Crawford, 1927
WSC-134
William H. Crawford (1772-1834) was appointed in 1816 as Secretary of the Treasury by President James Madison and he continued under President James Monroe through 1825.
CLASS: Active Class Patrol Boat
BUILDER: American Brown Boveri Electric Corp., Camden, NJ
LAUNCHED: 27 January 1927
COMMISSIONED: 21 February 1927
DECOMMISSIONED: 15 August 1947 and donated to Woods Hole Institute
DISPLACEMENT: 232 tons
PROPULSION: 2 x 6-cylinder, 300 hp engines
LENGTH: 125 feet
BEAM: 23 feet, 6 inches
DRAFT: 7 feet, 6 inches
PERFORMANCE:
Max speed: 13 knots, 1945, 2,500 mile range
Econ. speed: 8.0 knots, 3,500 mile range
COMPLEMENT: 3 officers, 17 men (1960)
ARMAMENT: 1927: 1x 3"/27
1941: 1 x 3"/23, 2 x depth charge tracks
1945: 1 x 40mm/80 (single), 2 x 20mm/80 (single), 2 x depth charge tracks, 2 x mousetraps
1960: 1 x 40mm/60
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.
CUTTER HISTORY
Sent to Sault Sainte Marie, MI, in 1927 and stationed at Two harbors, MN. She was stationed at Buffalo, NY, from 1937 to World War II. During the war she was stationed at Philadelphia, PA and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
SOURCES:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982.