The US Coast Guard’s 27th fast response cutter (FRC), Richard Snyder, arrived at its new homeport in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, on March 21.
Richard Snyder is the first of its class to be homeported in Atlantic Beach.
The FRC was buuilt by Bollinger Shipyards and received by the US Coast Guard in Key West, Florida, on February 8.
Richard Snyder is scheduled to be commissioned in April.
Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Richard T. Snyder, the cutter’s namesake, was awarded a Silver Star for eliminating enemy resistance to an amphibious assault on the island of Biak, part of Papua New Guinea, in 1944.
The FRCs are replacing the 1980s-era 110-foot patrol boats and feature advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment. The cutters have improved habitability and seakeeping and over-the-horizon cutter boat launch and recovery from astern or via side davits. Each FRC is 154 feet long, features an endurance of five days and can reach a maximum speed of over 28 knots.
The Coast Guard has ordered 44 of the 58 FRCs planned. Twenty-five are in service: 12 in Florida, six in Puerto Rico, two in Alaska, two in New Jersey, one in Mississippi and two in Hawaii. The FRC is complemented operationally by the offshore patrol cutter’s extended range and endurance, and the national security cutter’s offshore command and control capabilities.