JUNEAU, Alaska – Media are invited to attend the commissioning of the Coast Guard Cutter John McCormick (WPC 1121), the 17th District’s first 154-foot Fast Response Cutter, in Ketchikan, Alaska, 10 a.m., Apr. 12, 2017.

The CGC John McCormick is the first of six Sentinel-class cutters that will homeport in Alaska. The 154-foot vessel is designed to patrol coastal regions and features advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, including the ability to launch and recover standardized small boats from its stern.

The cutter is named after Boatswain John F. McCormick. McCormick received a Gold Lifesaving Medal for a heroic rescue on the Columbia River Bar in 1938. McCormick was officer-in-charge of the wooden 52-foot motor lifeboat Triumph out of Station Point Adams at the mouth of the Columbia River. On Mar. 26, 1938, McCormick and his crew managed to save Surfman Robert O. Bracken, who was swept overboard by a wave.

The commissioning will be presided by the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Charles Michel. Attendees include the 17th District commander, Rear Adm. Michael McAllister; Coast Guard Sector Juneau commander, Capt. Shannan Greene; and Cutter John McCormick’s commanding officer, Lt. Michael Moyseowicz. Also in attendance is the cutter’s sponsor Linda Jarmer, granddaughter of John McCormick.

The commissioning of a ship is an age-old tradition where the vessel is assigned to active service and the crew ceremoniously reports aboard to accept their positions that will be passed on like a torch until the ship’s life comes to an end in the service and it is decommissioned.

Source: USCG