Posted on June 6, 2022
Ketchikan, Alaska (KINY) -The Coast Guard received the Coast Guard Cutter Douglas Denman, the 24th Fast Response Cutter built by Bollinger Shipyards, during a May 26th ceremony at Coast Guard Sector Key West; the ship is to be homeported in Ketchikan.
The cutter is 154-feet long and has a crew complement of 24.
The Douglas Denman is scheduled for commissioning in September in Ketchikan.
It is the third Fast Response Cutter to be stationed in the Coast Guard’s 17th Coast Guard District, which covers the state of Alaska and the North Pacific.
The Fast Response Cutter is replacing the Island-class 110-foot patrol boats and features advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance equipment, and an over-the-horizon cutter boat.
The cutter features advanced seakeeping capabilities and can achieve more than 32 mph (28 knots).
The cutter has an endurance of five days.
The Coast Guard is in the middle of the FRC acquisition program.
Previously this year, President Joe Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2022, which included a $130 million increase for two additional FRCs, continuing the program beyond its 64-vessel program of record.
This is the second time Congress has added FRCs beyond the original 58 vessel program of record.
The Denman is to join the John McCormick and the Bailey Barco which arrived in Alaska in 2016 and 2017.
Douglas Denman is designed for multiple missions, such as law enforcement, fisheries enforcement, waterways, and coastal security, search and rescue, and national defense.
Born in Tallapoosa, Georgia, the cutter’s namesake joined the U.S Coast Guard in 1940 and was eventually assigned as a coxswain to the USS Colhoun (DD-85), a Wickes-class destroyer in the U.S Navy during World War I and later re-designated APD-2 in World War II.
On August 30th, 1942, the Colhoun was positioned off the coast of Guadalcanal when it was attacked by hostile aircraft.
Denman was seriously wounded during the attack but remained at his duty station.
When the order came to abandon the ship, Denman and another crew member helped evacuate the crew and administer life jackets to those already in the water.
Because of Denman’s selfless actions, 100 of the 150 officers and staff survived the attack and sinking of Colhoun.
Denman received the Silver Star and Purple Heart medals for his heroic achievements.
He served for 20 years in the Coast Guard, before retiring as a senior chief petty officer in 1961.
For more information about the Denman cutter, please contact 17th District Public Affairs at D17-DG-PublicAffairs@uscg.mil or Douglas Denman’s executive officer at Alicen.T.Re@uscg.mil.
Below: The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Douglas Denman accepts delivery of the 49th Fast Response Cutter Douglas Denman, in Key West, Florida, on May 26th, 2022. (Photo courtesy of U.S Coast Guard)
