POINT LEDGE, 1962
WPB 82334
Builder: Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, MD
Commissioned: 18 July 1962
Decommissioned: 3 August 1998
Disposition: Transferred to Venezuela on 30 August 1998
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: 1,600
Performance, Maximum Sustained: 18.0 kts, 542-mi radius (1,600 hp, 1963)
Performance, Economic: 9.4 kts, 1,500-mi radius (1,600 hp, 1963)
Maximum Speed: 22.9 kts (1963)
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.
Cutter history:
The Point Ledge was stationed at Fort Bragg, California, from 1962 to January 1994. She was used for law enforcement and search and rescue operations. On 31 May 1965 she rescued the crew from F/V Christine as it sank 20 miles northwest of Fort Bragg. On 5 September 1966, she helped rescue four from pleasure craft Aquilo and unsuccessfully fought a fire three miles off Fort Bragg. On 7 March 1968, she rescued the pilot from a downed USAF F-101 off Eureka. On 4 November 1976, she engaged in the rescue of three survivors from the F/V Pacific Pearl, which was struck by an unknown vessel 24 miles from Point Cabrillo. On the night of 27 December 1982, she helped fight fire at a fishery on the Noyo River.
From 1994 to 1996, she was stationed at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Here, she took heavy hits by Hurricane Marilyn in September 1995. She needed extensive repairs, which were done in New Orleans.
In March 1996, the newly repaired Point Ledge reported for duty in Mobile, Alabama. She was decommissioned in Mobile on 3 August 1998. She was transferred to Venezuela on 30 August 1998.
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