Tupelo,
1943
WAGL / WLB-303
A North American tree (Nyssa
multiflora) of the Dogwood family, having brilliant, glossy foliage and
acid red berries. The wood is crossgrained and very difficult to
split.
Builder: Zenith Dredge Co., Duluth, Minnesota
Keel laid: 15 August 1942
Launched: 28 November 1942
Commissioned: 30 August 1943
Decommissioned: 30 September 1975, sold 13 Sept 77
Cost: $948,887
Length: 180
Beam: 37
Draft: 13
Displacement: 1,000 tons
Propulsion: 1 electric motor connected to 2 Westinghouse generators driven
by 2 Cooper-Bessemer-type GND-8, 8-cylinder, 4-cycle. Diesels; one prop,
1000 SHP
Performance
Max: 11.5 knots, 3940 miles
Cruising:
Economic: 10 knots, 6259 miles
Fluid Capacities (in gallons):
Diesel Oil: 29,000
Potable Water:
Deck Gear: 20-ton boom, electric
Anchors:
Armament: 1 3’/50 (single), 2 20 mm/80 (single); 2 dc tracks; 2
Mousetraps; 4 Y-guns
Small Boats:
Complement: 50
Electronics
Radar: SL
Sonar: WEA-2
Class History:
When the US Coast Guard absorbed
the Bureau of Lighthouses on 1 July 1939, Juniper,
a 177-foot all welded steel buoy tender, was under construction and
plans for a successor were on the drawing board. Plans initiated by the
Bureau of Lighthouses called for the construction of several identical buoy
tenders to replace existing coastal buoy tenders. The preliminary designs
generated by the Bureau were for a vessel similar to Juniper.
When the Aids to Navigation (ATON) system transferred to Coast Guard
control, USCG planners reviewed the preliminary plans for the new class of
buoy tenders and modified them to meet the service’s multi-mission role.
To be an effective part of the Coast Guard, the new buoy tenders needed to
be multi-purpose platforms. They had to be capable of conducting Search and
Rescue (SAR) and Law Enforcement (LE) missions, as well as their primary
mission tending ATON. On 20 January 1941 the US Coast Guard contracted
Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Company of
Duluth
, Minnesota
to build the design based on Juniper and
modified to meet the service’s requirements. On 31 March 1941 Marine Iron
and Shipbuilding laid the keel for the first vessel of the new buoy tender
class. The new vessel measured 180 feet overall and had a beam of 37 feet at
the extreme. She had a displacement of 935 tons and drew 12 feet. The new
design was similar to Juniper in
appearance but did exhibit some important differences. Gone was the turtle
back forecastle. A notched forefoot, ice-belt at the waterline, and
reinforced bow gave the vessel icebreaking capabilities. Extending the
superstructure to the ship’s sides increased interior volume above the
main deck. A single propeller, turned by an electric motor powered by twin
diesel generators, replaced the twin-screw arrangement. The 30,000-gallon
fuel capacity gave the new design a range of 12,000 miles at a 12-knot
cruising speed; at 8.3 knots the cruising range increased to 17,000 miles.
Finer lines at the bow and stern increased the new tender’s sea keeping
ability in rough weather; an increase in draft also promoted seaworthiness.
Numerous minor alterations increased the vessel’s utility as a SAR
platform while deck-mounted guns and depth charge racks supported military
duties. Marine Iron and Shipbuilding launched the prototype vessel on
25 November 1941, even as three more took shape. Preparations also went
forward to begin a fifth vessel. By the time they commissioned the first
180, Cactus,
on 1 September 1942 twelve vessels were under construction at the Marine
Iron shipyard and at the Zenith Dredge Company shipyard, also in
Duluth
. The initial designation for the new buoy tenders was WAGL, which was a US
Navy designation denoting an auxiliary vessel, lighthouse tender. The
designation changed from WAGL to WLB in 1965. A few of the 180s have been
designated as other types of vessels over the years; three became WMECs
(medium endurance cutters), one of those, Evergreen,
was a WAGO (oceanographic research vessel) before it became a WMEC. Gentian
was a WMEC for a time and was then designated a WIX (Training Cutter) in
1999. Though designations have changed over time, each vessel’s hull
number has remained the same since commissioning.
DIFFERENCES WITHIN THE 180' CLASS
Six “B” or
Mesquite
class tenders followed the initial production run of thirteen vessels in the
“A’ or Cactus-class. The
first Mesquite-class tender hit
the water on 14 November 1942. Marine Iron and Shipbuilding built all except
one of the Mesquite-class. The
USCG built the lone exception, Ironwood,
at the service’s shipyard in Curtis Bay, Maryland. Twenty Iris
or “C” class vessels followed the Mesquite-class
tenders. The first launch of an Iris class
vessel took place on 18 June 1943, and the final addition to the class
slipped off the ways on 18 May 1944.
