Ironwood was built at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland. All other Mesquite-class ships were built at a commercial shipyard. Despite her identical design, Ironwood was by far the most expensive ship in her class. She cost the Coast Guard Yard $1,388,227 while the other five Mesquite-class ships cost an average of $878,029.[1] She was the largest vessel ever built at the Coast Guard Yard at the time of her launch.[2]
Her keel was laid down on November 2, 1942, she was launched on March 16, 1943,[3] and she was commissioned on August 4, 1943.[4]
Her hull was constructed of welded steel plates. As originally built, Ironwood was 180 feet (55m) long, with a beam of 37 feet (11m), and a draft of 12 feet (3.7m). Her displacement was 935 tons. While her overall dimensions remained the same over her career, the addition of new equipment raised her displacement to 1,025 tons by the end of her Coast Guard service.[4]
Ironwood had a single propeller driven by a diesel-electric propulsion system. Two Cooper-Bessemer GND-8 4-cycle 8-cylinder Diesel engines produced 700 horsepower each and when later upgraded to EMD 645-GN8-E6s [5] They provided power to two Westinghouse generators. The electricity from the generators ran an electric motor which turned the propeller.[6]
She had a single cargo boom which had the ability to lift 20 tons onto her buoy deck.[1]
The ship's fuel tanks had a capacity of approximately 28,875 US gallons (109,300L). Ironwood's unrefueled range was 8,000 nautical miles (15,000km) at 13 knots, 12,000 nautical miles (22,000km) at 12 knots, and 17,000 nautical miles (31,000km) at 8.3 knots. Her potable water tanks had a capacity of 30,499 US gallons (115,450L). Considering dry storage capacity and other factors, her at-sea endurance was 21 days.[1]
Her wartime complement was 6 officers and 74 enlisted men. By 1964 this was reduced to 5 officers, 2 warrant officers, and 42 enlisted personnel.[1][7]
Ironwood was armed with a 3"/50 caliber gun mounted behind the pilot house. She also had two 20mm guns, one mounted on top of the wheelhouse and one on the aft deck. Two racks of depth charges were also mounted on the aft deck. All of her on-deck armament was removed in 1966, leaving only small arms for law enforcement actions.[4][6]
At the time of construction, Ironwood was designated WAGL, an auxiliary vessel, lighthouse tender. The designation was system was changed in 1965, and Ironwood was redesignated WLB, an oceangoing buoy tender.[1] Her namesake is a small tree or bush native to the midwest and south of the United States, Sideroxylon lanuginosum. One of its many common names is ironwood.
World War II service
USCGC Ironwood raising Japanese midget submarine off Guadalcanal
After commissioning, and a short trial and training period in the Boston area, Ironwood sailed for the Pacific. She broke her propeller shaft en route and was towed in to Key West, Florida for repairs.[4] She departed Key West February 12, 1944. Ironwood was able to reach New Caledonia on March 24, 1944 via Bora Bora, and Pago Pago. Her primary mission was supporting aids to navigation, moorings, and torpedo nets in 3rd Fleet operating areas. In addition, she moved cargo, mail, and personnel, towed barges and other vessels, participated in establishing the LORAN network, and provided search and rescue.[8]
She rescued 65 Navy and Marine personnel from the grounded freighter SS John Lind on March 28, 1944, returning them to Noumea the next day. She and two Navy tugs managed to pull the freighter off the reef and refloat her several days later.[9][10]
In January 1945 Ironwood sailed to Guadalcanal where Japanese midget submarine HA-37 had been discovered in shallow water off Cape Esperance. The two-man crew of the sub had aborted their mission and had run it ashore after discovering its depth regulator was faulty.[11] It took more than two weeks for divers to work a lifting bridle around the sub. On January 25, 1945 Ironwood raised the sub and towed it to Florida Island. Navy mine disposal officers were unable to remove its torpedoes, so after the sub was searched, it was sunk.[12]
Ironwood was assigned to the 7th Fleet and sailed to Philippine waters, arriving at Leyte on August 6, 1945.[13] Here she removed Japanese buoys and placed American aids to navigation and moorings.[9]
In summer 1947, Ironwood returned to San Francisco for a major refit. She reached her new homeport of Monterey, California in November.[14] In addition to her work maintaining aids to navigation, she was involved in search and rescue efforts for lost ships and planes.[15][16] She destroyed a derelict floating Japanese mine off Monterey Bay on April 11, 1948.[17]
Pacific service
In May 1950, Ironwood was reassigned to Guam.[4][18] From this base she serviced aids to navigation and LORAN stations throughout a wide area of the Pacific. On November 15, 1951 Ironwood became the first Coast Guard buoy tender to enter the Korean War.[19] Between 1951 and 1954 Ironwood deployed to Korea four times. She supported LORAN stations on the peninsula. She was one of 24 Coast Guard ships that earned the Korean Service Medal.[20] By the late 1990s she out-lived all her peers and was the last active-duty ship so honored.
