The commissioning ceremony for the U.S. Coast Guard’s newest cutter took place in a fitting location: New York Harbour.
USCGC Vincent Danz has been named after a police officer who died trying to help others when the World Trade Center collapsed in the 9/11 terror attack in 2001.
Members of the Danz family, including Vincent’s widow Ms. Angela Donohue, were in attendance at last week’s commissioning ceremony for the new ship, as per a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) press statement.
“Vincent Danz’s legacy will live on not only through his family and his brothers and sisters in the NYPD, but through the Coast Guard crew who will breathe life into this cutter today,” said Adm. Tom Allan at the ceremony.
“The Coast Guard Cutter Vincent Danz will perform the Coast Guard’s vital work across Oceania — projecting U.S. presence, countering illicit maritime activity, and strengthening our international partnerships.”
The new USCG vessel will be based in Guam, a U.S. territory and the largest and southernmost island of the Mariana Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean.
USCGC Vincent Danz is the 62nd Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter (FRC) in the service and the fourth of five FRCs destined to operate out of Guam, covering the Micronesian region.
The three other FRCs, commissioned in Guam in 2021 and already in service, most recently provided disaster response assistance in the wake of Super Typhoon Sinlaku, which wreaked havoc across the Marianas last month.
The U.S. Coast Guard ordered a series of new FRCs in a $13bn programme — including $1bn for additional boats — to replace the 1980s-era Island-class 110-foot patrol vessels.
As per the USCG: “The FRCs feature advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance equipment, as well as over-the-horizon cutter boat deployment capability, enhancing the Service’s ability to control, secure, and defend U.S. borders and maritime approaches.”
- You can read more details on the U.S. Coast Guard website