Greenbrier, 1924
WAGL-214
Greenbrier (Smilax) is a thorny evergreen perennial fruit bearing vine found all over North America that plays an important part in the Winter ecosystem. Many different varieties exist, some of the more common being common greenbrier (smilax rotundifolia), saw greenbrier (smilax bon-nox), cat greenbrier (smilax glauca), and bristly greenbrier (smilax hispida).
Builder: Charles Ward Engineering Works, Charleston, West Virginia
Length: 164' 6"
Beam: 32' 6"
Draft: 5'
Displacement: 440 tons
Cost: $131,900
Commissioned: 20 June 1924
Decommissioned: 19 September 1947
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: 2 horizontal non-condensing steam engines; 3 coal-fired horizontal flue fire tube Mississippi-type boilers; 500 SHP; stern paddle wheel
Performance & Endurance:
Max: 10.0 knots
Cruising: 8.0 knots; 800 miles range
Deck Gear:
Complement: 26 (1925)
Armament: None
Electronics: None
Tender History:
The United States tender Greenbrier was a river tender that entered service on 20 June 1924. She was constructed with a steel hull and a composite superstructure. About 95-percent of her space was allotted to hotel features, and about 5-percent to buoy-tending features.
She was based out of Cincinnati, Ohio and serviced aids to navigation for 443 miles on the Ohio and Kanawah Rivers. She was decommissioned on 19 September 1947 and was sold on 19 April 1948.
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.