USCGC ''Benjamin Bottoms'' (WPC-1132) is the 32nd

cutter Cutter may refer to: Tools * Bolt cutter * Box cutter, aka Stanley knife, a form of utility knife * Cigar cutter * Cookie cutter * Glass cutter * Meat cutter * Milling cutter * Paper cutter * Side cutter * Cutter, a type of hydraulic rescue to ...

built for 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, mu ...

. She is the fourth of four Fast Response Cutters homeported in

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; Spanish: "St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

Operational history

On July 15, 2021, ''Benjamin Bottoms'', along with ''Munro'' and ''Haddock'', were diverted to extinguish a boat fire on the ''Relentless'', seven miles west of

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...

Namesake

''Benjamin Bottoms'' is named after

Benjamin A. Bottoms Benjamin Bottoms (1913–1942) was a United States Coast Guardsman who died while attempting to rescue the crew of a USAAF bomber that had crashed-landed in Greenland in November 1942. Bottoms was the radioman of the USCGC ''Northlands Grum ...

, who died in November 1942 while attempting to rescue the crew of a crashed

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

bomber. He was assigned on a Grumman J2F-4 Duck floatplane as the radioman, and after receiving a radio message that a B-17 crashed, and accompanied pilot John A. Pritchard to search for the downed plane. The pilot spotted the crashed bomber, and landed it as close to the wreak as possible. They were able to assist two of the injured crew back to their plane and back to the USCGC ''Northland''. On their second trip, the plane encountered bad weather, causing the plane to crash, killing both men.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132) Sentinel-class cutters 2019 ships Ships of the United States Coast Guard Ships built in Lockport, Louisiana