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Bollinger Shipyards at Lockport delivered its last cutter to the Coast Guard almost a week ahead of schedule despite a three-week shutdown after Hurricane Ida, company officials said.
The John Scheuerman is the fifth of six cutters built by Bollinger and intended for operations in Manama, Bahrain, to support US interests in Southwest Asia and the Middle East.
This is the 169th ship delivered to the Coast Guard over 35 years and the 46th Fast Response Cutter completed under the current program, which began in 2008.
Each cutter costs about $ 65 million, and the entire program will cost the Coast Guard more than $ 3.7 billion, according to federal records. The cutters replace the 110-foot Island-class patrol boats built by Bollinger 30 years ago.
Bollinger sites:Congressman Steve Scalise visits Bollinger Shipyards as he recovers from Hurricane Ida
Category 4 Ida, which made landfall on August 29 at Port Fourchon, damaged Bollinger’s facilities there as well as its Lockport shipyard about 38 miles inland.
“While every delivery is meaningful, to be able to deliver this ship almost a week earlier despite everything our crew has faced over the past month is nothing short of remarkable,†said Bollinger Chairman and CEO , Ben Bordelon, in a press release. “We had people who lost everything in this storm.
“Our yard where we are building the FRCs was beaten up and was closed for three weeks during the rebuild. This ship and this delivery is a victory that our people really needed and it reflects the resilience, commitment and tenacity of the 650. qualified men and women
who built it.
Bollinger reopened all of its 11 sites across Louisiana on September 24 following a massive recovery and reconstruction effort, Bordelon said.
The last cutter left Port Fourchon on October 11 and conducted exercises in the Gulf of Mexico before a final inspection and delivery to the Coast Guard six days later in Key West, Florida.
The Sentinel-class rapid response cutter has been used for coastal security, fishing patrols, search and rescue, border patrol and national defense. The 154-foot cutters carry a crew of 24, are armed with four .50 caliber machine guns, and can travel at up to 28 knots, or 32 mph.
Each rapid response cutter is named after an enlisted coast guard who has distinguished himself in the line of duty.
John Scheuerman, a Leading Seaman in the Coast Guard Reserve during World War II, was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart medals.
His Silver Star quote Scheuerman says “remarkable bravery and fearlessness in action” aboard a landing craft during an amphibious invasion of Italy on September 9, 1943. shots fired at enemy aircraft .
“Although fatally wounded before he could fire effectively,” the quote reads, “he remained steadfast in his post in the face of imminent death, thereby materially contributing to the protection of his ship against further attacks.”
– Keith Magill, editor of Courier and Daily Comet, can be reached at 857-2201 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @CourierEditor.
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