Rush, 1927
WSC 151
Richard Rush (1780 - 1859) was nominated by President John Quincy Adams to be the 8th Secretary of the Treasury. He served throughout the Adams Administration from 7 March 1825 until 5 March 1829.
He was a statesman, diplomat, brilliant orator and key figure in two Administrations (Madison and John Quincy Adams), and came from a distinguished family, carving a distinguished career in public affairs in his own right. Quickly gaining statewide then national attention as a public speaker and successful trial lawyer, Rush was appointed Attorney General in Pennsylvania in 1811. In that same year, President James Madison made him Comptroller of the Treasury.
CLASS: Active Class Patrol Boat
BUILDER: American Brown Boveri Electric Corp., Camden, NJ
COST: 63,173 each
COMMISSIONED: 27 April 1927
LAUNCHED: 18 April 1927
DECOMMISSIONED: 21 August 1947 and sold 16 June 1948
DISPLACEMENT: 232 tons
PROPULSION: Two 6-cylinder, 300 hp engines
LENGTH: 125 feet
BEAM: 23 feet, 6 inches
DRAFT: 7 feet, 6 inches
COMPLEMENT: 3 officers, 17 men
ARMAMENT: 1 3"/27 (1927); in WWII two dc racks were added
Class History:
This class of vessels was one of the most useful and long- lasting in Coast Guard service with 16 cutters still in use in the 1960’s. The last to be decommissioned from active service was the Morris in 1970; the last in actual service was the Cuyahoga, which sank after an accidental collision in 1978. They were designed for trailing the "mother ships" along the outer line of patrol during Prohibition. They were constructed at a cost of $63,173 each. They gained a reputation for durability that was only enhanced by their re-engining in the late 1930’s; their original 6-cylinder diesels were replaced by significantly more powerful 8-cylinder units that used the original engine beds and gave the vessels 3 additional knots. All served in World War II, but two, the Jackson and Bedloe, were lost in a storm in 1944. Ten were refitted as buoy tenders during the war and reverted to patrol work afterward.
History:
USCGC Rush, built in 1926 for the Coast Guard by American Brown Boveri Electrical Corp., Camden, New Jersey, was commissioned 27 April 1927. She was first assigned general patrol and rescue duty out of New York City, where she operated in the lower New York Bay area. During this period she assisted the Coast Guard in combating rumrunners. Rush shifted her permanent station to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1930, where she conducted patrol and rescue operations through 1934. In 1935 she was assigned permanent duty at Chicago, Illinois, where she served as a patrol craft on Lake Michigan until 1940.
Executive Order 8929 of 1 November 1941 transferred the Coast Guard to the Navy. Rush shifted her base of patrol operations to Marquette, on the northern peninsula of Michigan. She operated as a naval patrol craft on Lake Superior through the war years and returned to the Coast Guard 1 January 1946.
With the return of peace, Rush transferred to New London, Connecticut, and conducted patrols from that port until she decommissioned 21 August 1947. She was sold 6 July 1948 to Humble Oil Refining Co., and provided towing services at Houston, Texas, as Humble AC-1. In 1964 she was sold to Virgin Islands Towing Corp, and she continued to provide towing services as Vilow I out of Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Island, at least into 1970.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, DC: USGPO.
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.