In July 1954 Ironwood was reassigned to Honolulu, Hawaii.[4] From this new homeport she ranged widely over the central Pacific servicing aids to navigation and LORAN stations. For example, in June 1960 she left Honolulu for a four month cruise with working stops in Samoa, Ponape, Truk, Guam, Koror, Ulithi, and Okinawa.[21] During this cruise, in August 1960, Ironwood was caught in Typhoon Trix while en route to Osaka, Japan. Her captain was unable to avoid the storm which carried 155 mph winds. A large wave swamped her aft deck. Water poured into the engine room and shorted out the electrical control board. The main engines and generators stopped, leaving the ship adrift with no electrical power. After extinguishing an electrical fire, the crew was able to restore enough power to radio for help. An Army tug was able to tow Ironwood to port in Okinawa.[22]
In August of 1963 Ironwood undertook a special mission to investigate radiation levels at Rongelap Atoll in the aftermath of a 1954 hydrogen bomb test on Bikini Atoll. A temporary lab was constructed on her buoy deck. For twelve days the ship carried a party of scientists around the atoll sampling plankton, fish, and vegetation. Much of the atoll was uncharted, so hydrographic data was collected as well. One of the newly discovered geographic features was named Ironwood Reef in honor of the ship.[23]
In 1967 the Republic of Vietnam had only a single buoy tender. It was not adequate to maintain and improve navigational aids needed by the increased US shipping activity along the South Vietnamese coast. The Coast Guard deployed four buoy tenders, including Ironwood, on short rotations to support aids to navigation during the Vietnam war.Ironwood's first deployment began in July 1967. Among the unique challenges faced in the war zone was that aids to navigation were used for target practice by all sides in the conflict. Batteries for lighted buoys were stolen by all sides for use in cars and other applications.[24] Whenever any of the Coast Guard buoy tenders were deployed to the theater they sailed with Vietnamese lighthouse service personnel aboard. The training they received was deemed sufficient to turn over responsibility for maintaining their own aids to navigation in December 1972, but by then the regime was falling. The last Coast Guard buoy tender left Vietnamese waters in the spring of 1973 as part of the general withdrawal of U.S. forces.[24]
Alaska service
On January 5, 1969 Ironwood arrived in Homer, Alaska. She was the first Coast Guard ship home-ported there.[25] An Atlantic Richfield Company tanker, SS Yukon, hit a rock in Cook Inlet in March 1969 and began to spill oil. Ironwood was dispatched to the scene to escort the vessel to safety.[26] In April 1969 a Shell Oil drilling platform in Cook Inlet exploded and caught fire. Ironwood responded, assisting in fire fighting.[27] While stationed at Homer she was active in enforcing fisheries laws in the Bering Sea.[28]
USCGC Ironwood in 1979
In 1974 Ironwood underwent a major renovation at the Coast Guard Yard where she was built. Her Diesel engines were overhauled, and she received a new electric motor to power her propeller. Water and sewage piping was replaced. Wiring and electrical switchboards were replaced. A bow thruster was added to improve her maneuverability. Crew quarters were modernized.[1]
After her renovation, Ironwood was assigned to Adak, Alaska. She was manned by the crew of the recently decommissioned USCGC Balsam, which had been assigned to Adak prior to her retirement.[29] She arrived at her new homeport in 1975. During this assignment she rescued four fisherman who had abandoned their vessel on Great Sitkin Island.[30]
After her service on Adak, she was reassigned to Kodiak, Alaska, where she spent the rest of her Coast Guard career. She arrived on May 1, 1979.[31] On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound spilling 10,800,000 US gallons (41,000m3) of crude oil. Ironwood was dispatched as part of a large Coast Guard response. She placed boom, set moorings for the response fleet, and observed conditions of the oil slick and affected wildlife.[32]
The Coast Guard planned to sell Ironwood to the Nigerian Navy, but the deal fell through. She was sold to a private individual instead in February 2001.[4] He, in turn, donated the ship to the U.S. Department of Labor which uses it as a training vessel in the Job Corps Seamanship Academy at Tongue Point in Astoria, Oregon. She now sails with a crew of sixty students and six instructors.[36]
The USCG seagoing buoy tender is a type of United States Coast Guard Cutter used to service aids to navigation throughout the waters of the United States and wherever American shipping interests require. The U.S. Coast Guard has maintained a fleet of seagoing buoy tenders dating back to its origins in the U.S. Lighthouse Service (USLHS). These ships originally were designated with the hull classification symbol WAGL, but in 1965 the designation was changed to WLB, which is still used today.
