USCGC Papaw. | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Builder | Marine Ironworks & Shipbuilding Corporation, Duluth, Minnesota |
Cost | $870,836 |
Laid down | 16 November 1942 |
Launched | 19 February 1943 |
Commissioned | 12 October 1943 |
Decommissioned | 23 July 1999 |
Identification | IMO number: 8966145 |
Fate | Donated to non-profit organization (F/V Mersea) |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 1,025 long tons (1,041 t) |
Length | 180 ft (55 m) |
Beam | 37 ft (11 m) |
Propulsion | 2 × Cooper-Bessemer diesel-electric engines |
Speed | 13.5 kn (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph) |
Range | 8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
Complement | 7 Officers; 42 Enlisted |
Armament |
|
USCGC Papaw (WLB-308) was a sea-going buoy tender whose design is based on the pre-World War II United States Lighthouse Service Tenders. The original design was modified to provide an armored cutter capable of wartime missions in addition to her primary mission of Aids to Navigation. Papaw was built in 1943 by the Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Company of Duluth, Minnesota. Commissioned 12 October 1943, she was assigned the home port of San Francisco, California.
Papaw saw extensive duty during World War II establishing aids to navigation systems for the newly captured islands in the Pacific. After the war Papaw's home port was moved to Astoria, Oregon. In June 1949, Papaw was shifted to the warm waters of Miami, Florida where she assumed responsibility for the aids to navigation in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean. In 1954, Papaw was moved, this time to Charleston, South Carolina under the command of RJ Papp who would later become Commandant of the Coast Guard alongside William Jennings which the VA is named after. There she maintained buoys, shore stations, and towers. In October 1989 Papaw entered the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland. She arrived at her new home port of Galveston, Texas on June 18, 1991.
Papaw services approximately 150 aids to navigation from Brownsville, Texas to Calcasieu, Louisiana. The ship carried out many missions throughout the Gulf of Mexico including: Search and Rescue, Drug and Contraband Interdiction, Environmental Protection, Military Readiness Exercises, and Buoy Deployment Operations with the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration.
Papaw's main propulsion system was diesel electric. Two 700 hp General Motors E.M.D. diesel engines each drove a DC generator which provided electricity to the 550 volt Westinghouse main motor. At 1200 hp the main motor turned a single shaft to a maximum speed of 13.5 knots (25 km/h). Electric power was supplied by two 200 kW generators each driven by a Detroit Diesel engine. A bow thruster was fitted during the 1989 Service Life Extension Program giving the Papaw greater maneuverability. The Papaw's main boom was hydraulically operated and had a maximum working load of 20 tons.
Buoys serviced by the Papaw ranged from tiny 6-foot (2 m) nun buoys to the 35-foot (11 m) tall 18,000 lb Galveston Entrance Channel Buoy. Most buoys are equipped with electrical lights powered by batteries and solar cells. Some have sound signals, radar beacons, and elaborate power systems. All buoys are pulled from the water at least once a year for painting, maintenance, and position checks.
The Papaw has received many awards during its history. Her wartime honors include: the World War II Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and two National Defense Service Medals. Papaw has also received many peacetime commendations, these include: two Coast guard Meritorious Unit Commendations, a Humanitarian Service Medal, and a Coast Guard Special Operations Ribbon.
Papaw was decommissioned on 23 July 1999 at Group Galveston, Texas. She was donated to Canvasback Missions of Benicia, California, a nonprofit organization. She is currently operating as the F/V Mersea, an emergency relief ship as part of the Friend Ships fleet. Her sister ship, the USCGC Conifer, is also part of the Friend Ships fleet as the F/V Hope.
USCGC Alder (WLB-216) is the final Juniper-class, 225-foot (69 m) seagoing buoy tender of the United States Coast Guard.
USCGC Mesquite (WAGL/WLB-305) was the lead ship in the Mesquite class of seagoing buoy tenders operated by the United States Coast Guard. She served in the Pacific during World War II, and spent the rest of her Coast Guard career in the Great Lakes. She ran aground and was wrecked in December 1989 off the Keweenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior. She was scuttled nearby as a recreational diving attraction.
USCGC Bramble (WLB-392) is one of the 39 original 180-foot (55 m) seagoing buoy tenders built between 1942 and 1944 for the United States Coast Guard. In commission from 1944 until 2003 she saw service in Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic waters as well as the Great Lakes. In 1947 Bramble was present at the Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll and in 1957 a circumnavigation of North America involved a forced traverse of the Northwest Passage. After decommissioning in 2003 Bramble became a museum ship in Port Huron, Michigan. In 2018 she was sold to a private owner, who is preparing MV Bramble to repeat her historic 1957 circumnavigation of North America.
The USCGC Conifer was a 180 foot seagoing buoy tender. Conifer and her sister ships, commonly referred to as "one-eighties", served as the backbone of the Coast Guard's Aids to Navigation fleet for over 50 years before their replacement by the newer Juniper-class cutters.
The USCGC Acacia (WAGL-406/WLB-406) is an Iris-class 180-foot seagoing buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. Acacia was a multi-purpose vessel, nominally a buoy tender, but with equipment and capabilities for ice breaking, search and rescue, fire fighting, logistics, oil spill response, and other tasks as well. She spent almost all of her 62-year Coast Guard career on the Great Lakes. After decommissioning she became a museum ship in Manistee, Michigan.
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 Blackthorn (WLB-391) was a 180-foot (55 m) seagoing buoy tender (WLB) which sank in 1980 in a collision near the Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway Bridge, resulting in 23 crew member fatalities. An Iris-class vessel, she was built by Marine Ironworks and Shipbuilding Corporation in Duluth, Minnesota. Blackthorn'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 21 May 1943 the keel was laid, she was launched on 20 July 1943 and commissioned on 27 March 1944. The original cost for the hull and machinery was $876,403.
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 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.
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 Smilax (WAGL/WLIC-315) is a 100-foot (30 m) United States Coast Guard Cosmos-class inland construction tender, commissioned in 1944. Smilax is the "Queen of the Fleet", as the oldest commissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter.
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 Ironwood (WAGL-297/WLB-297) was a Mesquite-class sea-going buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. She served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War as well as a variety of domestic missions. She currently serves as a seamanship training vessel for Job Corps.
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.
USCGC Elderberry (WLI-65401) is an inland buoy tender of the United States Coast Guard. She is based at Petersburg, Alaska and is responsible for maintaining aids to navigation. Her efforts are focused on waterways that are especially shallow or restricted.
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.