Sentinel-class cutter

The Sentinel-class cutter, previously known as the Fast Response Cutter, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. At 46.8 m it is similar to, but larger than the 123 ft extended s, like the USCGC Matagorda (WPB-1303). 24 to 58 vessels are to be built by the Louisiana based firm Bollinger shipyards, using a design from the Netherlands-based Damen Group, with the Sentinel design based on the company's Damen Stan 4708 patrol vessel.

Planning and acquisition
On March 14, 2007, Commandant Thad Allen announced that they had withdrawn from a contract for the construction of the vessels, but had not entirely cancelled the program. The new program would focus more on "off-the-shelf" technology.

On September 26, 2008, Bollinger Shipyards was awarded US$88 million to build a prototype. The cutter will be the first of a series of 24-34 43 m cutters built to a design largely based on the Stan 4708 patrol vessels from the Netherlands firm the Damen Group. The South African government employs similar vessels for environmental and fishery patrol. The first cutter will be named USCGC Bernard C. Webber (WPC-1101), and all future Sentinel class will be named after enlisted Coast Guard heroes. Bernard C. Webber will be stationed in Miami. Bernard C. Webber was launched on Thursday, April 21, 2011, and commissioned on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Port of Miami.

On September 26, 2013 Marine Link reported that the Coast Guard had placed orders for additional cutters, bringing the number of cutters ordered so far to thirty.

Design and construction
The vessels are armed with a remote-control 25 mm Bushmaster autocannon and four, crew-served M2HB .50-caliber machine guns. They have a bow thruster for maneuvering in crowded anchorages and channels. They also have small underwater fins, for coping with the rolling and pitching caused by large waves. They are equipped with a stern launching ramp, like the and the eight failed expanded Island-class cutters. They are manned by a crew of 22. Like the Marine Protector class, and the cancelled extended Island-class cutters, the Fast Response Cutter would deploy the Short Range Prosecutor Rigid-hulled inflatable (SRP or RHIB) for rescues and interceptions. According to Marine Log, modifications to the Coast Guard vessels from the Stan 4708 design include an increase in speed from 23 to 28 kn, fixed pitch rather than variable pitch propellers, stern launch capability, and watertight bulkheads.

On February 7, 2013, the Department of Homeland Security requested tenders from third party firms to independently inspect the cutters, during their construction, and their performance trials.

Ships
On October 27, the Coast Guard released the names of the first 14 Coast Guard enlisted heroes for whom the Sentinel-class FRCs will be named.

Six vessel are budgeted to be procured in 2013.

Namesakes
Charles "Skip" W. Bowen, who was then the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard, is credited with leading the initiative of naming the vessels after enlisted individuals who served heroically in the Coast Guard, or one of its precursor services. Originally the first vessel of the class was to be named the USCGC Sentinel.

In October 2010 the Coast Guard named the first fourteen individuals the vessel will be named after, and has provided biographies of them. They are: Bernard C. Webber, Richard Etheridge, William Flores, Robert Yered, Margaret Norvell, Paul Clark, Charles David, Charles Sexton, Kathleen Moore, Joseph Napier, William Trump, Isaac Mayo, Richard Dixon, Heriberto Hernandez.