × Short Range Prosecutor RHIB
Complement: 2 officers, 20 crew
Sensors and
processing systems:		 L-3 C4ISR suite
Armament:

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

Design

The Sentinel-class cutters were designed to replace the shorter 110 feet (34 m) Island-class patrol boats.[3] Charles Sexton is with a remote-control 25 mm Bushmaster autocannon and four, crew-served M2HB .50-caliber machine guns. It has a bow thruster for maneuvering in crowded anchorages and channels. It also has small underwater fins for coping with the rolling and pitching caused by large waves. It are equipped with a stern launching ramp, like the Marine Protector-class and the eight failed expanded Island-class cutters. It 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.[4] 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.[5]

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). Its draft is 9 feet 6 inches (2.90 m) and it 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).[3]

Operational career

The Charles Sexton joined in the search for the freighter El Faro, that disappeared during an October 2015 Hurricane Joaquin.[6]

The Charles Sexton intercepted 39 Cuban refugees, for return to Cuba, in November 2015.[7] Three separate refugee craft were intercepted.

Namesake

The vessel is named after Charles Sexton, who served as a Machinery Technician in the United States Coast Guard.[8][9][10] Sexton lost his life while rescuing fishermen off the mouth of the Columbia River.

References

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ "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.
  3. 1 2 "Fast Response Cutter" (PDF). United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "Short Range Prosecutor (SRP)". Integrated Deepwater System Program. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  5. ↑ "Bollinger awarded potential $1.5 billion FRC contract". Marine Log. 2009-09-26. Archived from the original on 2009-10-10.
  6. ↑ "Keys-based Coast Guard cutter joined search for 'El Faro'". Keysnet. 2015-10-10.
  7. ↑ "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."
  8. ↑ Connie Braesch (2010-11-04). "Coast Guard Heroes: Charles Walter David Jr.". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2013-01-04. 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.
  9. ↑ Stephanie Young (2010-10-27). "Coast Guard Heroes". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  10. ↑ "Who are some of the heroes of the Coast Guard?". USCG. 2012-12-03. 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.

External links

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