POINT TURNER, 1967
WPB 82365
Builder: J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp., Tacoma, WA
Commissioned: 14 April 1967
Decommissioned: 3 April 1998
Disposition: Transferred to St. Lucia, 15 April 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)
Ship's history:
The Point Turner was originally named Point Houghton. She was stationed at Newport, RI. She was used for law enforcement and search and rescue operations. On 18 July 1968, she towed the disabled pleasure craft Hell-o 7 miles east of Boston Light Station to Gloucester, MA. On 10 May 1970, she transported an explosive ordnance team to F/V Moby Dick, which had recovered a live 500-lb bomb. The bomb was defused and carried to Quonset Point by the cutter.
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