Rhododendron, 1935
WAGL 267
Any of various evergreen shrubs of the genus Rhododendron of the North Temperate Zone, having variously colored flower clusters.
Builder: Commercial Iron Works, Portland, Oregon
Length: 80' 6"
Beam: 20'
Draft: 4' 2"
Displacement: 140
Cost: $67,273
Commissioned: 12 April 1935
Decommissioned: 20 August 1958
Disposition: Donated
Machinery: 2 Imperial diesel engines; 240 SHP; twin propellers
Performance & Endurance:
Max: 9.0 knots
Cruising:
Deck Gear: 1-1/2 ton boom capacity, electric hoist
Complement: 7
Armament: Small arms only.
Electronics: None
History:
Rhododendron was a bay and sound tender built to replace the tender Larch. She was commissioned in 1935 and was assigned to the 17th Lighthouse District on the Columbia River and was based out of Vancouver, Washington. She received the hull designation WAGL-267 in January, 1942. On 6 July 1949 she was transferred to Seattle, Washington. On 7 August 1955 she patrolled the Gold Cup Race and prevented the speedboat Such Crust from sinking.
She was decommissioned on 20 August 1958 and was donated to the State of Washington's Department of Civil Defense. The state sold her on 20 April 1959. She sank off Alaska on 25 November 1966. She was known at that time as the SS Kandu.
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.