Long Beach Harbor will be the Homeport of four, US Coast Guard Fast Response Cutters

The Coast Guard Cutter Forrest Rednour is scheduled to be commissioned in San Pedro on November 8th 2018, says the US Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles. The USCG press release follows:

The Forrest Rednour is the first of four new Sentinel-Class fast response cutters expected to be homeported at Terminal Island in San Pedro, which is located in the Coast Guard's Eleventh District.

The remaining FRCs are scheduled to be commissioned by summer of 2019 with commissioning ceremonies taking place in the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles-Long Beach, and San Diego.

The 154-foot FRC is a new Coast Guard patrol boat capable of deploying independently to conduct missions that include port, waterways and coastal security; fishery patrols; search-and-rescue; and national defense.

They are replacing the aging Island-class 110-foot patrol boats.

The Sentinel Class patrol boat project will deliver vital capability to the Coast Guard, helping to meet the service's need for additional patrol boats.

They feature advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment;

over-the-horizon cutter boat deployment capability,and improved habitability.

The ships can reach speeds of at least 28 knots and have an endurance of five days. The cutters are complemented operationally by the offshore capabilities of the

national security cutters and by the extended range and endurance of the offshore patrol cutters.

FRCs will bear the names of enlisted leaders, trailblazers and heroes of the Coast Guard. These enlisted namesakes include recipients of the Navy Cross Medal, Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Gold Lifesaving Medal, Silver Lifesaving Medal, Navy & Marine Corps Medal and Purple Heart Medal.

Forrest Rednour earned the Purple Heart and Navy and Marine Corps Medal for aiding in the rescue of 133 people during the sinking of the U.S.A.T. Dorchester on February 3, 1943. Rednour lost his own life in the sinking of the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba in June 1943.

Robert Ward earned the Silver Star during landing operations in Normandy. Ward landed his craft on the Cotentin Peninsula rescued two stranded landing crews

in the face of a heavily fortified enemy assault.

Terrell Horne earned the Coast Guard medal for action taken during an attempt to interdict a vessel suspected of smuggling narcotics on December 2, 2012.

Attempting to evade apprehension, the suspect vessel turned hard into Horne's boat. With collision imminent, Horne pushed the helmsman out of the way

of the oncoming vessel and sustained fatal injuries.

The Eleventh Coast Guard District encompasses the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, the coastal and offshore waters out to a thousand miles,

and the offshore waters of Mexico and Central America down to South America, covering over 3.3 million square miles of water.