March 18, 2025 —
The Coast Guard’s 59th fast response cutter, Earl Cunningham, moored in Key West, Florida, on March 6, 2025. U.S. Coast Guard photo..
The Coast Guard accepted delivery of the 59th fast response cutter (FRC), Earl Cunningham, on March 6, 2025, in Key West, Florida. Earl Cunningham is the second of three FRCs to be homeported in Kodiak, Alaska.
The Sentinel-class FRCs are replacing the capability of the 1980s Island-class 110-foot patrol boats and possess 21st century command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, with improved habitability and seakeeping. FRCs operate in a wide variety of areas, including critical maritime border zones, to support law enforcement and alien interdiction operations.
A total of 67 FRCs have been ordered to date to perform a multitude of missions that include drug and alien interdiction, joint international operations and national defense of ports, waterways and coastal areas. In February 2025, Coast Guard Cutter Emlen Tunnell successfully interdicted nearly 2,400 kilograms of illegal narcotics in support of a Combined Task Force operation led by New Zealand in the Arabian Sea.
Each FRC is named after an enlisted Coast Guard hero who performed extraordinary service in the line of duty. This cutter’s namesake, Earl Cunningham, was a World War I Army veteran as well as Coast Guard hero, born in Kinde, Huron County, Michigan, in 1895. In 1928, Cunninghan enlisted in the Coast Guard because he felt it was a safer option than working at a quarry, but ironically, the 41-year-old husband and father of three made the ultimate sacrifice while off-duty during his assignment at Station Charlevoix, Michigan.
On a Friday in February 1936, five ice fishermen were spotted in distress from the watchtower on Lake Michigan. Though three were rescued, two remained trapped on the lake. Even though Cunningham was off duty, he volunteered to rescue the two fishermen. He reached them, but adverse weather conditions prevented them from returning to shore, forcing them to stay until a rescue team could reach the trio. As day turned into night, the boat drifted due to blizzard and strong wind conditions. Rescue was impossible.
Cunningham expired from hypothermia on Sunday; one of the fishermen died as well. The second fisherman managed to crawl nine miles to shore on Monday but eventually lost his feet to gangrene. It was another two days before the Coast Guard was able to retrieve Cunningham and the other fisherman. For this ultimate sacrifice, Cunningham was awarded the Gold Life Saving Medal posthumously.
Fifty-seven of the 67 FRCs that have been ordered are in service: 13 in Florida; seven in Puerto Rico; six each in Bahrain and Massachusetts; four in California; three each in Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, Texas and New Jersey; and two each in Mississippi, North Carolina and Oregon. Future FRCs will be delivered to current FRC homeports and a future FRC homeport in Seward, Alaska.
For more information: Fast Response Cutter Program page