USCGC ''Itasca'' was a Lake-class cutter 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 ...

launched on 16 November 1929 and commissioned 12 July 1930. It acted as "picket ship" supporting Amelia Earhart's 1937 world flight attempt, and was the last vessel in radio contact with her and Fred Noonan as they were supposed to be reaching

Howland Island Howland Island () is a coral island and strict nature reserve located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia and is an Territories of the ...

in the Pacific. In 1941, it was transferred to the United Kingdom and served as a convoy escort in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as HMS ''Gorleston''.

Career

(USCG) service, ''Itasca'' performed

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

patrols. In 1934 it was used to settle the first wave of colonists that were involved in the American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project. It is most remembered as the " picket ship" that would provide

air navigation The basic principles of air navigation are identical to general navigation, which includes the process of planning, recording, and controlling the movement of a craft from one place to another. Successful air navigation involves piloting an airc ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

links for

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

and Fred Noonan when Earhart made her 1937 attempt to fly around the world. ''Itasca'', stationed at

, tried to keep in radio contact with her but radio reception was intermittent. On 2 July 1937 ''Itasca'' received the last transmission from Earhart's aircraft and after receiving no further messages she assumed that the aircraft had gone into the ocean. ''Itasca'' immediately headed to the area of the last radio transmission and started search operations northward of Howland Island. ''Itasca'' and other Navy and Coast Guard vessels continued the search operation in the area until 16 July when the search was called off. ''Itasca'' was decommissioned on

lend lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),

to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

where she received a name change, becoming HMS ''Gorleston'' (Y92) after the East Anglian port of Gorleston on 30 May 1941. ''Gorleston'' was equipped with Type 286M radar after arrival in England; and was assigned to the 40th Escort Group escorting trade convoys between England and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

with sister ships and , Lend-Lease destroyer and sloop . After escorting convoys OS 4, SL 87, OS 10, SL 93, OS 12, SL 95, OS 17, SL 100, OS 22, SL 106, OS 28, SL 112, OS 34 and SL 118 on this eastern Atlantic route, ''Gorleston'' made a trip to

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

escorting convoys DS 33 and SD 33, and escorted convoys KMF 3, MKF 3, KMF 5, MKF 5, KMF 7 and MKF 7 between England and the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

in support of

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

.Mason, Geoffrey B
"HMS 'Gorleston'."
''naval-history.net,'' 2005. Retrieved: 2 September 2011. ''Gorleston'' was then assigned to the 42nd Escort Group with sister ship , s and , and sloops and escorting tanker convoys UC 1 and CU 1. ''Gorleston'' then resumed escorting eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean convoys until refit in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in December 1943. After refit, ''Gorleston'' escorted eastern Mediterranean convoys from March 1944 until assigned to the

Kilindini Kilindini Harbour is a large, natural deep-water inlet extending inland from Mombasa, Kenya. It is at its deepest center, although the controlling depth is the outer channel in the port approaches with a dredged depth of . It serves as the harbo ...

Escort Force in August 1944. ''Gorleston'' escorted

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

convoys until transferred to

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

in June 1945. ''Gorleston'' spent the remainder of the war escorting

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

convoys in support of Operation Zipper. ''Gorleston'' was returned to the United States on 23 April 1946 and re-designated USCGC ''Itasca'' until scrapped in 1950.USCGC ''Itasca'' (1930), U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * Lenton, H.T. and J. J. Colledge. ''British and Dominion Warships of World War II''. London: Ian Allan, 1973, First edition 1964. . * Long, Elgen M. and Marie K. ''Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. . * Lovell, Mary S. ''The Sound of Wings''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989. . * Pellegrino, Anne Holtgren. ''World Flight: The Amelia Trail''. Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State University Press, 1971. . * ''The Radio Amateur's Handbook''. West Hartford, Connecticut: American Radio Relay League, 1945. No ISBN. * Safford, Laurance F. with Warren, Cameron A. and Payne, Robert R.'' Earhart's Flight into Yesterday: The Facts Without the Fiction'', McLean, Virginia: Paladwr Press, 2003. .

External links

U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:Itasca (1929) Lake-class cutters Ships built in Alameda, California 1929 ships Gorleston World War II sloops of the United Kingdom

Career

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links