Pol, 1943
YPCG-12; WYP-382 (ex-Pol VII)
A former name retained.
Builder: Nylands mek. Verksted, Oslo, Norway
Length: 142'
Beam: 25' 9"
Draft: 14' 8"
Displacement: 338 tons
Cost: $13,750 (conversion)
Commissioned: 1936 (commercial); 25 February 1943 (USCG)
Decommissioned: 7 July 1943
Disposition: Returned to owner
Machinery: Steam; 1,216 IHP; single propeller
Performance & Endurance:
Max:
Cruising:
Complement: ?
Armament: ?
Electronics: Probably none.
History:
The Pol was a "whale killer" (also referred to as a "steam whaler") that entered service in 1936 with the A.S. Polaris (Melsom & Melson) whaling company of Larvik, Norway. She was acquired for emergency use by the Coast Guard as a patrol craft. She was converted at a cost of $13,750.
She was first assigned to the Northwest Sea Frontier at Seattle, Washington, on 11 January 1943 but was deemed "useless for service in open water under severe climatic conditions." The Coast Guard noted that she would be a "fairly effective net tender." She was then transferred to the Western Sea Frontier on 12 February 1943 and arrived at San Francisco, California, on 25 February 1943 where she reported to San Francisco Section Patrol on Treasure Island. She was then assigned to Morro Bay, effective as of 4 April 1943. She saw limited service as a patrol vessel before being decommissioned and returned to the War Shipping Administration on 7 July 1943.
She eventually returned to her original owners in Norway. She was sold to another Norwegian whaling company in 1959. She was scrapped in Stavanger, Norway, in 1964.
Sources:
Information courtesy of Ulf W. Gustavsen.
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.