The US Coast Guard commissioned its newest Sentinel-class fast response cutter in a ceremony in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on Thursday, January 22.
As with her earlier sisters, USCGC Olivia Hooker was built by Bollinger Shipyards of Louisiana. She has a length of 154 feet (46.9 metres), a flank speed of 28 knots, a state of the art C4ISR suite, and a stern launch and recovery ramp for a 26-foot (7.92-metre), over-the-horizon interceptor cutter boat.
Her armament includes a 25mm autocannon and four 12.7mm machine guns.
The 61st Sentinel-class FRC is named after the late Dr Olivia Juliette Hooker, who had served with the US Coast Guard Women's Reserve during World War II. She later became a professor at Fordham University as well as a civil rights advocate.
The Sentinel-class cutters are designed for multiple missions including drug and migrant interdiction, ports, waterways and coastal security, fishery patrols, and search and rescue.
Olivia Hooker will be homeported in Pascagoula alongside her sister USCGC Jacob Poroo. The two FRCs are under the operational control of Coast Guard Heartland District.
