The USCGC Glen Harris (WPC 1144) grew to become the U.S. Coast Guard’s latest quick response cutter throughout a commissioning ceremony Friday at Coast Guard Sector Subject Workplace Fort Macon. The Glen Harris will probably be homeported in Manama, Bahrain, and serve at U.S. Patrol Forces Southwest Asia. The cutter’s namesake is Chief Petty Officer Glen Livingston Harris, a local of North Carolina. He acted as a touchdown craft coxswain throughout the touchdown of Tulagi, which occurred Aug. 7-9, 1942, throughout World Warfare II. Together with three different U.S. Coast Guard coxswains, Harris landed the primary U.S. Marines on Tulagi. Over the following three days of battle, he made repeated journeys underneath heavy enemy fireplace to ship ammunition and different provides to U.S. forces. In September of the identical 12 months, he landed in opposition to forces at Taivu Level, Guadalcanal Island, thereby materially contributing to the enemy’s eventual defeat. Harris was awarded the Silver Star Medal for gallantry by Adm. Chester Nimitz.
“Coast Guard Cutter Glen Harris is one in all six quick response cutters that may relieve the 110-foot patrol boats which have boldly stood the watch within the Fifth Fleet AOR since 2003. It’s clear the Coast Guard is poised now greater than ever to seamlessly combine with the Navy and Marine Corps workforce to help the benefit at sea and the Tri-Service Maritime Technique. We’re poised to be a key a part of that technique. The Coast Guard will construct 64 quick response cutters, title every for an enlisted hero like Glen Harris, and every dedication uncovers a little-known story, and every story provides volumes to our understanding of our personal Coast Guard historical past,” mentioned Adm. Linda Fagan, the vice commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.
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Ms. Stacy Howley, Harris’s eldest granddaughter, was current and ship’s sponsor, and Ms. Madison King, Harris’s eldest great-granddaughter, served because the long-glass presenter. A number of members of the Harris household have been in attendance, together with his sister Allie Gaskill. The Harris crew is already credited with saving lives. Whereas in pre-commissioning standing, the crew was first on scene and important within the response, rescuing a member of the 175-foot carry boat capsizing eight miles south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on April 13. The U.S. Coast Guard and a number of good Samaritan vessels responded to the capsized vessel and looked for a number of lacking folks within the water. The U.S. Coast Guard accepted the Glen Harris on April 22. They’ll transit to Bahrain later this 12 months with their sister ship, the Emlen Tunnell (WPC 1145), delivered July 1 and resulting from be commissioned in Philadelphia earlier than departure. As soon as a ship has been commissioned, its ultimate step towards turning into an lively unit of the company it serves is to report back to its homeport and formally load or settle for any remaining gear.
The Glen Harris is the forty fourth quick response cutter within the U.S. Coast Guard’s fleet and the third of six FRCs deliberate for service in Manama, Bahrain. Stationing FRCs in Bahrain helps U.S. Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, the Coast Guard’s largest unit exterior of the U.S., and its mission to coach, arrange, equip, help, and deploy combat-ready U.S. Coast Guard forces in help of U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet, U.S. Central Command, and nationwide safety goals. The Sentinel-class is a key part of the Service’s offshore fleet able to deploying independently to conduct missions, together with port, waterways, coastal safety, fishery patrols, search and rescue, and nationwide protection. They’re 154 toes in size, 25 toes in beam, and 353 lengthy tons in displacement. They’ve a prime pace of greater than 28 knots, a variety of two,500 nautical miles, an endurance of as much as 5 days, and may maintain a crew of as much as 24. These new cutters are changing the growing old Island-class 110-foot patrol boats in service since 1985.
