The USCGC ''Bibb'' (WPG-31) was a Secretary-Class (also known as "Treasury Class") Coast Guard ship commissioned in 1936. Seven similar "combat cutters" were built and named for secretaries of the

United States Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

. ''Bibb'' was named for U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (July 4, 1844 – March 7, 1845) George M. Bibb.

History

''Bibb'' saw service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The ship fought in the Battle of the Atlantic serving as a convoy escort. In February 1943, the convoy came under attack and the was torpedoed. Capt. Raney ignored the order to leave the survivors and went back and rescued 202 men from the icy waters. In 1944 ''Bibb'' provided convoy escort between the United States and North Africa — mainly to Bizerte in Tunisia. In January 1945 ''Bibb'' left Charleston, South Carolina for service in the Pacific theater where, as an AGC, she served temporarily as the flagship for Commander, Mine Craft, Pacific Fleet. ''Bibb'' is credited with destroying one Japanese kamikaze aircraft in action at Karema Retto. In peacetime the ''Bibb'' spent time on ocean station providing weather information and beacons to trans-Atlantic traffic. While on ocean station, the ''Bibb'' came to the rescue of the airliner, the Bermuda Sky Queen. In the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, the ''Bibb'' transported

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

after he was shot on his Swift boat.

Fate

''Bibb'' was decommissioned in 1985 and remained docked until it was transported to the Florida Keys for use as an artificial reef. The ship was sunk in November 1987 just outside the coral reef tract, about six miles (10 km) offshore of the island of

Key Largo Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by ...

. It lies on its side at a depth of about . Nearby, a second Treasury-Class ship, the USCGC ''Duane'' (WPG-33) was also sunk as an artificial reef. The ''Bibb'' rests at .

Noteworthy crewmembers

Among those serving on ''Bibb'' was James A. Watson, a rear admiral who was the onsite ranking officer in the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...

. Watson was an Engineering Officer/Student Engineer (1978-1980).

World War II convoys escorted

In popular culture

The USCGC Bibb appeared in the 1952 film "Walk East on Beacon" at the film's climactic end.

References

External links

Bibb shipmates association

uscg.mil/history: USCGC ''Bibb''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bibb (WPG-31) Treasury-class cutters Ships of the United States Coast Guard Shipwrecks of the Florida Keys 1937 ships Maritime incidents in 1987 Ships sunk as artificial reefs Ships built in Charleston, South Carolina