''Sassafras'' is a C-Class, 180 ft, seagoing buoy tender constructed for the

USCG 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, mu ...

by Marine Iron & Shipbuilding Corp. of

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

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 t ...

. ''Sassafras'' was one of 39 tenders commissioned for duties that would include aids-to-navigation, ice breaking, search-and-rescue, fire fighting, law enforcement, providing fuel and potable water, and assistance to the National Oceanographic and Seismographic Survey.

History

1943 - 16 Aug. Keel laid at Duluth Minnesota. 1943 - 05 Oct. Launched Superior Bay. 1944 - 23 May. Commissioned as USCGC ''Sassafras'' (WAGL-401). 1945 - 15 Apr. Homeported

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, California. 1946 - 23 Aug. Left San Francisco for new homeport of

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

, Hawaii. 1946-47 - Assisted the Seventh Fleet involved in wartime operations in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. 1947 - 22 Aug. Left Honolulu for new homeport of

Cape May, New Jersey Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of ...

. 1949 - Assisted

USCGC Eastwind (WAGB-279) USCGC ''Eastwind'' (WAGB-279) was a ''Wind''-class icebreaker that was built for the United States Coast Guard. Completed in time to see action in World War II, she continued in USCG service under the same name until decommissioned in 1968. Con ...

after she was severely damaged in a collision with M.V. Gulfstream on 19 January 1949 off Cape May. New Jersey.Tragedy Stalks The Sea: An Account of The Eastwind Disaster. U.S. Coast Guard Magazine, March 1949. Accessed 13 DEC 2021 1957 - 4 Sep. Assisted after a mid-air collision between two

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

F-89 aircraft in

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay is bordered inland ...

. 1965 - Hull Classification Symbol changed to WLB. 1967 - On 30 April 1967 Sassafras rescued five from FV ''Mockingbird'', which sank 130 mi SE of New York City. 1969 - 12 Jan. Grounded on a pinnacle in the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

, north of Bear Mountain Bridge; she was re-floated four days later. 1977-78 - Underwent a "major renovation" at the

Coast Guard Yard The United States Coast Guard Yard or just Coast Guard Yard is a United States Coast Guard operated shipyard located on Curtis Bay in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just south of the Baltimore city limits. It is the largest industrial fa ...

. The "major renovation" program was conducted on the following 180-foot tenders between 1974-1979: ''Sedge'', ''Bramble'', ''Ironwood'', ''Mariposa'', ''Acacia'', ''Sweetbrier'', ''Hornbeam'', ''Spar'', ''Sassafras'', ''Sundew'', ''Firebush'', and ''Woodrush''. This renovation involved the complete removal and overhaul of all mechanical systems including the main engines and the propulsion switchboard. A bow thruster was also added. The tenders were then recabled, repiped, and all habitability spaces were renovated and the forward hold was redesigned to increase berthing space. 1978 - Moved homeport to

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. 1981 - Returned to Honolulu, Hawaii. 1986 - 5 Dec. Rescued two people from the sailboat Joie de Mar, which was disabled 550 miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. 1989 - Feb. Assisted after

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

Flight 811 crash off Hawaii. 1989-90 - MCI Ship Yard in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (loc ...

. Major renovations and replacement of Main Diesel Engine's and major auxiliary systems during a 7-month yard period. Removing the Cooper-Bessemer Engines and replacing with General Motors Diesel plant. 1990 - Rescued 28 crewmen from sinking Greek freighter (''Vulca'') 800 miles northeast of Hawaii. 1999 - Moved homeport to

Apra Harbor Apra Harbor, also called Port Apra, is a deep-water port on the western side of the United States territory of Guam. It is considered one of the best natural ports in the Pacific Ocean. The harbor is bounded by Cabras Island and the Glass Breakwa ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

to replace the . 2003 - Decommissioned after 59 years of service. Transferred to the

Federal Republic of Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of ...

, to continue her proud naval history as the Nigerian Naval Ship ''Obula''. The ''

Sassafras ''Sassafras'' is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia.Wolfe, Jack A. & Wehr, Wesley C. 1987. The sassafras is an ornamental tree. "Middle ...

'' was named after a type of tree, most famous for flavoring

root beer Root beer is a sweet North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree '' Sassafras albidum'' or the vine of '' Smilax ornata'' (known as sarsaparilla, also used to make a soft drink, sarsaparilla) as the ...

. All of the 180s were named after trees, shrubs, or flowers. This was a continuation of the longstanding

Lighthouse Service The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of th ...

practice of naming tenders after foliage found in the tender’s intended area of operations. For the 180s, however, there was no particular area of operations envisioned for individual vessels.

References and links

USCG Historian Factsheet - CGC Sassafras (archived 2012)
* ttp://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/WLB_Photo_Index.asp Photo history of USCG buoy tenders by the Coast Guard Historian's Officebr>WWII Construction Records U.S. Coast Guard Cutters (WAG, WPG, WAGL, WYT)

*Scheina, Robert L., 1990. ''U.S. Coast Guard Cutter and Craft 1946-1990''. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. United States Coast Guard.
Tragedy Stalks The Sea: An Account of The Eastwind Disaster. U.S. Coast Guard Magazine, March 1949. Accessed 13 DEC 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sassafras (WLB-401) Historic American Engineering Record in Guam Iris-class seagoing buoy tenders 1943 ships Ships built in Duluth, Minnesota Ships of the Nigerian Navy Ships transferred from the United States Coast Guard to the Nigerian Navy