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The
Beginning and WW II
Walter J. Mcinnis was appointed design agent 6 Dec. 1940 to develop the plans for the
83-foot class. The design was completed 19 Mar 41. The design called for a
wood-hull craft; the hull form was the round bilged type, single planked, with a
full-length flush main deck, a wheelhouse and side spray shields with a raised,
exposed, (and often very wet and cold) steering station aft of the wheelhouse
(flying bridge), and was powered by twin Sterling Viking II gasoline
engines. Electrical power was supplied by one of two generators powered by
4-cylinder gasoline engines. Three gasoline tanks, amidships, held a total of
1,900 gallons of gasoline. Crews averaged 13. Besides the captain and chief
boatswain's mate, there were three motor machinist mates, one fireman, one
radar-sonar man, one gunners mate, three boatswain mates, two seamen, and a
cook.
Forty units were contracted to Wheeler Shipyard, Inc.. Brooklyn. NY. WW II
started before this contract was completed and subsequent contracts for 44. 40,
100 and 6 units were awarded. A total of 230 units were eventually built for the
Coast Guard.
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Original Data |
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Contract
Price
(Contract
price does not include armament and engines)
First Group: 83300- 83339 (forty) $ 42.450
Second Group: 83340- 83383 (forty-four) 57,860
Third Group: 83384- 83423 (forty)
57,860
Fourth Group: 83424- 83523 (one hundred) 62,534
+ Supp
83524- 83529 (six) 62,534
Cost
$125,000 approx. cost of each unit completely outfitted
Machinery
Main Engines 83343 through 83348: 2 Hall Scott
Defenders,
1.200 rpm; all others: 2 Sterling Viking II
SHP All units: 1,200
2
Propellers : 34"Dia X 27° Pitch (Pitch varied with mission)
2 Kohler Generators 120/240 VAC 60 cycle
Performance
Max Speed 15.2 kts, 215 mi radius (1945); 23.5 statute mi
(trials,1946)
Max Sustained 12.0 kts. 375 mi radius (1945)
Cruising 10.0 kts, 475 mi radius (1945)
Economic 8.2 kts, 575 mi radius (1945)
Logistics
Gasoline (95%) 1,900 gal
Complement 1 officer, 13 men (1945)
Electronics (1945)
Detection Radar SO-2 (most units)
Sonar QBE series (none on 83339. 83367-83369, 83427,
83476-83480)
Armament
1941 1 1-pounder. 2 .30cal mg
1945 1 20mm/80,4 dc racks. 2 Mousetraps; none on 8330
83312, 83335,
83342, 83367, 83387, 83388, 83392
83394. 83427,
83470, 83475. 83491. 83492. 83494,
83501, 83507, 83512,
83515, 83516, 83518-83521, 83529
Above extracted from U.S. Coast Guard Cutters
& Crafts of World War II by Robert Scheina
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The first 136 cutters (83300-83435) were fitted with an Everdur bronze
wheelhouse These were prefabricated in Boston, MA and shipped by rail car to the
Wheeler Yard. Later units (83436-83529) had plywood wheelhouses because of a
shortage of bronze. Those 83-footers operating above Cape Henry. VA. were ice
sheathed. All the craft were capable of 20.6 kts full speed at time of delivery,
but their performance was degraded by machinery wear as well as the increased
displacement from armaments – mouse traps forward, depth charge racks (
amidships and aft), a 20-mm gun aft, ready boxes, radar and sonar (see
exceptions above).
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Ralph Baker has provide some
interesting info.
(Pics by Ralph)
In the early part of 1942, the 83 footers were
called 400 Boats. At that time, I was stationed at the Wheeler Shipyard in
Brooklyn for about six weeks, where I was provided a room for sleep
quarters and free run of the yard. My job was to make sure that supplies
and equipment were put in the right place on the cutter being constructed.
Then we would sail the new cutter up to New London, Connecticut, to the
Coast Guard Academy.
After a trial run, it was decided the cutter was
ready to go to sea; and as they headed out, they would drop me off at
Wheeler Shipyard. That procedure was repeated for four of those 400 Boats.
I stayed aboard the last one........and that was the 482. We had two
30-caliber machine guns, four double depth charge racks, compass, and a
radio......pretty bare bones!
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Twelve additional units were built for the USN and transferred to Cuba
(4), the Dominican Republic (3). Haiti (1). and Venezuela (4). Nineteen Coast
Guard units were also transferred to Latin American navies during the war -- the
navies of Cuba (8), Colombia (2). Peru (6), and Mexico (3).
