Chinook, 1944
WYT / WYTM-96
Builder: Ira S. Bushey & Sons, Brooklyn, New York
Length: 110'
Beam: 26' 5"
Draft: 11' 6"
Displacement: 384 tons (fl)
Cost: $622,677
Launched: 16 June 1943
Commissioned: 24 March 1944
Decommissioned: 1 July 1986
Disposition:
Machinery: 1 x electric motor driven by 2 Elliot Electric Company generators driven by 2 Ingersoll Rand 8-cylinder diesels; single propeller.
Electronics: SO-2 radar (1945)
Complement: 16
Armament: 2 x 20mm/80 (single-mount; 1944)
Class History:
These 110-foot tugs were contracted for on 8 June 1941. Their design was based on an earlier 110-foot Calumet-class design which had entered commissioned service beginning in 1934. The newer design simply incorporated changes needed for operations in Greenland waters as well as better fire-fighting capabilities.
Cutter History:
The Chinook, a 110-foot harbor tug, was commissioned on 22 March 1944. She was assigned to the First Naval District and was based out of Boston.
After World War II she was transferred to Baltimore, Maryland, where she was used for law enforcement, search and rescue, fire-fighting and light icebreaking duties. In March 1960 she broke ice in the Chesapeake Bay. From 11 to 12 June 1965 she fought a fire aboard the Colombian M/V Ciudad de Nieva near Baltimore, along with other fire fighters. On 13 Februrary 1968 she helped fight a fire at Pier 5 in Baltimore. On 4 June 1969 she helped fight a fire on the M/V Provence Town at Baltimore.
In May and June of 1979 she assisted in hauling garbage from New York City during the strike. On 31 August 1981 she was transferred to Portsmouth, Virginia, where she remained until she was decommissioned on 1 July 1986.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Donald Canney. U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
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.
U.S. Coast Guard. Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).