History
Tallapoosa left Newport News, Virginia towed by USGCC Apache on 16 July 1915 and arrived at the Coast Guard Depot at Curtis Bay, Maryland, the following day. The officers and crew of Winona were transferred to her on 18 July and she was placed in commission at the depot 12 August 1915. She was assigned her first homeport at Mobile, Alabama on 17 August 1915. During this period she made search and rescue patrols between Port Eads, Louisiana, and Tampa, Florida. On 18 November 1915 she transported the National Currency Association of Alabama on a tour and inspection of the harbor of Mobile. On 19 January 1916 she participated in the celebration of the completion of the Gulf, Florida and Alabama Railroad held at Pensacola, Florida. On 6–7 March 1916 and on 19–20 February 1917, she participated in the Mardi Gras celebration at Mobile, Alabama. [3] [4]
U.S. Navy service during World War I
From 6 April 1917 until 28 August 1919, the U.S. Coast Guard was temporarily under the control of the U.S. Navy Department. [3] [Note 1] On the morning of 9 April, crew members from Tallapoosa and Tampa boarded the Austrian steamer Borneo in Hillsboro Bay near Tampa and seized the ship and arrested the crew. Borneo was turned over to customs authorities and the crew was left in the custody of local authorities. [6] After the seizure, Tallapoosa was assigned patrol duties on the approaches to Tampa harbor and the entrance to Egmont Key. Her commanding officer, First Lieutenant James F. Hottel, was assigned by the Seventh Naval District commander to inspect all motor boats used by the Navy in the Tampa area. In addition, he was responsible for recruiting personnel for the U.S. Naval Reserve. At the end of July 1917 Tallapoosa was transferred to Patrol Squadron One located at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [7] In late August, she took the seized German steamship Constantia in tow at Cienfuegos, Cuba and delivered her to the naval station at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 8 September. [8] Tallapoosa was then assigned to Key West, Florida, where the Navy used her for search and rescue work and towing. She towed barges from Key West to Norfolk, from New Orleans to Bermuda, and from Panama to Norfolk. After repairs at the Coast Guard Depot, she towed the naval ordnance barge Sargent from the Washington Navy Yard to New London, Connecticut and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. [8]
In September 1918 she was sent to Boston, Massachusetts, where a battery of 3-inch guns were installed along with depth charges and releasing gear. On 7 November she was transferred to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for anti-submarine operations. After the armistice was signed ending the war on 11 November, she participated in search and rescue work in the North Atlantic. [3] [7] The cutter was almost crushed by ice during one incident involving the rescue of a group of stranded fishermen near Forteau Harbor. After breaking through the ice to the village and giving food and medical supplies to the natives and picking up the fishermen, she was caught in a snow storm in the sub-zero weather and almost crushed by ice before she could return to Halifax. [3]
Postwar Gulf of Mexico service
On 4 March 1920, Tallapoosa resumed her patrols and returned to her old home port of Mobile. On 11 October 1920, she was assigned to the Gulf Division. On 3 August 1921 Tallapoosa arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, towing sub chasers, on the 29th she arrived at Tampa towing the cutter Arrow from Key West. [4] On 3 December 1922, she returned to Key West from a cruise to Sanibel, Florida. On 10 December her cruising district was again established as that portion of the coast bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and extending from Port Eads to Tampa, with headquarters still at Mobile, Alabama. [3] On 30 January 1924, Tallapoosa participated in the Gasparilla Carnival at Tampa. Sometime in 1924 she was in a collision with Japanese cargo ship Malta Maru off Pensacola, Florida, resulting in some damage to Malta Maru. [9] On 23 February 1925, she also participated in the Mardi Gras celebration at Mobile. [4] During September 1926 she was part of a task force organized to aid hurricane victims in Florida; her crew helping maintain order, improvising hospitals, and assisting in the search for the missing. [10] [Note 2] On 2 January 1929, her permanent station was changed to Key West. [4] On 9 November 1929 Tallapoosa arrived at the Coast Guard Depot where she underwent extensive repairs and alterations in preparation for assignment to the Bering Sea Patrol She departed for her new home port at Juneau, Alaska, on 10 December 1930, arriving there on 6 February 1931. [3] [4]
Bering Sea Patrol
