USCGC ''Thetis'' (WPC-115), a steel-hulled, diesel-powered of the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

.Dropkin, pp. 1—3

History

Coast Guard service

The contract for her construction was awarded to the

Bath Iron Works Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, one of the world's largest ...

Bath, Maine Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. Bath is included in the Brunswick, Maine, Brunswick Micropolitan statistical area, micropolitan area. Bath has a 2024 population of 8,870. It is also the county seat of Sagadahoc County ...

on 21 January 1931. She was commissioned as Coast Guard Patrol Boat No. 1 on 1 December 1931.Scheina, p 38 Assigned to the homeport of

Stapleton, New York Stapleton is a neighborhood in northeastern Staten Island in New York City, United States. It is located along the waterfront of Upper New York Bay, roughly bounded on the north by Tompkinsville at Grant Street, on the south by Clifton at Vand ...

in 1931 she was transferred to

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in 1935. On 1 July 1941, four months in advance of the directive whereby the United States Coast Guard was transferred from the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

to the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, ''Thetis'' and five of her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s were turned over to the Navy. This action occurred simultaneously with the establishment of the four Sea Frontiers. Four s, including ''Thetis'', were assigned to the East Coast Sound School,

Key West, Florida Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Islan ...

, for duty as patrol and training vessels. Their collateral duties included operating under the aegis of Commander, Task Force 6, on Gulf patrol duties.Scheina, p 40

World War II

At the time of the Japanese

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

on 7 December 1941, ''Thetis'' was operating out of Key West. In or around February 1942, ''Thetis'' was classified as a patrol craft and given the

hull classification symbol The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ind ...

WPC-115. ''Thetis''s antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training missions were conducted along with local patrol and escort duties out of Key West from 1941 to June 1945. On 13 June 1942, ''Thetis'' located and sunk her in a single

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

attack. On 7 January 1944 she rescued seven survivors from which had accidentally been rammed by merchant tanker ''Camas Meadows'' off the coast of

Cape May, New Jersey Cape May (sometimes Cape May City) is a City (New Jersey), city and seaside resort located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located on the Atlantic Ocean ...

.St Augustine PG-54, History Central

Post war service

In June 1945, ''Thetis'' was assigned to air-sea rescue service with the Third Coast Guard District. She was decommissioned on 1 July 1947 and sold on 1 July 1948.

Citations

References used

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thetis Thetis-class patrol boats Ships of the United States Coast Guard World War II patrol vessels of the United States Ships built in Bath, Maine 1931 ships