USCGC ''Tupelo'' WAGL/WLB-303, was a Cactus (A) Class 180-foot

buoy tender A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. This term can also apply to an actual person who does this work. The United States Coast Guard uses buoy tenders to accomplish one of its primary missions of main ...

vessel built by Zenith Dredge Company of

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

. Her keel was laid 15 August 1942, launched 28 November 1942 and commissioned on 30 August 1943. She was built as a WAGL and redesignated a WLB in 1965.

Ship's history

In the spring of 1943 ''Tupelo'' serviced aids to navigation (ATON), did search and recovery work near Norfolk, Virginia and broke ice in

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

. ''Tupelo'' was refitted as a Navy Damage Control Ship at the

United States 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 fac ...

Baltimore, Maryland in 1943. En route to fight in the Pacific War, via the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

, ''Tupelo'' went to the aid of the seagoing tugboat ''MV Atengo'', which was in peril off the western coast of Mexico in a hurricane. During the rescue a crewman of ''Atengo'' had his hand mangled in an accident. ''Tupelo's'' surgeon treated the man and had to amputate his thumb. ''Tupelo'' was at Kwajalein Atoll next, en route to

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 ...

with a convoy of

Landing Craft Infantry The Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) were several classes of landing craft used to land large numbers of infantry directly onto beaches during the Second World War. They were developed in response to a British request for seagoing amphibious assault ...

(LCIs) . In 1944 she took tow of USS ''Oregon'' (BB-3) from a U.S. Navy seagoing tug, the ''Oregon'' was then a hulk to be used as a dynamite barge in Guam. ''Tupelo'' towed ''Oregon'' 100 miles to Guam. Upon arrival in Guam, which was still held by the Japanese ''Tupelo'' received her baptism under fire, while the U.S. fleet shelled the island. ''Tupelo's'' crew blasted a channel in the reef on the south side of Guam to accept ''Oregon's'' draft. ''Oregon'' was loaded with 1500 tons of 40 percent gelatin dynamite. From 1944 to 1946 ''Tupelo'' was assigned to Service Squadron 4, the "Harbor Stretchers",

U.S. Pacific Fleet The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...

, and served there establishing and maintaining over 50 massive moorings for

U.S. 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 o ...

ships with 15 ton anchors and 2-1/2 inch chain. She was also used to set buoys around minefields and to transport tons of dynamite to U.S. forces throughout the Pacific Islands. ''Tupelo'' was also responsible for maintaining

Aids to Navigation Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

(

ATON Aton, ATON or variants thereof may refer to: People * Aton Ben-Horin (born 1979), American music executive and record producer * Aton Edwards (born c. 1962), American expert in the fields of emergency preparedness, self-reliance and sustainable ...

) at

. Following the war, on 1 July 1946 ''Tupelo'' was reassigned to

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

for maintaining

, search and rescue, law enforcement and

ice breaking An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

. On 25 June 1950 she patrolled the Mills Trophy Race off Kelleys Island, Ohio. On 27 November 1950 she assisted the tug ''MV Whitney'' and two scows 1.5 miles off of Toledo, Ohio. From 9 through 11 January 1951 she escorted the disabled

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

''MV Sherman H. Serre'' from

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio. On 24 June 1951 she once again patrolled the Mills Trophy Race at Kelleys Island, Ohio. On 20 October 1951 she assisted ''MV George F. Rand'' off of Port Huron, Michigan. During 13–14 December 1951 she searched for but did not find a missing Cessna aircraft in western

. On 11 September 1952 she assisted grounded ''MV Kulas'' and ''MV Fink'' in the Livingstone Channel. From 23 to 25 September 1952 ''Tupelo'' searched for but did not find an overdue pleasure craft (PC) in western Lake Erie. On 21 April 1953 she assisted the grounded ''MV J.H. Hillman'' in the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River (french: Rivière Sainte-Claire) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron int ...

