Violet, 1930
WAGL / WLM 250
Any of various low-growing plants of the genus Viola, bearing spurred, irregular flowers that are purplish-blue and occasionally yellow or white.
Builder: Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Length: 173' 4"
Beam: 32'
Draft: 10' 6"
Displacement: 1,012 tons
Cost: $337,840
Commissioned: 21 August 1930
Decommissioned: 2 January 1962
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: 2 triple-expansion vertical inverted steam engines; 2 Babcock & Wilcox oil-fired watertube boilers; 800 SHP; twin propellers
Performance & Endurance:
Max: 11.5 knots; 1,700 mile range
Cruising: 7.0 knots; 1,800 mile range
Deck Gear: 20-ton capacity boom; steam-powered hoist
Complement: 38 (1961)
Electronics: SO-1 detection radar; WEA-2 sonar (1945); SPN-11 radar; UNQ-1 sonar (1961)
Armament: None (1930); 1 x 3"/50; 2 x 20mm/80; 2 depth charge tracks (1945
Tender History:
Violet was one of three coast-wise Violet-Class tenders built in the 1930s, the others being the Lilac and Mistletoe. Violet was the lead ship of her class and was commissioned on 21 August 1930. She was assigned to the 5th Lighthouse District and was based out of Baltimore, where she tended aids to navigation throughout the Chesapeake Bay.
During World War II she was assigned to the 5th Naval District and was based out of Norfolk, Virginia for the duration. She returned to duty out of Baltimore where she served until the end of her government career.
She was decommissioned on 2 January 1962 and was sold on 8 March 1963.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990.