Bollinger delivers fast response cutter to Coast Guard

Bollinger Shipyards has delivered the USCGC Rollin Fritch, the 19th fast response cutter to the U.S. Coast Guard.
“This vessel represents over 30 years of continuous improvement as we have built the Coast Guard’s entire patrol boat-patrol cutter fleet,” said Ben Bordelon, Bollinger president and CEO. “We are very proud of the fact that the FRCs already in commission have seized multiple tons of narcotics, interdicted thousands of illegal aliens and saved many lives.”
The 154-foot patrol craft is the 19th vessel in the Coast Guard’s Sentinel-class FRC program. All previous cutters have been stationed in the 7th Coast Guard District in Florida or San Juan, Puerto Rico.. The decision to homeport the Rollin Fritch in Cape May, New Jersey, is significant because it expands the footprint of FRC operations beyond the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Eventually FRCs will be stationed in virtually every coastal state, Bollinger said.
To build the FRC, Bollinger used a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708. It has a flank speed of 28 knots, state of the art command, control, communications and computer technology, and a stern launch system for the vessel’s 26 foot cutter boat.
The Coast Guard took delivery Tuesday in Key West, Florida, and is scheduled to commission the vessel in Cape May in November.
This vessel is named after Coast Guard hero Rollin Fritch, who was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his heroic efforts in defending the USS Callaway during Japanese kamikaze attacks in the Philippine Islands in 1945.
Bollinger Shipyards LLC (www.bollingershipyards.com) is a leading designer and builder of fast military patrol boats, ocean-going double hull barges, offshore oil field support vessels, tug boats, rigs, liftboats, inland waterways push boats, barges, and other steel and aluminum products from its new construction shipyards. Bollinger has 10 shipyards and all are strategically located throughout Louisiana with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi River and the Intracoastal Waterway. Bollinger is the largest vessel repair company in the Gulf of Mexico region with a total of 25 dry-docks.