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Cuba transfer newspaper article provided
by Terry Hannigan
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During WW II (1941-45) the cutters were used for antisubmarine patrol
(Sub- Busters),
coastal convoy escort, and search and rescue. At 8.2 knots the cutters had a
patrol range of 575 miles.
| In Their Own Words: Personal accounts
of Atlantic ASW Patrol Duty by Jack Parker, SM2c (click
here) and, Atlantic and South Pacific Duty by Ron Abbey, BM1 (click here) |
83451 and 83452
off Long Beach, CA |
83438 |
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83451
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CG 457 [83307] (Provided by Cape Cod CG Museum) |
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In the spring 1944, 60 cutters were shipped to Great Britain and became
USCG Rescue Flotilla No. 1 -- based at Poole. England.
In Jan 1945. 30 cutters were shipped to COMSERV7THFLEET in the
PHILSEAFRON as USCG PTC Flotilla Number One and operated out of Manicani Island,
just south of the island of Samar near Leyte -- none of these units had served
in Europe and none were returned to the United States -- all were decommissioned
in the Philippines and disposed of by the Foreign Liquidation Commission (an
organ of the U.S. State Department)
Also, in 1945, 24 additional cutters were shipped to the Pacific to
serve in Advance Base Harbor Defense Force (ABHD) (code name LION) at bases in
Okinawa and Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands, and Saipan and Guam in the Mariana
Islands – 4 of these units had served in Europe.
The ultimate use of these 54 cutters was to serve as rescue craft
during the expected invasion of Japan.
The
CG-83434 hosted a Japanese surrender on board, 4 Sept 1945 at anchor off the SW
tip of Tinian. The skipper of 83434 was Lt. (j.g.) R. Tyrol. The signing that
day for the Japanese military garrison of Aguijan Island, off Tinian, was 2nd
Lt. Kinichi Yamada and representing the United States was Rear Admiral Marshall
R. Greer, USN, COMM Fleet Air Wing 18 based in Tinian
| In Their Own Words: Personal accounts of
Tales of the South Pacific. by Ed Cammel, SoM2; Jack Parker, SM2c; and
Waverly Hammond
Click here.
Ralph Baker shares his WW II pics on the CG
Sea Vets website Click
here. |
The cutters were known to be deployed in 41 ports in North America. The number
shown below after the port name is the number of times a different cutter was
assigned to that port . A cutter did not necessarily stay in that port in that
they were transferred elsewhere (e.g. to England and the Pacific) and another
cutter may or may not have taken its place. Also, delivery of new cutters took
place between 1941 through 1944. The number does NOT tell how many cutters were
assigned to a port at any given time.
NOTE: When a cutter number is listed, a sailor has provided
that information. Ports w/o a number after it were also provided by a
sailor.
Atlantic City, NJ
83413 '42
83414 '44
Baltimore, MD 1
Boothbay Harbor, ME 1
Boston, MA 20
Canal Zone 3
Cape May, NJ 13
83327 '42 - '43
83413 '42 - ‘43
83366 ‘44
83464 '45
Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands 3
Charleston, SC 12
83464 9-43 - 1-44
Chicago, IL 5
83476 '44-'45
CG Academy 5 (Training
83464 (Summer '43)
CG Headquarters 1
(Training station
St Augustine, FL)
Corpus Christi 1
Galveston, TX 1
Fort Pierce, FL 1
Fernandia Beach, FL 1
Hatteras, NC
83343 '42-'43
Hilton Head, NC
83346 ‘45
Key West, FL 3
Little Creek, VA 3
83336 '43
83380 '42 - '44
83329 '43
83328 '44
Mayaguez, PR 1
83455 '45 -'46
Mobile, AL 1
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Miami, FL
83401 ‘43
Narragansett, RI 1
New London, CT
83384 ‘43
New Orleans, LA 13
New York, NY 20
Newport, RI 9
83311 '41
83408 '44
New Smyrna Beach. FL 2
Norfolk, VA
83512 '44
83336 '45
83331 '44
Pascagoula , MS 1
Portland, ME 6
Port of Spain, Trinidad 4
Providence, RI 1
San Diego, CA 1
San Juan, PR 13
83455 '46
83455 '45 - '46
83465 '43 - '44
San Pedro, CA 4 (Training)
Savannah. GA 2
Southport, NC 4
83415 ‘41 - ‘44
Southwest Harbor, ME 1
St Augustine, FL 4
Staten Island, NY/ Sandy Hook, NJ
83341 '43
83306 '43-'44
83359 '42-‘43
Trinidad, BWI
83355 '44
Wilmington, LA 1
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Following WW II most Coast Guard 83-footers that were in the USA were in a
decommissioned status. The cutters were coated with a preservative while
in storage. Sixty-one cutters were modified (ASW gear removed and 20-mm
moved forward) and assigned peace time duties such as SAR, HEP and a few COTP.
Thirty-five of these cutters were
deposed of in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. (Sold, sunk, burned, etc.)
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