USCGC ''Forrest Rednour'' (WPC-1129) is the 29th

cutter Cutter may refer to: Tools * Bolt cutter * Box cutter * Cigar cutter * Cookie cutter * Cutter (hydraulic rescue tool) * Glass cutter * Meat cutter * Milling cutter * Paper cutter * Pizza cutter * Side cutter People * Cutter (surname) * Cutt ...

built for the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

. She was the first of the four vessels of her class to be home-ported at USCG Base Los Angeles/Long Beach in

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; ) is a neighborhood located within the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los ...

. Other

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s have been based in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

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, and

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

prior to ''Forrest Rednour's'' assignment to Base LA/LB. Sister ships ''Robert Ward (WPC-1130)'', ''Terrell Horne III (WPC-1131)'', and ''Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132)'' soon joined her at Base LA/LB.

Design

Like her

s, ''Forrest Rednour'' is designed to perform

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

missions,

port security Port security is part of a broader definition concerning maritime security. It refers to the defense, law and treaty enforcement, and Counterterrorism activities that fall within the port and maritime domain. It includes the protection of the se ...

, and the interception of smugglers. She is armed with a remotely-controlled, gyro-stabilized 25 mm autocannon, four crew served

M2 Browning machine gun The M2 machine gun or Browning .50-caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning. While similar to Browning's M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chamber ...

s, and light arms. She is equipped with a

stern launching ramp Some modern patrol vessels are equipped with a stern launching ramp, or simply launching ramp, for deploying smaller rescue or pursuit boats without requiring the parent ship to first come to a halt. Typically the smaller craft are powered b ...

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

''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. 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. On August 8, 2020, ''Rednour'' hailed and approached a suspected smuggler off the coast of San Diego. The smuggler turned their

panga The panga (''Pterogymnus laniarus''), or panga seabream is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. It is the only species in the monospecific genus ''Pterogymnus''. This spec ...

towards ''Rednours'' boarding crew, ramming the cutter boat, much like the incident which killed BMSC

Terrell Horne Terrell Edwin Horne III (1978–2012) was a senior chief petty officer with the United States Coast Guard, who was killed in the line of duty while intercepting smugglers, on December 2, 2012. Horne had fourteen years service in the Coast Guard a ...

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. ''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. 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.

Namesake

FS2 Fox Sports 2 (branded on-air as FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in t ...

'' Forrest Oren Rednour'' (1923–1943) received the

Navy and Marine Corps Medal The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is the highest non-combat Military awards of the United States Department of the Navy, decoration awarded for heroism by the United States Department of the Navy to members of the United States Navy and United State ...

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". 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. Forrest previously served as the namesake of the U.S. Navy high-speed transport '' USS Rednour (APD-102)''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrest Rednour (WPC-1129) Sentinel-class cutters Ships of the United States Coast Guard 2018 ships Ships built in Lockport, Louisiana