Tallapoosa departed Juneau on 13 April 1931 for Dixon Entrance on Bering Sea Patrol duty. The next few years were spent doing sealing patrols and treaty enforcement in Alaskan waters, with occasional trips to Seattle, Washington, for drydocking and repair. [3] [4]
Savannah, Georgia
Tallapoosa departed Seattle for hew new permanent station at Savannah, Georgia, on 7 August 1937 and arrived at Savannah on 24 October. She spent the winter of 1939–1940 cruising on search and rescue missions in the Jacksonville, Florida, area. From 24 October 1940 to 24 November 1940, Tallapoosa spent time being rearmed at the plant of Todd Shipyard, Inc., at Algiers, Louisiana. [3]
U.S. Navy service during World War II
In March 1941, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. considered Tallapoosa and sister ship Ossipee along with Unalga and several other older cutters to be included in a Lend-lease agreement with Great Britain, but they were considered too old to be of much service and were retained by the Coast Guard. Ten newer Lake-class cutters were sent to the Lend-lease program instead. [12] [13] Tallapoosa remained in the 6th Naval District throughout World War II where she engaged in convoy and anti-submarine work. Between 30 May and 22 June 1942, she searched small areas where submarines had been sighted, but with negative results. She was rearmed, repaired, and altered at Merrill-Stevens Drydock & Repair Co. at Jacksonville late in 1942. Beginning in November 1942 Tallapoosa was assigned anti-submarine patrols in the Charleston, South Carolina area and some convoy escort duty. Although she reported several possible sonar contacts with submarines they did not result in any confirmed kills. [3]
During January 1943, the principal activity of Tallapoosa was as an observing vessel for tests in connection with shore blackouts. She operated from the section base at Mayport, Florida, making nightly trips to a position south at St. John's light vessel, sometimes accompanied by USS Umpqua; which acted as a "target" vessel. The US Army Corps of Engineers made various arrangements of shore lighting in the vicinity of Jacksonville Beach, Florida. These lights varied in intensity and were measured aboard the cutter from seaward by civilian experts using photometers to determine the amount of light constituting a hazard to a merchant vessel passing between a submarine and a shore light. On one occasion the visibility of various navigational aids was tested. Proceeding to Jacksonville after three tests, the cutter underwent repairs until 28 February 1943, when she returned to her anti-submarine patrols in the 6th Naval District until the fall of 1945, when she was sent to Curtis Bay, Maryland, for decommissioning. [3]
Decommissioning
Tallapoosa was decommissioned on 18 November 1945. On 22 July 1946 Tallapoosa was sold to the Caribbean Fruit and Steamship Company and renamed Santa Maria. [1] [3] [14]
Tallapoosa's ships bell now resides in Tallapoosa, Georgia. [15]
USRC Windom was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service and United States Coast Guard that served from 1896 to 1930. She was named for William Windom, the 33rd and 39th United States Secretary of the Treasury. She served during the Spanish–American War with the United States Navy. Windom was recommissioned as USCGC Comanche in 1915 and again served with the Navy as USS Comanche during World War I.
USS Bancroft was a United States Navy steel gunboat in commission from 1893 to 1898 and again from 1902 to 1905. She saw service during the Spanish–American War. After her U.S. Navy career, she was in commission in the United States Revenue Cutter Service from 1907 to 1915 as the revenue cutter USRC Itasca, and in the Revenue Cutter Service's successor service, the United States Coast Guard, as the cutter USCGC Itasca from 1915 to 1922. During her Coast Guard career, she saw service during World War I.
USRC Hudson, known for her service during the Battle of Cárdenas, was the United States Revenue Cutter Service's first vessel to have a steel hull and triple-expansion steam engine.
USS Delaware was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy for use during the American Civil War. She had a very active naval career as a gunboat for over three years, and after the war served as a revenue cutter for over 37 years. The steamer was sold to the private sector in 1903, and disappeared from shipping registers in 1919.
USCGC Ossipee (WPR-50) was a United States Coast Guard cutter of the Tallapoosa class constructed by Newport News Shipbuilding of Newport News, Virginia, and commissioned 28 July 1915. Her hull was strengthened for light icebreaking operations. She was assigned a homeport of Portland, Maine, after commissioning and cruised as far south as Cape Ann, Massachusetts, serving in a law enforcement and search and rescue capacity. She saw service in both World War I and World War II.
