U.S. Coast Guard Commissions 62nd Fast Response Cutter Named After 9/11 Hero Vincent Danz

The U.S. Coast Guard has commissioned its newest Fast Response Cutter, USCGC Vincent Danz (WPC 1162), during a ceremony held in New York City on Friday.

The cutter will be homeported in Guam and will support U.S. maritime security operations across Oceania, particularly in the Micronesia and Melanesia regions.

Its missions will include maritime law enforcement, search and rescue operations, countering illegal activity, and working with Pacific Island nations and allied partners.

Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thomas Allan said the vessel would help strengthen U.S. presence and partnerships across the Pacific.

“Vincent Danz’s legacy will live on not only through his family and his brothers and sisters in the NYPD, but through the Coast Guard crew who will breathe life into this cutter today,” Allan said.

“The Coast Guard Cutter Vincent Danz will perform the Coast Guard’s vital work across Oceania, projecting U.S. presence, countering illicit maritime activity, and strengthening our international partnerships.”

The Vincent Danz is the 62nd Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter in the Coast Guard fleet and the fourth of five cutters planned for Guam under U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam.

The cutter is named after Vincent Danz, a New York City Police Department Emergency Services Unit officer who died while responding to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Danz also served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as a Port Security Specialist 2nd Class and was posthumously awarded the NYPD Medal of Honor.

The Vincent Danz will join other Guam-based cutters including Myrtle Hazard, Oliver Henry and Frederick Hatch, which have carried out missions across the Pacific since 2021.

The crew of Myrtle Hazard became the first to conduct joint patrols and boardings under a maritime law enforcement agreement with Papua New Guinea in 2023.

Oliver Henry carried out rescue and humanitarian missions in the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, including rescuing 11 people after towing the 500-ton yacht Black Pearl in 2024.

Frederick Hatch became the first Fast Response Cutter to visit several Pacific ports, including Tacloban in the Philippines during the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and later supported maritime cooperation operations with Palau.

The U.S. Coast Guard is expanding and modernising its fleet by replacing its older Island-class patrol boats with Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters.

According to the Coast Guard, the service has already ordered more than $13 billion in new fleet assets and capabilities using funding from the Fiscal Year 2025 budget reconciliation package, which includes $1 billion for additional Fast Response Cutters.

The cutters are equipped with advanced command, surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance systems, along with over-the-horizon cutter boat deployment capability to support maritime security and interdiction missions.

Reference: USCG