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. In 2015 the Coast Guard announced that Richard Snyder, who was awarded a Silver Star for attacking Japanese ground forces during an amphibious assault on the island of Biak, would be the namesake of the 27th cutter.
