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USCGC ''Planetree'' (WAGL/WLB-307) was a Mesquite-class seagoing buoy tender operated by 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 served during
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the
Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...
, and the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, 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 Vie ...
, as well as in a variety of domestic missions.


Construction and characteristics

''Planetree'' was built at the Marine Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company yard in
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 down on December 4, 1942. The ship was launched on March 20, 1943. Her original cost was $872,876. Her hull was constructed of welded steel plates framed with steel I-beams. As originally built, ''Planetree'' was long, with a beam of , and a draft of . Her displacement was 935 tons. While her overall dimensions remained the same over her career, the addition of new equipment raised her displacement to 1,025 tons by the end of her Coast Guard service. She was designed to perform light ice-breaking. Her hull was reinforced with an "ice belt" of thicker steel around her waterline to protect it from punctures. Similarly, her bow was reinforced and shaped to ride over ice in order to crush it with the weight of the ship. ''Planetree'' had a single stainless-steel five-blade propeller driven by a diesel-electric propulsion system. Two Cooper-Bessemer GND-8 4-cycle 8-cylinder Diesel engines produced 700 horsepower each. They provided power to two Westinghouse generators. The electricity from the generators ran a 1200-horsepower Westinghouse electric motor which turned the propeller. She had a single cargo boom which had the ability to lift 20 tons onto her buoy deck. The ship's fuel tanks had a capacity of approximately ''. Planetree's'' unrefueled range was at 13 knots, at 12 knots, and at 8.3 knots. Her potable water tanks had a capacity of . Considering dry storage capacity and other factors, her at-sea endurance was 21 days. Her wartime complement was 6 officers and 74 enlisted men. By 1964 this was reduced to 5 officers, 2 warrant officers, and 42 enlisted personnel. ''Planetree'' was armed with a
3"/50 caliber gun The 3"/50 caliber gun (spoken "three-inch fifty-caliber") in United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile in diameter, and the barrel was 50 calibers long (barrel length is 3 in × 50 = ). Different guns (identif ...
mounted behind the pilot house. She also had two 20mm guns, one mounted on top of the wheelhouse and one on the aft deck. Two racks of
depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use ...
s were also mounted on the aft deck. All of this armament was removed in 1966 leaving ''Planetree'' with only small arms for law enforcement actions. At the time of construction, ''Planetree'' was designated WAGL, an auxiliary vessel, lighthouse tender. The designation was system was changed in 1965, and she was redesignated WLB, an oceangoing buoy tender. Her namesake is the
plane tree ''Platanus'' is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. All except ...
, a genus of trees which includes sycamores.


Great Lakes service

''Planetree'' was commissioned on November 4, 1943, and began her career in the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...
. In early December 1943 she was icebreaking in
Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh w ...
to keep the port of
Ashland, Wisconsin Ashland is a city in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat of Ashland County. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon Bay. The population was 7,908 at the 2020 census, al ...
open for iron ore shipments. On December 10, 1943, the Canadian steamship ''Sarnian'' went aground off Point Isabella on the
Keweenaw Peninsula The Keweenaw Peninsula ( , sometimes locally ) is the northernmost part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It projects into Lake Superior and was the site of the first copper boom in the United States, leading to its moniker of " Copper Country." As ...
during a storm. Covered in ice and pounded by high seas, her hull plates cracked, and she was abandoned three days later. Her crew of 22 was rescued by ''Planetree''. ''Planetree'' spent the winter of 19431944 icebreaking in the Great Lakes. She was the first vessel of the season to reach
Sault Ste. Marie Sault Ste. Marie is a cross-border region of Canada and the United States located on St. Marys River, which drains Lake Superior into Lake Huron. Founded as a single settlement in 1668, Sault Ste. Marie was divided in 1817 by the establishment of ...
by breaking ice in the Saint Mary's River in March 1944.


