Welcome to the Fleet: USCGC Charles Moulthrope
The Coast Guard cutter Charles Moulthrope was commissioned as the 41st Sentinel-Class Fast Response Cutter at a ceremony on January 21 in Portsmouth, Virginia. The cutter will be the first of six FRCs to be stationed as part of the Coast Guard’s Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) in Bahrain.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, stationing FRCs in Bahrain supports PATFORSWA and its mission to train, organize, equip, support, and deploy combat-ready Coast Guard forces in support of Central Command and national security objectives.
The Charles Moulthrope will deploy to Bahrain later this year with FRC Robert Goldman, slated to be commissioned in February in Key West.
The Coast Guard Foundation has a proud tradition of welcoming each new cutter to the fleet with a gift to its morale fund so crew members can remain always ready for their assignments and can maintain their own physical and mental well-being while at sea.
From the Coast Guard on the Cutter’s Namesake:
The cutter is named after Seaman Charles Moulthrope, remembered for heroic and selfless service as a member of the Revenue Cutter Service Cutter Commodore Perry, en-route to patrol Alaska, when he rescued multiple shipmates who ended up in the sea. They had attempted to rescue another crewman who was swept overboard during heavy seas. Moulthrope “grabbed a line and leaped over the side” into the freezing water to save the four men. Not long after, he lost his life in the performance of duties in Unalaska, Alaska, in 1896, when he fell from a mast while trying to free a fouled pennant. This ship will be the first modern Coast Guard cutter named for an enlisted man of the Revenue Cutter Service, bringing recognition to the service and sacrifice of hundreds of sailors who served their country aboard the ships of this precursor of the Coast Guard.
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(U.S. Coast Guard photos by Petty Officer 1st Class Adam Stanton)