USCGC Balsam (WLB-62) was a Cactus-class seagoing buoy tender (WLB) in the United States Coast Guard. She operated in the Pacific Ocean during World War II, then saw service along the United States West Coast, Hawaii, and Alaska. After her decommissioning in 1975, she was repurposed as a crab catcher-processor and is active in Alaskan fisheries as F/V Baranof.
USCGC Cactus (WLB-270) is a 180 feet (55 m) seagoing buoy tender (WLB). A Cactus-class vessel, she was built by Marine Ironworks and Shipbuilding Corporation in Duluth, Minnesota. Cactus's preliminary design was completed by the United States Lighthouse Service and the final design was produced by Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Corporation in Duluth. On 31 March 1941 the keel was laid, she was launched on 25 November 1941 and commissioned on 1 September 1942. The original cost for the hull and machinery was $782,381.
USCGC Spar (WLB-206) is a United States Coast Guard Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender home-ported in Duluth, Minnesota. The ship maintains aids to navigation in the Twin Ports and Great Lakes.
USCGC Maple (WLB-207) is a Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. She was based at Sitka, Alaska for 16 years and is currently homeported at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Her primary mission is maintaining aids to navigation, but she also supports search and rescue, law enforcement, oil spill response, and other Coast Guard missions.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Oak is a United States Coast Guard seagoing buoy tender; the second of her name and the eleventh of the Juniper class. Home ported in Newport, Rhode Island the "Maine Responder" maintains Aids to Navigation (ATON) along the rugged New England coastline, promoting economic security through navigation safety of the Marine Transportation System. A multi-mission platform, the cutter can also support search & rescue, domestic icebreaking, living marine resources maritime law enforcement, environmental protection, national defense and homeland security missions. The cutter occasionally assists with maintenance support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Data Buoy Center's offshore weather buoys.
USCGC Fir (WLB-213) is a Juniper-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. USCGC Fir is under the Operational Control (OPCON) of the Commander of the Thirteenth Coast Guard District and is homeported in Astoria, Oregon. Fir's primary area of responsibility is the coastal waters, river bars and high seas of the Washingtonian and Oregonian coasts. USCGC Fir conducts heavy lift aids to navigation operations, law enforcement and other missions as directed.
USCGC Citrus (WAGL-300/WLB-300/WMEC-300) was a Cactus (A)-class seagoing buoy tender built in 1942 in Duluth, Minnesota, and now operated by the navy of the Dominican Republic.
USCGC Elm (WLB-204) is a U.S. Coast Guard Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender home-ported in Astoria, Oregon. She is responsible for maintaining aids to navigation on the coasts of Oregon and Washington, including the Columbia River.
USCGC Woodrush (WLB-407) was a buoy tender that performed general aids-to-navigation (ATON), search and rescue (SAR), and icebreaking duties for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) from 1944 to 2001 from home ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Sitka, Alaska. She responded from Duluth at full speed through a gale and high seas to the scene of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinking in 1975. In 1980, she took part in a rescue rated in the top 10 USCG rescues when she helped to save the passengers and crew of the cruise ship Prinsendam after it caught fire in position 57°38"N 140° 25"W then while being towed sank off Graham Island, British Columbia. She was one of the first vessels to respond to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. She was decommissioned on 2 March 2001 and sold to the Republic of Ghana to serve in the Ghana Navy.
