Short Range Prosecutor

The Short Range Prosecutor is a rigid-hull inflatable boat in use by the United States Coast Guard designed to be quickly launched and retrieved from larger vessels. The boats are 7 meters long, propelled by water jets, equipped with special shock absorbing seats so the crew can slam through big waves at high speed. The boats are equipped with radar, and can be armed with pintle-mounted light or heavy machine guns, or 40mm automatic grenade launchers.

The boats missions would include rescuing swimmers and passengers from stricken watercraft, and bringing boarding parties to watercraft suspected of smuggling, or terrorist activity.

The vessels are capable of more than thirty knots.

The Coast Guard has shore-based boats of similar size and capability, propelled by outboard motors. However, the Coast Guards most recent cutters are designed with rear launching ramps, which can be used to launch and retrieve jet powered boats without the larger vessel coming to a stop.

Marine Protector class cutters field a single Short Range Prosecutor

The 52 cutters in the Coast Guard's Marine Protector class all mount a single Short Range Prosecutor. The 26.5 meter long Marine Protectors are the smallest cutters in the Coast Guard and only carry a crew of ten.

Eight revised Island class cutters fielded a single Short Range Prosecutor

The Coast Guard rebuilt eight of its larger Island class cutters, starting with the USCG Matagorda. The rebuild had two goals -- to extend the cutter's stern by 4 meters so they could mount a boat launching ramp, to comply with a plan to expand and modernize the crew accommodation of the Coast Guard's cutters, so the cutters could field mixed sex crews. The refit went over-budget, and the eight initial cutters, when complete, quickly developed structural flaws that rendered them unseaworthy, and they have been mothballed.