Acquired December 10, 2013 Homeport Key West, Florida Length 47 m | Namesake Charles Sexton Commissioned March 8, 2014 Launched 10 December 2013 | |
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Builder Bollinger Shipyards, L.L.C. | ||
USCGC Charles W. Sexton is the eighth Sentinel-class cutter, and the second to be based in Key West, Florida. She was delivered to the United States Coast Guard for a final evaluation and shakedown on December 10, 2013, and the vessel was commissioned on March 8, 2014.
Contents
Design
The Sentinel-class cutters were designed to replace the shorter 110-foot (34 m) Island-class patrol boats. Charles Sexton is with a remote-control 25 mm (0.98 in) Bushmaster autocannon and four, crew-served M2HB .50-caliber machine guns. It has a bow thruster for maneuvering in crowded anchorages and channels. It also has small underwater fins for coping with the rolling and pitching caused by large waves. It are equipped with a stern launching ramp, like the Marine Protector-class and the eight failed expanded Island-class cutters. It has a complement of twenty-two crew members. Like the Marine Protector class, and the cancelled extended Island-class cutters, the Sentinel-class cutters deploy the Short Range Prosecutor rigid-hulled inflatable (SRP or RHIB) in 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 knots (43 to 52 km/h; 26 to 32 mph), fixed-pitch rather than variable-pitch propellers, stern launch capability, and watertight bulkheads.
Charles Sexton has an overall length of 153 feet 6 inches (46.79 m), a beam of 25 feet (7.6 m), and a displacement of 325 long tons (330 t; 364 short tons). Its draft is 9 feet 6 inches (2.90 m) and it has a maximum speed of over 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph). The Sentinel-class cutters have endurances of five days and a range of 2,950 nautical miles (3,390 mi; 5,460 km).
Operational career
Charles Sexton joined in the search for the freighter El Faro, that disappeared during an October 2015 Hurricane Joaquin. The cutter intercepted 39 Cuban refugees, for return to Cuba, in November 2015. Three separate refugee craft were intercepted.
Namesake
The vessel is named after Charles Sexton, who served as a Machinery Technician in the United States Coast Guard. Sexton lost his life while rescuing fishermen off the mouth of the Columbia River.