U.S. Coast Guard Commissions 62nd Fast Response Cutter Honoring 9/11 Hero
[By U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia]
The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned its newest Fast Response Cutter, USCGC Vincent Danz (WPC 1162), for official entry into its service fleet during a ceremony held in New York City on Friday.
The Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard, Vice Adm. Thomas Allan, presided over the ceremony. Members of the Danz family were also in attendance, including the cutter's sponsor, Ms. Angela Donohue, widow of the late Vincent Danz.
“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. “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 Vincent Danz is the 62nd Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter in the service and the fourth of five FRCs to be homeported in Guam with U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam. The crew of the Vincent Danz will primarily serve U.S. and mutual interests in Oceania with an emphasis on the Micronesia and Melanesian sub-regions, conducting maritime security operations, combating illegal activity, supporting search and rescue missions, and strengthening partnerships with Pacific Island nations and Allies. The cutter is a multi-mission platform.
The cutter’s namesake, Vincent Danz, was serving in the New York City Police Department, Emergency Services Unit, ESU Truck 3, when he responded to the World Trade Center as part of a massive emergency response and was killed when the World Trade Center collapsed. He was posthumously awarded the New York City Police Department’s Medal of Honor for his heroic deeds. He was a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and joined the New York City Police Department in 1987, while continuing to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as a Port Security Specialist 2nd Class.
As a U.S. Coast Guard reservist, Danz understood the meaning of service to country and community. His courage in the face of unimaginable danger and his dedication to saving others made him a hero not only to New York City but to the nation. This cutter honors his memory and the legacy of all first responders who gave their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Vincent Danz will join the Myrtle Hazard (WPC 1139), Oliver Henry (WPC 1140), and Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143), all of which were commissioned in Guam. Since their 2021 commissioning, Guam's FRC crews have distinguished themselves across the region, most recently responding to the impacts of Super Typhoon Sinlaku on communities in the Marianas. USCGC Myrtle Hazard’s crew became the first to operationalize the bilateral maritime law enforcement agreement with Papua New Guinea, conducting joint patrols and boardings in 2023. USCGC Oliver Henry’s crew saved around a dozen mariners in the Federated States of Micronesia, delivered humanitarian assistance during the Yap drought, and towed the 500-ton yacht Black Pearl to the Republic of Palau, rescuing 11 people in 2024. USCGC Frederick Hatch became the first FRC to visit several Pacific ports, including Tacloban, Philippines, for the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and the crew operationalized the enhanced bilateral agreement with Palau in 2024.
The U.S. Coast Guard ordered a series of new FRCs to replace the 1980s-era Island-class 110-foot patrol boats. Using the $25 billion provided by the historic Fiscal Year 2025 budget reconciliation, which includes $1 billion for additional FRCs, the Coast Guard has already ordered over $13 billion in new fleet assets and capabilities. This rapid investment demonstrates the Coast Guard’s commitment to modernizing acquisition, delivering next-generation technology, and revitalizing American shipbuilding.
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. These new assets and capabilities continue the U.S. Coast Guard's modernization, through which the Service is transforming into a more agile, capable, and responsive fighting force.
The commissioning ceremony is a traditional milestone in a cutter's life, marking its entry into active service and signifying its readiness to conduct operations.
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U.S. Navy Commissions its Very Last Littoral Combat Ship
The Independence-class finished delivering last year, and with the commissioning of Freedom-class USS Cleveland, the procurement program is complete
After 18 years, the U.S. Navy has commissioned the last Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship, a lightweight, high-speed surface combatant designed by a prominent aerospace contractor during the Global War on Terror.
In discussing the twin LCS classes, Navy officials have focused not on their capabilities or problems, but on celebrating the tireless efforts of crewmembers to make their ships as effective as possible. That emphasis was present at Cleveland's commissioning ceremony as well. "Today we celebrate the sailors who breathe life into this ship," said acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, who spoke at the commissioning ceremony in Cleveland. "To the officers and crew of USS Cleveland, today is your day."
"You are not simply serving aboard this ship. You are writing the first chapter of her history. You are forging a legacy that will endure long after all of us have left these decks," emphasized CO Cmdr. Bruce Hallett.
Cleveland is the 16th and last hull in the series. Along the way, the Freedom-class has encountered many issues - an absent sonar capability, high contractor maintenance costs, high crew workload, and a class-wide propulsion vulnerability. These issues culminated in a request from then-CNO Adm. Mike Gilday to decommission the first nine hulls in 2022; at the time, the youngest on the list was just three years old. Five early examples were ultimately taken out of commission, but the Navy continued to take deliveries of additional new hulls for the next four years. With Cleveland's commissioning on Saturday, her builder is ready to move on to future projects.
The Freedom-class was designed for high speeds and shallow draft, allowing for swift counterinsurgency and SOF operations near shore. An unusually high speed requirement meant engineering tradeoffs for armor and armament, and the ships were not designed to Navy standards for resistance to shock. As early as 2016, official concerns were raised about whether they could survive in high-end combat.
In service, the Freedom-class developed a reputation for mechanical issues, particularly a faulty gearbox design in the propulsion system (later resolved with a retrofit solution). Even when all systems were functioning, the Freedom-class vessels were "noisy as an aircraft carrier," and that created challenges for their core anti-submarine warfare mission, according to then-CNO Adm. Mike Gilday. The sonar system (part of the ASW "mission package" ) failed to mature, and the Navy canceled it in 2021, leaving the Freedom-class without a designated mission set. They have seen success in recent years as host platforms for U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachments, operating in coordination with the Coast Guard's cutters in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean.
The other LCS "variant," the aluminum trimaran Independence-class, completed its final delivery last year; it has begun to deploy with a mine countermeasures mission package. Some of the first operationally-ready hulls with that capability are now in the Central Command area of operations, part of the fleet tasked with resolving the Strait of Hormuz dilemma.
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