Differences among the three classes were minimal. Their basic dimensions,
length and beam were the same and draft varied based on loading. All were
built of welded steel along the same framing pattern and with very similar
internal and external layouts. All three classes could steam 8,000 miles at
13 knots, 12,000 miles at 12 knots, and 17,000 miles at 8.3 knots; though
the “B” and “C” class vessels had engines with 20 percent more power
than the “A” class. The “A” class vessels could carry the most fuel
with a tank capacity of 30,000 gallons. The “C” class carried 29,335
gallons and the “B” class about 700 gallons less. The layout of the
Commanding Officer’s cabin and the radio room was slightly different in
the “A” class vessels. The bridge wing door on the “B” and “C”
vessels opened to the side while the doors on the “A” vessels opened
forward. The cargo holds as originally laid out in the “C” were larger,
by a nominal amount, than those in the other vessels. To hoist buoys and
cargo, the “A” vessels carried an A-frame structure that straddled the
superstructure and supported the cargo boom. The other two classes were
fitted with power vangs that attached to the bridge wings and manipulated
the cargo boom. The “A” vessels were originally fitted with manila line
as part of the cargo handling system while the second and third generation
vessels used wire rope. From the outside, other than the A-frame used in the
first production run, the three classes were almost indistinguishable. Over
the years their internal differences and variation in equipment were
minimized by successive overhauls and improvements. Moreover, it does not
appear that any one of the three classes was superior to the other two in
the eyes of the US Coast Guard administration or the men who manned the buoy
tender fleet. Tenders from each of the three classes remained in use past
the turn of the 21st century. It usually took from two to four
months between the time shipyard workers laid a keel and the day the vessel
slipped off the ways. Once launched, however, the tenders were far from
ready for service. The practice was to build the superstructure, finish the
interior, and complete the machinery installation while the vessel was
floating. Hence, on launch day the tenders were little more than finished
hulls. As the shipyard workers neared the end of the building process, the
Coast Guard would begin assigning officers and men to the vessels. Once each
vessel was complete and ready to enter active service, the US
Coast Guard commissioned her as part of the fleet. Often the commissioning
ceremonies took place after the tender had departed from
Duluth
and arrived at an initial duty station. For the 180s as a whole, it took an
average period of 308 days to go from the beginning of construction to
commissioning. Divided according to sub-class, the elapsed time from keel
laying to commissioning averaged 360 days for the Cactus-class;
323 days for the Mesquite-class;
and 269 days for the Iris-class.
The building process averaged 192,018 man-hours of labor per vessel. In
keeping with the Lighthouse Service practice of naming tenders after
foliage, all of the 180s were named after trees, shrubs, or flowers.
Cutter History:
Tupelo, a 180-foot Cactus
or A-class tender, was built in Duluth, Minnesota by the Zenith Dredge
Company. Her keel was laid on 15 August 1942. She was christened
and launched on 28 November 1942. She was commissioned on 30 August
1943 under the command of LT W.V. Fulcher.
Her first homeport was Boston, Massachusetts. She was there for a
year, with her primary duties in aids to navigation (ATON). She was
then, in 1944, sent on a wartime deployment to the South Pacific where she
was part of CINCPAC and also did ATON duty in Guam.
After the war she was sent to Toledo, Ohio where she was home ported until
1969. Her primary duties were ATON and search and rescue missions.
Some examples of these SAR missions are: On 11 September 1952 she assisted
during the grounding of the M/Vs Kulas and Fink in Livingstone
Channel. On 12 January 1963 she assisted in the rescue of 154 persons
stranded on an ice float. They were adrift ten miles east of Toledo.
In October 1969 she stood by the grounded British M/V Hawthorne
Enterprise on Mona Island until she was relieved by the cutter Point
Warde. She was also responsible for ice-breaking duties . One example of
this happened in January of 1969, when she broke an ice jam below Monroe,
Michigan, thus removing the threat of flooding to the city.
On 1 November 1969, she was sent to Astoria, Oregon to replace the Magnolia.
This would ultimately become her last homeport. On 30 September 1975,
she was decommissioned as part of an effort to cut costs and reorganize the
ATON system. She was then sold in 1977.
Researched and written by Ms. Melissa M. Ashmore.
Original caption: "Trying to get
in to Ashtabula"; dated 5 March 1948; Photo No. 823548;
photographer unknown.
Original caption: "CGC TUPELO: Off
entrance to Astabula, O."; dated 5 March 1948; Photo No. 793548;
photographer unknown.
Original caption: "USCGC TUPELO
WLB-303"; dated 6 November 1971; no photo number; photo by
"camera-craft, inc., Seattle".
Original caption: "USCGC
TUPELO"; dated December 1977; Photo No. 13 CGD-12077101; photographer
unknown.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office,
USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters
& Craft of World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press,
1982.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters
& Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press,
1990.
U. S. Department of
the Interior. National Park Service. U.S. Coast Guard 180-Foot Buoy
Tenders. HAER booklet. Washington, DC: National Park
Service, September, 2003. [HAER
nos. DC-56, LA-14, LA-15, RI-56, and AL-187; Todd Croteau, HAER Industrial
Archeologist ( project leader); Jet Low, HAER Photographer; Dana Lockett
(architect); Pete Brooks (architect); Candace Clifford (historian); and
Kevin Foster (historian).]
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