Foundation attends Fast Response Cutter Donald Horsley Commissioning
The latest in a series of newly built Sentinel Class Cutters, the Donald Horsley, was commissioned in Puerto Rico on May 20, 2016. Coast Guard Foundation Trustee Robert Montgomery attended the commissioning to present the crew with a $5,000 gift for their morale fund during the ceremony.
Coast Guard Cutter Donald Horsley marks the 17th Sentinel Class fast response cutter and the fifth of its kind to be homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico. These fast response vessels produce speeds of more than 28 knots and are crucial to the Coast Guard’s mission of curbing illegal maritime activity including counter-drug patrols, conducting search and rescue operations and more.
Coast Guard Foundation Trustee Robert Montgomery presenting Lt. Colleen Denny, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Donald Horsley, with a gift of $5,000 for the crew's morale fund.
All fast response cutters are named after a Coast Guard hero with this cutter’s namesake, Master Chief Petty Officer Donald Horsley, a boatswain’s mate who served on active duty for 44 years.
From the Official U.S. Coast Guard blog on the Horsley commissioning:
“Throughout his career, Horsley demonstrated exceptional skill and leadership while serving aboard 34 vessels and numerous shore units.
“His lengthy career spanned three wars, including World War II, where he served aboard the USS Cepheus as a coxswain on landing craft and participated in Operation Dragoon (the invasion of southern France) in the European Theater and Operation Iceberg (the invasion of Okinawa) in the Pacific Asian Theater.
“During the Vietnam War, Horsley was the senior petty officer assigned to Division 13, Coast Guard Squadron One, serving two tours for a total of 41 months. The Division’s fleet 82-foot patrol boats were tasked with the maritime interdiction of the reinforcement and re-supply vessels for Communist forces fighting in South Vietnam.
“It was during this assignment that Horsley earned the Bronze Star with a Combat “V,” in part due to his participation in over 100 combat patrols while coming under intensive enemy fire on 11 separate occasions.”