USCGC Clover WAGL/WLB/WMEC-292, a Cactus (A) Class buoy tender was built by Marine Iron and Shipbuilding, Duluth, Minnesota. Her keel was laid 3 December 1941, and she was launched 25 April 1942. She was commissioned on 8 November 1942 in the United States Coast Guard as the United States Coast Guard Cutter Clover. She was built as a WAGL, redesignated a WLB in 1965, and again redesignated a WMEC in 1979.
USCGC Tupelo WAGL/WLB-303, was a Cactus (A) Class 180-foot buoy tender vessel built by Zenith Dredge Company of Duluth, Minnesota. Her keel was laid 15 August 1942, launched 28 November 1942 and commissioned on 30 August 1943. She was built as a WAGL and redesignated a WLB in 1965.
The USCGC Willow (WLB-202) is a United States Coast Guard seagoing buoy tender, the third of her name and the second of the Juniper-class. She is home-ported in Charleston, South Carolina, where she replaced her sister ship USCGC Oak in servicing 257 aids to navigation in District 7. Willow's area of operations stretches from South Carolina down to Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, Cuba, U.S. Virgin Islands and Haiti. In addition to her primary aids-to-navigation (ATON) role, Willow also performs other duties, such as maritime border security, marine environmental protection, maritime law enforcement, and search and rescue. The Willow transitioned from her former home port of Newport, RI in 2017 after spending over a year in a Baltimore dry dock being refitted and modernized.
USCGC Aspen (WLB-208) is the eighth cutter in the Juniper-class 225 ft (69 m) of seagoing buoy tenders. She is under the operational control of the Commander of the Eleventh U.S. Coast Guard District and is home-ported at Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco, California. Her primary area of responsibility is the coastal waters, river bars and high seas from the California–Oregon border to San Diego, California. Aspen conducts heavy lift aids-to-navigation operations, and law enforcement, homeland security, environmental pollution response, and search and rescue as directed.
USCGC Kukui (WLB-203) is the third cutter in the Juniper-class 225 ft (69 m) of seagoing buoy tenders and is the third ship to bear the name. She is under the operational control of the Commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District and is home-ported in Sitka, Alaska. Her primary area of responsibility is the inland and coastal waters of southeastern Alaska. Kukui conducts heavy lift aids-to-navigation operations, and law enforcement, homeland security, environmental pollution response, and search and rescue as directed.
USCGC Walnut (WLB-205) is the fifth cutter in the Juniper-class 225 ft (69 m) of seagoing buoy tenders and is the second ship to bear the name. She is under the operational control of the Commander of the Fourteenth Coast Guard District and is home-ported on Sand Island in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her primary area of responsibility is the coastal waters and high seas around the Hawaiian Islands and American Samoa. Walnut conducts heavy lift aids-to-navigation operations, and law enforcement, homeland security, environmental pollution response, and search and rescue as directed.
USCGC Buttonwood (WAGL-306/WLB-306) was a Mesquite-class sea-going buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. She served in World War II as well as a variety of domestic missions. After decommissioning she was acquired by the Dominican Republic Navy and renamed Almirante Didiez Burgos. She is still active as the flagship of the Dominican Navy.
USCGC Planetree (WAGL/WLB-307) was a Mesquite-class seagoing buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. She served during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, as well as in a variety of domestic missions.
The USCGC Sweetbrier (WAGL-405/WLB-405) was an Iris-class 180-foot seagoing buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. She served in the Pacific during World War II. Her entire post-war career with the Coast Guard was spent in Alaska. After she was decommissioned in 2001, she was transferred to the Ghana Navy and renamed Bonsu. She is still active.
USCGC Sedge (WAGL-402/WLB-402) was an Iris-class 180-foot seagoing buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. She served in the Pacific during World War II and in Alaska during the rest of her Coast Guard career. Sedge was decommissioned in 2002 and transferred to the Nigerian Navy where she is still active as NNS Kyanwa.
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