USCGC Seneca, or before 1915 USRC Seneca, was a United States Coast Guard cutter built and commissioned as a "derelict destroyer" with the specific mission of locating and then destroying abandoned shipwrecks that were still afloat and were a menace to navigation. She was designed with excellent sea-keeping qualities, a long cruising range, good towing capabilities, and by necessity the capacity to store a large amount of munitions. She was one of five Coast Guard cutters serving with the U.S. Navy in European waters during World War I.
USCGC Tampa (ex-Miami) was a Miami-class cutter that initially served in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, followed by service in the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy. Tampa was used extensively on the International Ice Patrol and also during the Gasparilla Carnival at Tampa, Florida and other regattas as a patrol vessel. It was sunk with the highest American naval combat casualty loss in World War I.
USRC Manning was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service that served from 1898 to 1930, and saw service in the U.S. Navy in the Spanish–American War and World War I.
USRC Onondaga was an Algonquin-class cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service for service on the Great Lakes. Because of the Spanish–American War, she was cut in half shortly before completion and transported to Ogdensburg, New York for service on the Atlantic coast although the war ended before she could be put into service. After the formation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915 she became USCGC Onondaga. She served as a patrol vessel at various Atlantic coast ports before World War I and unlike most Coast Guard cutters during World War I, she remained under the control of the Commandant of the Coast Guard. After the war she patrolled for a brief time based at New London, Connecticut before being decommissioned in 1923.
USRC Mohawk, was a steel steam powered revenue cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service by William R. Trigg Company at Richmond, Virginia. Her primary duties in the Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard were assisting vessels in distress and enforcing navigational laws as well as a derelict destroyer. Mohawk was sunk after a collision with another vessel in October 1917.
USRC Forward was a revenue cutter constructed for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service in 1882 by Pusey & Jones shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the second Revenue Cutter Service vessel named Forward and was named for Walter Forward, the fifteenth United States Secretary of the Treasury. The iron-hulled vessel originally cost US$72,750 and was powered by a two-cylinder steam engine with a topsail schooner brigantine sail pattern. Although Forward was considered a model ship at the time of its construction, it was severely underpowered and had unreliable machinery. The cost of repairs in the first fifteen years of operation was US$52,000.
USCGC Point Glover (WPB-82307) was an 82-foot (25 m) Point class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1960 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1960 was not to name cutters under 100 feet (30 m) in length, it was designated as WPB-82307 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Glover in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet (20 m).
USCGC Point Mast (WPB-82316) was an 82-foot (25 m) Point class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1961 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1961 was not to name cutters under 100 feet (30 m) in length, it was designated as WPB-82316 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Mast in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet (20 m).
USCGC Point Young (WPB-82303) was an 82-foot (25 m) Point class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1960 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1960 was not to name cutters under 100 feet (30 m) in length, it was designated as WPB-82303 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Young in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet (20 m).
USRC Pamlico was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service that served from 1907 to 1946 designed specifically to cruise inland waters and did so while stationed at New Bern, North Carolina her entire career.
USCGC Marion (WSC-145), was a 125 ft (38 m) United States Coast Guard Active-class patrol boat in commission from 1927 to 1962. She was named for Francis Marion, an American Revolutionary War general who was known for his unconventional warfare tactics. Marion served during the Rum Patrol and World War II performing defense, law enforcement, ice patrol, and search and rescue missions. Most notably, Marion served as the platform for the first intensive oceanographic studies made by the Coast Guard.
USCGC Crawford (WSC-134), was a 125 ft (38 m) United States Coast Guard Active-class patrol boat in commission from 1927 to 1947. She was named for William H. Crawford, (1772–1834) who was appointed in 1816 as Secretary of the Treasury by President James Madison and he continued under President James Monroe through 1825. Crawford was the seventh vessel commissioned by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and the Coast Guard named after the former secretary. She served during the Rum Patrol and World War II performing defense, law enforcement, ice patrol, and search and rescue missions.
USCGC Unalga (WPG-53) was a Miami-class cutter that served in the United States Revenue Cutter Service and later the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy. The early part of her career was spent patrolling the Pacific coast of the United States and the Bering Sea. After 1931 she did patrol work off Florida and in the Caribbean. After Unalga was sold in 1946, she was renamed after Jewish Agency leader Haim Arlosoroff and used for six months for moving Jewish refugees from Europe to Palestine before being forced to run aground by British Navy ships near Haifa.
USCGC Cape Shoalwater was a 95-foot (29 m) type "C" Cape-class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1958 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.
United States