Dec. 10, 2025 —
The Coast Guard’s 61st fast response cutter, Olivia Hooker, moored in Key West, Florida, after delivery on Oct. 23, 2025. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
The Coast Guard accepted delivery of the 61st fast response cutter (FRC), Olivia Hooker, on Oct. 23 in Key West, Florida. Olivia Hooker will be the third FRC to be homeported in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The Sentinel-class FRCs replaced the 1980s Island-class 110-foot patrol boats, and possess 21st century command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, with improved habitability and seakeeping. A total of 77 FRCs have been ordered to date to perform a multitude of missions that include drug and alien interdictions, joint international operations and national defense of ports, waterways and coastal areas.
Each FRC is named after an enlisted Coast Guard hero who performed extraordinary service in the line of duty. Dr. Olivia Hooker was a pioneering figure in the history of the Coast Guard and a distinguished psychologist and educator who demonstrated a lifelong commitment to service, education and the betterment of society.
In February 1945, she became the first African American woman to serve in the Coast Guard when she enlisted in the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, known as SPARS (an acronym derived from the Coast Guard’s motto, Semper Paratus – Always Ready). During her time in the Coast Guard, she performed administrative duties that supported the service’s critical operations during a time of global conflict.
Hooker was honorably discharged in 1946 and pursued higher education after her military service, earning a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Rochester. She went on to have a distinguished career as a psychologist and educator.
Hooker’s commitment to service extended well into her later years. At the age of 95, she joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary, continuing to contribute to the mission of the Coast Guard and inspiring others with her dedication. In 2015, at the age of 100, she was honored by the Coast Guard for her service and legacy. Hooker passed away on Nov. 21, 2018, at the age of 103.
FRCs operate in a wide variety of areas, including critical maritime border zones, to support law enforcement and alien interdiction operations. In February 2025, Coast Guard Cutter Emlen Tunnell, as part of Combined Task Force 150, successfully interdicted nearly 2,400 kilograms of illegal narcotics through a New Zealand-led operation in the Arabian Sea.
Fifty-nine FRCs are in service: 13 in Florida; seven in Puerto Rico; six each in Bahrain and Massachusetts; five in Alaska; four in California; three each in Guam, Hawaii, Texas and New Jersey; and two each in Mississippi, North Carolina and Oregon.
For more information: Fast Response Cutter Program page