History
United States
NameUSCGC Cape Shoalwater
NamesakeCape Shoalwater, Washington
OwnerU.S. Coast Guard
BuilderUnited States Coast Guard Yard, Baltimore, Maryland
Commissioned17 October 1958
Decommissioned9 December 1988
FateTransferred to Bahamas, 30 June 1989
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeType "C" Cape-class cutter
TypePatrol boat
Displacement98 tons
Length95 ft (29 m)
Beam20 ft (6.1 m)
Draft6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Propulsion4 x Cummins VT-600 diesels
Speed22 kn (41 km/h)
Range3,560 nmi (6,590 km)
Complement15 (1961)
Electronic warfare
& decoys		Radar: AN/SPS-64 (1987)
Armament2 x M2 Brownings (as completed)

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.[2]

Design

The Cape class was designed originally for use as a shallow-draft anti-submarine warfare (ASW) craft and was needed because of the increased tension brought about by the Cold War. Cape Shoalwater was a type "C" Cape class and was never fitted with ASW gear because the Coast Guard's mission emphasis had shifted away from ASW to search and rescue by the time she was built. The hull was constructed of steel and the superstructure was aluminum.[1] She was powered by four Cummins VT-600 diesel engines.[3]

History

The Cape class was originally developed as an ASW boat and as a replacement for the aging, World War II vintage, wooden 83-foot (25 m) patrol boats that were used mostly for search and rescue duties.[3] With the outbreak of the Korean War and the requirement tasked to the Coast Guard to secure and patrol port facilities in the United States under the Magnuson Act of 1950, the complete replacement of the 83-foot boat was deferred and the 95-foot boat was used for harbor patrols.[1][4][5] The first 95-foot hulls were laid down at the Coast Guard Yard in 1952 and were officially described as "seagoing patrol cutters". Because Coast Guard policy did not provide for naming cutters under 100 feet (30 m) at the time of their construction they were referred to by their hull number only and gained the Cape-class names in 1964 when the service changed the naming criteria to 65 feet (20 m). The class was named for North American geographic capes.[6]

The Cape class was replaced by the 110-foot (34 m) Island class beginning in the late 1980s and many of the decommissioned cutters were transferred to nations of the Caribbean and South America by the Coast Guard.[7][8]

After commissioning, Cape Shoalwater was assigned a homeport at Mayport, Florida where she was used for law enforcement and search and rescue (SAR) missions.[9] She and her crew earned the Navy Expeditionary Medal for operations relating to the Cuban refugee exodus from 3 January 1961 until 23 October 1962.[1]

In 1963, her homeport was moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. On 9 August 1965, she towed the Panamanian motor vessel Seven Seas from 32 nmi (59 km) from southeast of Sombrero Key following mutiny aboard the vessel in which three of the crew of the Seven Seas had been murdered. The same month, she escorted a Cuban refugee boat from 12 nmi (22 km) southwest of Bimini to Port Everglades, Florida.[1] In 1988, the cutter participated in the seizure of the yacht Monkey Business after marijuana was found on board.[10]

Notes

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cape Shoalwater, 1958 (WPB-95324)", Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office
  2. ↑ Scheina, p 79
  3. 1 2 Scheina, p 80
  4. ↑ Green, D.L.; "The 82-foot Class Patrol Boat", The Engineer's Digest, March–April 1962, Number 133, pp 2–5, U.S. Coast Guard
  5. ↑ Johnson, p 283
  6. ↑ Johnson, p 284
  7. ↑ Scheina, p 63
  8. ↑ Colton, "U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Craft Built Since WWII (WPB, WPC, WSES)"
  9. ↑ Scheina, p 85
  10. ↑ "Marijuana Is Found on Yacht Hart Once Used", The Philadelphia Inquirer, 15 May 1988

References used

  • "Marijuana Is Found on Yacht Hart Once Used". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 15 May 1988. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  • "Cape Shoalwater, 1958 (WPB-95323)". Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels. U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  • Colton, Tim. "U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Craft Built Since WWII (WPB, WPC, WSES)". Shipbuildinghistory.com. Shipbuilding History. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  • Green, D.L. (March–April 1962). "The 82-foot Class Patrol Boat". The Engineer's Digest. U.S. Coast Guard. Number 133: 2–5.
  • Johnson, Robert Irwin (1987). Guardians of the Sea, History of the United States Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis. ISBN 978-0-87021-720-3.
  • Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946–1990. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-0-87021-719-7.
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