Azalea, 1958 (WLI/WAGL-641); 100-B Class Tender
Radio Call Sign: NOLT
Azalea was named for any of a large group of shrubs cultivated for their bountiful blossoms of widely varied colors.
Builder: Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, MD
Keel Laid: 1 October 1957
Launched: 4 March 1958
Commissioned: 23 May 1958
Decommissioned: 31 October 1978
Disposition:
Cost: $543,000
Displacement: 178 fl
Length: 100'
Beam: 24'
Draft: 5' 7":
Powerplant: 2 GM diesels; twin screws
BHP: 220 hp
Maximum Sustained Speed: 10 knots; 2,273 mile range
Cruising Speed: 6 knots; 5,244 mile range
Complement: 17
Boom Capacity: 5 tons
Electronics:
Radar: None
Sonar:
Small Boats: 1 16-foot Boston Whaler; 1 16-foot OMB
Armament: None
Class History:
The Azalea was originally designed in-house as an inland buoy tender and was built at the Coast Guard Yard. She was a "bay, sound, and river buoy tender whose principle duties involve construction of fixed aids and maintenance of fixed and floating aids." She was similar in design to the eight 100-A class buoy tenders but differed from them in that she had a pile driver built into her bow, air conditioning, skin cooling for her machinery and stern anchors.
Cutter History:
Azalea was built by the Coast Guard Yard and was launched on 4 March 1958. She was sponsored by Mrs. Etta M. Olmsted, the administrative assistant to the Coast Guard's Engineer-in-in Chief and an employee at Coast Guard Headquarters for over 25 years.
Azalea was commissioned on 23 May 1958. She was constructed as a replacement for the Palmetto and was home-ported at Charleston, South Carolina. She was responsible for building and maintaining nautical aids to navigation from Charleston to Savannah, Georgia.
She remained in service based at Charleston until she was decommissioned on 31 October 1978.
Images:
None available.
Commanding Officers:
BMC Floyd A. Napier; 23 May 1958
CWO2 (BOSN) H. H. Korf; 1958-1958
CWO (BOSN) William C. Bart; 1958 - 1961
CWO2 (BOSN) D. E. Dean; 1964 - 1968
CWO4 (BOSN) Newton P. Caddell, Jr., 1968 - (?)
CWO (BOSN) A. E. Gray, (?) - 1971
CWO2 (BOSN) Bobby A. Swindell; 1971 - (?)
Awards:
Sources:
Cutter History File, U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office.
Scheina, Robert. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990.