Apalachee, 1943 (WYT-71)
A bay in Florida.
Builder: Ira S. Bushey & Sons, Brooklyn, NY
Length: 110'
Beam: 26' 5"
Draft: 11' 6"
Displacement: 384 tons (fl)
Cost: $622,677
Launched: 29 April 1943
Commissioned: 26 November 1943
Decommissioned: 11 April 1986
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: 1 x electric motor driven by 2 Elliot Electric Company generators driven by 2 Ingersoll Rand 8-cylinder diesels; single propeller.
Electronics: SO-2 radar (1945)
Complement: 16
Armament: 2 x 20mm/80 (single-mount; 1944)
These 110-foot tugs were contracted for on 8 June 1941. Their design was based on an earlier 110-foot Calumet-class design which had entered commissioned service beginning in 1934. The newer design simply incorporated changes needed for operations in Greenland waters as well as better fire-fighting capabilities.
Cutter History:
Apalachee was commissioned on 26 November 1943. She was the first of her class to enter service. She was assigned to Baltimore, where she served through 1984. She was used for law enforcement and search and rescue patrols, fire fighting and light icebreaking when needed. 2 From 11 to 12 June 1965 she assisted in fighting the fire aboard the Columbian motor vessel Ciudad de Nieva near Baltimore. On 13 February 1968 she assisted in fighting a fire on Pier 5 in Baltimore. On 4 June 1969 she assisted in fighting the fire aboard the motor vessel Provence Town, again near Baltimore.
She transferred to Portland, Maine on 17 September 1984 where she served until she was decommissioned on 11 April 1986. She was sold and eventually acquired by the Coast Guard Tug Association for use as a museum ship on the Cleveland waterfront in 2009. Financial difficulties forced her sale in 2011.
Sources:
Cutter History File, Coast Guard Historian's Office.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, DC: USGPO.
Coast Guard Tug Association website (www.76fsa.org/cgta/index.html)