. During 23 through 25 August 1953 she ran a safety patrol for the Rochester Race in

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

. On 24 January 1955 she assisted an icebound tug and barges near

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. On 13 June 1955 ''Tupelo'' searched for a missing pleasure craft in western Lake Erie. On 20 April 1956 she assisted following collision between ''MV A.M. Byers'' and ''MV E.M. Ford'' off Sans Souci. On 14 July 1957 ''Tupelo'' patrolled the International Race near St Clair, Michigan. On 12 November 1957 she assisted a grounded vessel in Amherstburg Channel. On 1 March 1958 she helped restore power to Marblehead, Ohio. From 4 to 5 October 1958 ''Tupelo'' patrolled the Cleveland Race. During 25 through 26 Jul 1959 she patrolled Mackinac Island Race. In 1961 ''Tupelo'' salvaged PCJ-3776. On 1 August 1962 she assisted ''MV Montrose'' after it wrecked in the

Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively referred to as Detro ...

. On 12 January 1963 she assisted in the rescue of 154 persons stranded on an ice floe adrift 10 miles east of Toledo, on 25 January 1965 she escorted the damaged '' USCGC Bramble (WLB-392)'' to

for repair, in mid-September 1965 ''Tupelo'' salvaged a downed U.S. Navy helicopter from

. On 31 January 1969 an ice jam blocked the flow of the river below

Monroe, Michigan Monroe is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Monroe had a population of 20,462 in the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered auton ...

, causing the river to back up and flood the city, ''Tupelo'' broke up the ice jam, restoring the river's flow into the lake thus saving the city from extensive damage. During the

station era ''Tupelo'' participated in Operation Coal Shovel. In the spring of 1969 ''Tupelo'' was reassigned to Astoria, Oregon relieving '' USCGC Magnolia (WLB-328)'' Her duties there were maintaining

(

), search and rescue operations, ice breaking and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and fishing treaty enforcement. ''Tupelo'' also tended the lightship '' USCGC Columbia (WLV-604)'' while ''Columbia'' was on station at the Columbia River Bar. From 9 through 11 October 1969 ''Tupelo'' stood by grounded British ''MV Hawthorne Enterprise'' on

Mona Island Mona ( es, Isla de Mona) is the third-largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto R ...

until relieved by the ''USCGC Point Warde (WPB-82368)''. On 30 September 1975 the ''Tupelo'' was decommissioned at a ceremony in Astoria, Oregon. In September 1977 ''Tupelo'' was sold to private enterprise. She underwent extensive rework to her superstructure and had a new power plant installed for her new

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

owners, Baranof Fisheries. She was renamed ''FV Courageous'' and has been fishing the Bering Sea for crab and longlining for cod for the last thirty years. Her catches are also processed on board. In October 2008 in rough seas, the ''FV Courageous'' was instrumental in assisting the

U.S. 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, mul ...

on the ''FV Katmai'' search and rescue operation; and by recovering bodies from the sunken vessel.

Awards and honors

US Coast Guard E Ribbon, for period of 19 to 23 August 1974 at Fleet Training Group (FTG) San Diego California.

References

*
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard Historian's Office
*Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C. *Robert Scheina. ''U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982. *Robert Scheina. ''U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft'', 1946–1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990.
U. S. Department of the Interior. National Park Service. ''U.S. Coast Guard 180-Foot Buoy Tenders''. HAER booklet. Washington, DC: National Park Service, September, 2003. HAER nos. DC-56, LA-14, LA-15, RI-56, and AL-187; Todd Croteau, HAER Industrial Archeologist (project leader); Jet Low, HAER Photographer; Dana Lockett (architect); Pete Brooks (architect); Candace Clifford (historian); and Kevin Foster (historian).
* ttp://www.jacksjoint.com/a_buoy_tender_tows_a_battleship.htm ''A Buoy Tender Tows a Battleship'' By CAPT C.W. "Bill" Bailey, USCGbr>''Buoy Tender Duty In The South Pacific 1943-1946''. By CAPT C.W. "Bill" Bailey, USCG

External links

USCG Historian's Office USCGC TupeloCGC Tupelo veterans at the Coast Guard Channel Community
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tupelo Cactus-class seagoing buoy tenders 1942 ships Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon Ships built in Duluth, Minnesota