USCGC Joseph Gerczak

Like her sister ships, Joseph Gerczak is designed to perform search and rescue missions, port security, and the interception of smugglers.[4] She is armed with a remotely controlled, gyrostabilized 25 mm autocannon, four crew-served M2 Browning machine guns, and light arms. She is equipped with a stern launching ramp, that allows her to launch or retrieve a water-jet propelled high-speed auxiliary boat, without first coming to a stop. Her high-speed boat has over-the-horizon capability, and is useful for inspecting other vessels, and deploying boarding parties. She is designed to support her crew of 24 for missions of up to five days, over distances of almost 3,000 nautical miles (5,556 km; 3,452 mi).

Prior to commissioning, the cutter's "plankowner" crew was known for their exceptional prowess on the sand volleyball courts of Houma, Louisiana. Like her sister ships, the Joseph Gerczak is designed for missions of five days, in July 2019, while accompanied by the larger USCGC Walnut, she undertook the nine day voyage from Hawaii to American Samoa.[5][6] The Coast Guard vessels met with HMNZS Otago, a Protector-class offshore patrol vessel from New Zealand, to prepare for actual joint missions.[7]

On February 19, 2020, the Coast Guard's Honolulu station described an incident where a scuba diver's report of the loss of his dive-float helped their life-saving efforts.[8] Divers use standardized highly visible dive-floats to indicate to boaters where they are diving, so they can take steps to avoid those areas, which helps keep divers safe from being run over, when they come to the surface, and are hard to see. Coast Guard personnel who encounter an unattended dive-float normally treat it as an emergency, indicating that a diver is in distress, or has drowned. However, since this diver self-reported the loss of his float, when Joseph Gerczak encountered his float, they were aware the owner was safe, and this was not an emergency.

In 2010, Charles "Skip" W. Bowen, who was then the United States Coast Guard's most senior non-commissioned officer, proposed that all 58 cutters in the Sentinel class should be named after enlisted sailors in the Coast Guard, or one of its precursor services, who were recognized for their heroism.[9][10] In 2015 the Coast Guard announced that Joseph Gerczak, who coolly shot down two Japanese planes, during World War 2, before he himself was shot, would be the namesake of the 26th cutter.[11]