EDITOR'S NOTE: Media interested in attending the commissioning ceremony are required to RSVP with Lt. j.g. Peter Bermont at Coast Guard Sector Key West at 516-498-7705. Media must arrive no later than 11 a.m., and bring valid government issued identification to be granted access to Coast Guard Sector Key West, Fla. Interviews will be available following commissioning ceremony. Media will not be allowed inside unless RSVP'd.
WHO: Coast Guard 7th District commander, Adm. Jake Korn; Coast Guard Sector Key West commander, Capt. Aylwyn Young; WWII Coast Guard Veteran John L. Gatton, Jr.; Ms. Colette Eddy, William Trump’s daughter and sponsor of the cutter; and U.S. Navy Senior Chief Jeremy Trump, grandson of William Trump who will raise the Commissioning Pennant.
WHAT: Coast Guard Cutter William Trump is the 11th Sentinel Class Fast Response Cutter (FRC) to arrive to Coast Guard 7th District, and the fifth scheduled to be commissioned at Coast Guard Sector Key West, Saturday at 12 p.m.
The Sentinel Class FRCs are designed to conduct maritime drug interdiction, alien migrant interdiction, search and rescue, national defense, homeland security, living marine resources and other Coast Guard missions. This class of patrol boat is capable of deploying independently to execute Coast Guard missions and prevent potential threats from approaching our shores and offers vastly improved capabilities over the aging 110-foot Island class patrol boats it replaces. The FRC is part of the Coast Guard's layered approach to maritime security that includes the National Security Cutter and the Offshore Patrol Cutter.
The 154-foot long Coast Guard Cutter William Trump is homeported in Key West has a beam of 25-feet and a maximum sustained speed of more than 28 knots. The William Trump is armed with a stabilized 25mm machine-gun mount and four crew-served .50-caliber machine guns.
WHEN: Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
WHERE: Coast Guard Sector Key West, 100 Trumbo Road, Key West, Fla., 33040-6655
MORE INFO: Each FRC is named for an enlisted Coast Guard hero who distinguished him or herself in the line of duty. This vessel is named after U.S. Coast Guard Motor Machinist’s Mate First Class William Trump who earned a silver star for valor in action during the assault phase of the landing at Normandy during WWII.
Trump served aboard Landing Craft Infantry 90 and, according to a report by the Tampa Bay Times, he volunteered to set the anchor line ashore on Omaha Beach to give the troops that his vessel was carrying a route for them to follow into the fight. He successfully accomplished his mission and narrowly escaped death when an enemy bullet dented his helmet.Trump retired from the Coast Guard in 1965 and went on to work aboard oil tankers.
The Key West Navy League Commissioning Committee is supporting the commissioning through funding of activities traditionally associated with a commissioning, separate and apart from the U.S. Coast Guard.