USCGC Joseph Napier

USCGC Joseph Napier is a Sentinel-class cutter homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is the fifteenth Sentinel class to be delivered, and the third of six to be assigned to Puerto Rico.^[3] she was commissioned on 29 January 2016.^[2]

USCGC Joseph Napier (WPC-1115)

Joseph Napier at speed
History
United States
Namesake	Joseph Napier
Builder	Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana
Launched	20 October 2015
Acquired	20 October 2015[1]
Commissioned	29 January 2016[2]
Homeport	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Identification	MMSI number: 338926415 Callsign: NDOC Hull number: WPC-1115
Motto	Failure is not an option
Status	in active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class & type	Sentinel-class cutter
Displacement	353 long tons (359 t)
Length	46.8 m (154 ft)
Beam	8.11 m (26.6 ft)
Depth	2.9 m (9.5 ft)
Propulsion	2 × 4,300 kW (5,800 shp) 1 × 75 kW (101 shp) bow thruster
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph)
Endurance	5 days, 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) Designed to be on patrol 2,500 hours per year
Boats & landing craft carried	1 × Short Range Prosecutor RHIB
Complement	2 officers, 20 crew
Sensors & processing systems	L-3 C4ISR suite
Armament	1 × Mk 38 Mod 2 25 mm automatic gun 4 × Browning M2 .50 cal machine guns Various small arms

Like her sister ships, she is equipped for coastal security patrols, interdiction of drug and people smugglers, and search and rescue. Like the smaller Marine Protector class she is equipped with a stern launching ramp.^[4] The ramp allows the deployment and retrieval of her high speed water-jet powered pursuit boat without first coming to a stop. She is capable of more than 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) and armed with a remote controlled 25 millimetres (0.98 in) M242 Bushmaster autocannon; and four crew-served Browning M2 machine guns.

Operational history

Joseph Napier intercepted a fishing vessel in February 2017, that was attempting to smuggle over four tons of cocaine.^[5] Lady Michelle's crew of four individuals from Guyana were taken to the U.S. Virgin Islands, for prosecution. The cocaine's street value was estimated at US$125 million.

Namesake

She is named after Joseph Napier, who had commanded a lifeboat station at St. Joseph, Michigan.^[6][7][8] Napier was an employee of the United States Lifeboat Service, one of the precursor services that were amalgamated into the Coast Guard.

Lore

Being one of seven FRC's Sentinel-class cutter home ported in San Juan, Puerto Rico is a big job and eventually each boat carves out their own niche. The USCGC Joseph Napier (WPC-1115) has carved out that spot being known as "El bote de gente soñolienta". The crew of the aptly named Bote de gente soñolienta can often been seen lounging on the outside decks on beanbag chairs or logging countless hours of rack ops in an attempt to break the long-standing record held by the USCGC Mohawk.