POINT HOPE, 1960
WPB 82302
Builder: Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, MD
Commissioned: 5 October 1960
Decommissioned: 3 May 1991
Disposition: Transferred to Costa Rica, 3 May 1991
Length: 82’10” oa, 78’ bp
Navigation Draft: 5’11” max (1960)
Beam: 17’7” max
Displacement: 69 fl; 60 light (1960)
Main Engines: 2 Cummins diesel (see class history)
BHP: 1,200
Performance, Maximum Sustained: 14.5 kts, 577-mi radius (1,200 hp, 1960)
Performance, Economic: 10.7 kts, 1,271-mi radius (1,200 hp, 1960)
Maximum Speed: 16.8 kts (1960)
Fuel Capacity: 1,840 gal
Complement: 8 men (1960), 2 officers, 8 men (1965)
Electronics:
Radar: SPN-11, CR-103 (1960), or SPS-64
Armament: 1 x 20mm (1960), 5 x .50 cal mg, 1 x 81 mm mortar (Vietnam service)
Class history—The 82-foot patrol boats have mild steel hulls and aluminum superstructures. Longitudinally framed construction was used to save weight.
These boats were completed with a variety of power plants. 82301 through 82313, 82315 through 82317, and 82319 through 82331 were powered by two Cummins 600-hp diesels. Boats 82318 and 82332 through 82379 received two Cummins 800-hp diesels. The 82314 was fitted with two 1,000-hp gas turbines and controllable-pitch propellers. The purpose of this installation was to permit the service to evaluate the propulsion equipment. All units were eventually fitted with the 800-hp diesels. Units remaining in 1990 were re-equipped with Caterpillar diesels.
WPB 82301 through 82344 were commissioned without names; at that time the Coast Guard did not name patrol craft shorter than 100 feet. In January 1964 they were assigned names.
Ship's history:
The Point Hope was stationed at Port Arthur, Sabine Pass, TX, from 5 October 1960 to 1991. She was used for law enforcement and SAR. On 26 February 1968, she towed the disabled F/V Hope 60 miles south-southeast of Sabine, TX, to that port. On 6 October 1968, she towed the disabled F/V Miss Cubit 30 miles south of Galveston, TX, to that port. On 11 March 1969, she fought fire and towed the disabled tug Gulf Master 18 miles southwest of Sabine to that port. On 30 September 1971, she helped fight fire on a gas-drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. On 17 October 1984, she rescued seven from a jack-up barge that had capsized in the Gulf of Mexico. In May 1987, she transported loggerhead turtles to deep water.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
"The 82-Foot Class Patrol Boat." U.S. Coast Guard Engineer's Digest No. 133 (Mar-Apr 1962), pp. 2-5.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990