Emergency Response Vessels

concave reverse-chine-designed hull form, to the North Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Rescue Squad.

Formed in 1958, the North Myrtle Beach Rescue Squad is one of the oldest rescue squads in South Carolina. The squad is responsible for water rescue to swimmers/boaters in-distress, overturned boats, jet ski crashes, aquatic search and rescue, vehicles in the water, medical emergencies on boats, aircraft emergencies involving the water and post-hurricane search and rescue.

The squad is used by the Coast Guard, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Horry County Fire Rescue, North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach city governments.

“We don’t do a lot of amphibious boats because they’re hard to get right, but this was the right application,” said Todd Salus, Ocean Craft Marine’s vice president, sales and marketing. “The North Myrtle Beach Rescue Squad’s amphibious rescue boat is a highly specialized craft providing the unique ability to launch and recover the boat from any beach thus providing for greatly enhanced incident response times from this rescue team. We hope that the boat’s unique capabilities will help to save many lives.”

Salus said the amphibious search and rescue boat is unique from all other rescue boats because it utilizes Ocean Craft’s proprietary four-wheel-drive amphibious land mobility system, which greatly expands the boat’s rescue capabilities and signi cantly reduces the squad’s response time.

Main propulsion comes from a Mercury Marine 250-hp V-8 outboard motor.

Additionally, the boat features shockmitigating seats mounted to a deck track system for ease of adjustment. The boat was designed to exceed North Myrtle Beach Rescue Squad’s stringent operational requirements including the need for a hinged and folding T-top as well as a folding electronics arch at the stern due to the height restriction at the rehouse.

Salus said the amphibious search and rescue boat can handle high-speed tactical turns at varying speeds and in rough sea conditions without fear of submersion. It also features an exceptional high load carrying capacity of more than 1.5 tons and the ability to run continuously at speeds of 63 mph in high sea state or seas as shallow as 3.3'.

As of January, Bollinger Shipyards LLC, Lockport, La., has built and delivered 47 Sentinel-class fast response cutters. The FRCs are replacing the aging 110' Island-class patrol boats built by Bollinger 30 years ago.

The Coast Guard has taken delivery of the 154'×25’ cutters in Key West, Fla., before sending them around the U.S. and the world. Part of the cutters’ mission is search and rescue operations, which quali es them as ERVs. Each FRC is expected to be on duty an average of 2,500 hours per year.

Bollinger has delivered 170 vessels to the Coast Guard over a 35-year period. This is the 47th FRC delivered under the current program. For the FRC, which has a draft of 9'6", Bollinger is using a proven, in-service parent-craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708.

Main propulsion comes from twin MTU 20V4000 M93L diesel engines producing 2,900 hp each. The boats have an endurance of ve days and 2,500 nautical miles

FRCs are being deployed in support of the full range of missions within the Coast Guard and other branches of the U.S. armed services. The FRCs have a ank speed of 28 knots, state-of-the-art command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) technology, and a stern launch and recovery ramp for a 26', over-the-horizon interceptor cutter boat.