Azalea, 1940 (WAGL-262)
Any of a large group of shrubs cultivated for their bountiful blossoms of widely varied colors.
Builder: Unknown builder in Grafton, Illinois
Length: 149' 9"
Beam: 34' 4"
Draft: 4' 6"
Displacement: 352 tons (fl)
Cost: ?
Launched: 1915
Commissioned: 12 November 1940 (USCG)
Decommissioned: 6 May 1946
Disposition: Sold on 14 November 1946
Machinery: 2 tandem compound steam engines with 1 Foster-Sheeler watertube boiler; 350 SHP; stern paddlewheel
Performance: 9.0 knots (maximum); 736 nm range @ 7.0 knots
Complement: 26
Armament: None
History:
The Azalea was originally built as the towboat Minneapolis for the Army Corps of Engineers. The Coast Guard acquired her from the Corps in 1940. She was assigned to the Ninth District and was stationed at St. Louis, Missouri. She conducted general aids to navigation work from Cairo, Illinois to Dam 26 and on the Mississippi River from Keokuk, Iowa to Alton, Illinois, a distance of 161 miles.
Her name was changed to Azalea on 1 February 1942. From March through April of 1945 she assisted in evacuating cattle from Grand Tower, IL because of high water.
She was decommissioned on 6 May 1946 and sold on 14 November 1946.
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.