USS Ossipee (WPG-50)

Last updated
USCGC Ossipee (WPR 50).jpg
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameUSS Ossipee
NamesakeThe Ossipee River in eastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine
Builder Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation
Launched1915
Completed1915
Acquired6 April 1917
Commissioned28 July 1915 (into U.S. Coast Guard)
Decommissioned12 June 1945
FateSold 18 September 1946
NotesServed in U.S. Coast Guard 1915-1917 and 1919-1941, and in U.S. Navy 1917-1919 and 1941-1945
General characteristics
Type United States Coast Guard Cutter
Displacement908 long tons (923 t)
Length165 ft 10 in (50.55 m)
Beam32 ft 0 in (9.75 m)
Draft11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)
Speed13 knots
Complement60
Armament4 × 3 in (76 mm) guns

The second USS Ossipee (WPG-50) was a United States Coast Guard cutter that served in the Coast Guard from 1915 to 1917, in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919, in the Coast Guard again from 1919 to 1941, and in the Navy again from 1941 to 1945.

Ossipee, built by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation, Newport News, Virginia, as a cruising cutter, was launched in 1915. Accepted by the United States Government on 10 July 1915, she commissioned on 28 July 1915. She arrived at Portland, Maine, on 17 August 1915 and commenced coastal patrol and rescue operations in the U.S. Coast Guard in a cruising district from Eastport, Maine, to Cape Ann, Massachusetts.

Transferred to the U.S. Navy by an Executive Order of 6 April 1917 for service in World War I, Ossipee was assigned to Squadron Two, Division Six, Atlantic Patrol Forces. She arrived at Gibraltar on 30 August 1917, and assumed convoy escort duty between Gibraltar and the United Kingdom. She also took part in anti-submarine operations in the Mediterranean Sea. The cutter cruised in the war zone from 23 August 1917 until 11 November 1918, during which time she assisted in the escort of 596 merchant ships, only five of which were lost to submarine action.

Ossipee returned to the control of the Department of the Treasury for Coast Guard service in accordance with an Executive Order of 28 August 1919. Upon return to the United States, she resumed patrol and rescue operations out of Portland, Maine. She also helped to reinaugurate the cruises of the International Ice Patrol in the winter of 1920–1921. During Prohibition in the United States, the cutter was called upon to serve as an occasional unit of the Coast Guard's seagoing force that battled the "rum-runners".

Ossipee continued coastal patrol, rescue, and navigational aid service operations out of Portland, Maine, through 1935. Transferred to Great Lakes duty in 1936, she was assigned to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. By the time of her second transfer to the Navy on 1 November 1941, she was carried on the Coast Guard Register as a "miscellaneous cutter." Her World War II operations consisted of Lake Erie patrols out of Cleveland, Ohio.

Ossipee decommissioned on 12 June 1945 and was sold on 18 September 1946 to Harold H. Neff of East Cleveland, Ohio.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Cummings</i> (DD-44) Cassin-class destroyer

The first USS Cummings (DD-44) was a Cassin-class destroyer used by the United States Navy during World War I. She was later transferred to the United States Coast Guard, where she was designated CG-3. She was named for Lieutenant Commander Andrew Boyd Cummings.

USS <i>Du Pont</i> (DD-152)

USS Du Pont (DD–152) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II, later reclassified as AG-80. She was the second ship named for Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont.

USS <i>Drayton</i> (DD-23)

USS Drayton (DD-23) was a Paulding-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was the first ship named for Captain Percival Drayton.

USS <i>Warrington</i> (DD-30)

The first USS Warrington (DD-30) was a modified Paulding-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I. She was named for Lewis Warrington.

USS <i>Trippe</i> (DD-33) Paulding-class destroyer in the United States Navy

The second USS Trippe (DD-33) was a Paulding-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and later in the United States Coast Guard, designated (CG-20). She was named for Lieutenant John Trippe.

USS <i>McDougal</i> (DD-54) OBrien class destroyer

USS McDougal was an O'Brien-class destroyer built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the second U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of David Stockton McDougal, a U.S. Navy officer notable for his leadership during an 1863 battle off Japan while in command of Wyoming.

USS <i>Davis</i> (DD-65)

USS Davis (DD-65) was a Sampson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I. She was the second Navy ship named for Rear Admiral Charles Henry Davis (1807–1877). She served with the United States Coast Guard as (CG-21).

USCGC <i>Ossipee</i> (WPR-50)

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 <i>Tallapoosa</i> (WPG-52)

USCGC Tallapoosa (WPG-52) was a United States Coast Guard cutter of the Tallapoosa-class and was designed to replace the revenue cutter Winona. Her hull was reinforced for light icebreaking. She was initially stationed at Mobile, Alabama, with cruising grounds to Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana and Fowey Rocks, Florida. During World War I she escorted convoys out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After the war she served with the Bering Sea Patrol before returning to Savannah, Georgia before World War II. During the war Tallapoosa assisted with convoy escort duty and anti-submarine patrols.

USCGC <i>Seneca</i> (1908)

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 <i>Northland</i> (WPG-49)

USCGC Northland (WPG-49) was a United States Coast Guard cruising class of gunboat especially designed for Arctic operations that served in World War II and later served in the Israeli Navy. She was the last cruising cutter built for the Coast Guard equipped with a sailing rig.

USCGC <i>Tampa</i> (1912) US Coast Guard ship

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.

USS <i>Calypso</i> (AG-35)

The third USS Calypso (AG-35) was launched 6 January 1932 for the United States Coast Guard as USCGC Calypso (WPC-104) by the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. She was initially stationed at San Diego, California and transferred to Baltimore, Maryland in 1938. She was transferred from the Coast Guard to the U.S. Navy on 17 May 1941 and commissioned the same day, Chief Boatswain J. H. Keevers, USN in command.

USRC <i>Manning</i> (1898)

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 <i>Onondaga</i> (1898)

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.

USS <i>Acushnet</i>

Acushnet – a steel-hulled revenue cutter – was launched on 16 May 1908 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; sponsored by Miss Alayce Duff; and commissioned at Baltimore on 6 November 1908. She saw service as a United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter, a U.S. Navy fleet tug, and as a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. She was taken out of service 8 January 1946.

USCGC <i>Unalga</i> (WPG-53)

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 <i>Argo</i>

USCGC Argo (WPC-100) was a Thetis-class patrol boat belonging to the United States Coast Guard launched on 12 November 1932 and commissioned on 6 January 1933.

USCGC Chelan (1928) was a Lake-class cutter belonging to the United States Coast Guard launched on 19 May 1928 and commissioned on 5 September 1928. After 13 years of service to the Coast Guard, she was transferred to the Royal Navy as part of the Lend-Lease Act, and named HMS Lulworth (Y60). During the war Lulworth served in a convoy Escort Group for Western Approaches Command

USRC <i>Gresham</i> (1897) U.S. Revenue Service cutter

USRC Gresham was a cruising cutter and auxiliary gunboat built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service to patrol the Great Lakes. She was one of a series of cutters named for former U.S. Secretaries of the Treasury. Her namesake Walter Q. Gresham served as the 35th Secretary of the Treasury in 1884 and died in 1895 while serving as the 33rd U.S. Secretary of State. She became part of the newly created United States Coast Guard in 1915, and also served as a coastal convoy escort and patrol boat under United States Navy control during both World War I and World War II. After being decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1944, she eventually came under Israeli control in 1947. She carried Jewish refugees from Italy to Palestine and later served in the fledgling Israeli Navy until 1951.

References