USCGC ''Sweetgum'' (WAGL-309) was a buoy tender built in 1943 and operated by the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

. She was later transferred to

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

as SMN ''Independencia'' (A-401). The ship was named after a

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

tree of the genus

Liquidambar ''Liquidambar'', commonly called sweetgum (star gum in the UK), gum, redgum, satin-walnut, or American storax, is the only genus in the flowering plant family Altingiaceae and has 15 species. They were formerly often treated in Hamamelidaceae ...

having prickly spherical fruit clusters and fragrant sap.

Construction and career

''Sweetgum'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

by the Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Corp., in Duluth,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

on 21 February 1943. She was launched on 15 April 1943 and later commissioned on 20 November 1943. She was then assigned to Seventh District Miami,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Service in the United States Coast Guard

During World War II, she operated around the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terr ...

. On 22 September 1944, she hoisted a

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

Martin PBM Mariner onto the ship, from the which grounded on a coral reef of Carti Village, Gulf of San Blas, Panama. The ship was reassigned to Mayport, Florida in September 1946. In September 1955, the ship evacuated the population of Florida after

1955 Atlantic hurricane season The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season was, at the time, the costliest season ever recorded, just ahead of the previous year. The hurricane season officially began on June 15, 1955, and ended on November 15, 1955. It was an extremely active ...

. She transported 43 tons of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

that had been seized in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

to Miami. In 1965, she was re-designated to WLB-309. In August and September 1967, she was part of a research effort to determine the pollution hazard posed by the almost one hundred

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crud ...

s sunk near the U.S. coast during World War II. ''Sweetgum'' took part in the salvaging of the remains of the 1986 Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster that were scattered in the sea after shuttle exploded 75 seconds after liftoff on 28 January 1986. The ship features a long-reach mechanical arm that allows it to pick up and place objects from the ship's deck out to sea. That was the reason why they used it in the work of the Challenger. The ''Sweetgum'' was decommissioned on 2 February 1990 but was recommissioned again on 10 January 1992 and deployed to Mobile,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

Service in the Panamanian National Navy

On 15 February 2002, ''Sweetgum'' was put out of service and sold to Panama as SMN ''Independencia'' (A-401).Jeff Beach, interview by author, 10 February 2002, Washington, D.C. She is home-ported at Noel Rodriguez Naval Base. On 18 March 2007, it was reported that the ship would undergo repairs that costs more than $100,000, at a shipyard in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Awards

Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...

References

Naval Cover Museum: Sweetgum

External links

TogetherWeServed: Sweetgum Crew Members
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweetgum (WAGL-309) Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama

Hollyhock ''Alcea'' is a genus of over 80 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae, commonly known as the hollyhocks. They are native to Asia and Europe. The single species of hollyhock from the Americas, the streambank wild hollyhock, ...

1943 ships Ships built in Duluth, Minnesota Ships transferred from the United States Coast Guard to the Panamanian Public Forces