Like her sister ships, Forrest Rednour is designed to perform search and rescue missions, port security, and the interception of smugglers.[8] She is armed with a remotely-controlled, gyro-stabilized 25 mm autocannon, four crew served M2 Browning machine guns, and light arms. She is equipped with a stern launching ramp that allows her to launch or retrieve a water-jet propelled high-speed auxiliary boat without first coming to a stop. Her high-speed boat has over-the-horizon capability, and is useful for inspecting other vessels, and deploying boarding parties.
Operational history
The commissioning crew of USCGC Forrest Rednour
Forrest Rednour arrived in Los Angeles on August 13, 2018 and was commissioned at Base LA/LB on November 8, 2018 with LT Graham Sherman serving as her first commanding officer. Executive officer LTJG Dayra Nazario and 20 enlisted crew members also serve as Forrest Rednour's plankowners.[5]
On her first mission, Rednour apprehended 3 people aboard a 25-foot cuddy cabin boat with 1,000 pounds of marijuana on board, approximately 30 miles south of the US-Mexico maritime border just before midnight on November 27, 2018.[9]
On August 8, 2020, Rednour hailed and approached a suspected smuggler off the coast of San Diego. The smuggler turned their panga towards Rednour's boarding crew, ramming the cutter boat, much like the incident which killed BMSC Terrell Horne in 2012. A high speed chase ensued in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air & Marine Operations agents intercepted, shooting the motor of the vessel and forcing the panga to a stop 12 nautical miles west of Oceanside, CA. The combined task force recovered 500 pounds of methamphetamine and arrested the smugglers, the captain eventually earning 194 months in a federal penitentiary on 15 felony charges.[10][11]
Forrest Rednour returned home after a 32 day patrol of international waters off the coast of Mexico in September 2021, seizing more than 5,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $96 million dollars. During the course of the mission, they also met with the similarly classed ARM Monte Albán (PC 338) of the Mexican Navy, patrolling the same waters.[12]
15 undocumented immigrants were intercepted off the coast of Orange County, CA by Forrest Rednour on April 20, 2023. The Rednour spotted an overloaded 36-ft sportfisher with an estimated 8-12 people aboard near San Clemente and coordinated with CBP Air and Marine Operations to apprehend and seize the vessel.[13]
Namesake
FS2Forrest Oren Rednour (1923–1943) received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal posthumously "For heroic conduct while aboard USCGC Escanaba during the rescue of survivors from the torpedoed USAT Dorchester in North Atlantic waters on 3 February 1943...Rednour’s gallant and voluntary action in subjecting himself to pounding seas and bitter cold for nearly four hours contributed to the rescue of 145 persons".[14]
One of only two Coast Guardsmen honored by the naming of a U.S. Navy ship, Forrest Rednour was announced as the namesake of the U.S. Coast Guard's 29th fast response cutter in 2018. All 58 cutters in the Sentinel class are to be named after enlisted sailors in the Coast Guard who were recognized for their heroism.[15][16][17]
Forrest previously served as the namesake of the U.S. Navy high-speed transport USS Rednour (APD-102).
^"US Coast Guard receives 29th FRC 'Forrest Rednour'". Naval Today. 2018-06-08. Retrieved 2018-06-08. The Coast Guard has ordered 44 of the 58 FRCs planned. Twenty-seven are in service: 12 in Florida, six in Puerto Rico, two in Alaska, two in New Jersey, two in Mississippi, two in Hawaii and now one in North Carolina.
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Gidget Fuentes (2018-08-13). "First in a Quartet of New Coast Guard Cutters Arrive in Los Angeles". US Naval Institute. Retrieved 2018-08-13. The Coast Guard plans to homeport three more fast response cutters at the base, located on Terminal Island in San Pedro, and each will be commissioned into service by next summer. The cutters will operate throughout the 11th Coast Guard District, which covers California and the international waters off Mexico and Central America.
^"FRC Plan B: The Sentinel Class". Defense Industry Daily. 2014-05-02. Archived from the original on 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2014-04-03. All of these boats will be named after enlisted Coast Guard heroes, who distinguished themselves in USCG or military service. The first 25 have been named, but only 8 have been commissioned...
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Susan Schept (2010-03-22). "Enlisted heroes honored". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on 2011-12-03. Retrieved 2013-02-01. After the passing of several well-known Coast Guard heroes last year, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Charles "Skip" Bowen mentioned in his blog that the Coast Guard does not do enough to honor its fallen heroes.
^"U.S. Coast Guard announces name for first Sentinel-class cutter". 2010-03-22. Archived from the original on 2010-03-25. Retrieved 2013-02-01. Previously designated to be named the Coast Guard Cutter Sentinel, the cutter Bernard C. Webber will be the first of the service's new 153-foot patrol cutters. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen approved the change of the cutter's name to allow this class of vessels to be named after outstanding enlisted members who demonstrated exceptional heroism in the line of duty. This will be the first class of cutters to be named exclusively for enlisted members of the Coast Guard and its predecessor services.
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