Pacific service

In June 1944 ''Planetree'' was assigned to a new homeport,
Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...
. During her transit from the Great Lakes she stopped at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland. Tenders sailing for war zones were equipped with extra firefighting pumps, welding equipment, and diving gear. Once she reached Hawaii, one of her tasks was to deliver updated
LORAN LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range ...
equipment to remote stations at
Baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ...
,
Gardner Gardner may refer to: Name *Gardner (given name) *Gardner (surname) Places United States *Gardner, Colorado * Gardner, Illinois *Gardner, Kansas *Gardner, Massachusetts *Gardner, North Dakota *Gardner, Tennessee * Gardner, Wisconsin * Glen Gardn ...
, and Atafu Islands, which she accomplished in 1945. The end of World War II in 1945 created intense pressure from conscripted members of the armed forces and their families for rapid demobilization. The Coast Guard lost so many sailors that it was forced to decommission several ships for lack of crews to sail them. ''Planetree'' was decommissioned in March 1947 and held in reserve at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. On September 1, 1949 ''Planetree'' was recommissioned and assigned 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 ce ...
. She was responsible for maintaining aids to navigation across a swathe to the Pacific from
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
to
Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with ...
to
Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 est ...
. She also supplied remote bases. For example, on September 23, 1954, she arrived at Angaur, an island in
Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Ca ...
, towing a barge with about 8,000 gallons of diesel fuel for the LORAN station there. In October 1954 she was reassigned to Honolulu. Her primary mission was to maintain aids to navigation, including LORAN stations, throughout the central Pacific. Due to the vast distances involved, these cruises were long. They took advantage of the ship's at-sea endurance. During February and March 1960, ''Planetree'' spent seven weeks repairing aids to navigation on
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
, and Swains, Baker, Jarvis, Howland, and Enderbury Islands. In August 1960 she was sent on a four-week cruise to Midway and Johnston Islands, and Samoa to maintain aids to navigation. ''Planetree'' cruised the western Pacific on a five-month trip maintaining buoys in 1965. She also worked in the Hawaiian Islands. When a May 1960 tsunami displaced the harbor buoys at
Hilo Hilo () is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaii. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. It is the fourth-largest settlement i ...
, ''Planetree'' was on the spot to reset them. ''Planetree'' was tasked with a number of search and rescue missions while stationed in Honolulu. For example, in August 1959 she towed the disabled schooner ''Diablo'' and her crew of ten 675 miles back to Honolulu. She rescued the 17-man crew of the Japanese fishing vessel ''Koryo Maru II'' which had gone aground on
Minto Reef Minto Reef is a largely submerged atoll belonging to Pohnpei State in Micronesia. Description Minto Reef encloses a lagoon of about 25 to 30 km2 in area. There are several boat passages into the lagoon on the southern side. It is at the same ...
in the
Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the centra ...
in 1961. The sloop ''Rampage'', participating in the 1967 Transpacific Yacht Race, lost her rudder and was towed to port by ''Planetree''. ''Planetree'' had a brief tour in the Korean War zone, arriving on May 15, 1954. When she departed on July 27, 1954, she was the last Coast Guard cutter to leave theater of operations. She earned the
Korean service medal The Korean Service Medal (KSM) is a military award for service in the United States Armed Forces and was established November 8, 1950 by executive order of President Harry Truman. The Korean Service Medal is the primary US military award for se ...
for her efforts. In July 1958 crew from ''Planetree'' arrested pacifist and nuclear activist
Earle L. Reynolds Earle L. Reynolds (born Earl Frederick Schoene; October 18, 1910 – January 11, 1998) was an Anthropology, anthropologist, educator, author, Quaker, and peace activist. He was sent to Hiroshima by the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Atomi ...
65 miles inside a restricted area in the Pacific Proving Grounds. He was protesting the Hardtack I series of hydrogen bomb tests. ''Planetree'' escorted his sailboat to
Kwajalein Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: ) is part of the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking res ...
. In 1966 the
Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
had only a single buoy tender. It was not adequate to maintain and improve navigational aids needed by the growing US shipping along the South Vietnamese coast. In particular, U.S. commanders wanted a series of petroleum off-loading buoys to support the movement of fuel ashore from tankers. They requested assistance placing these buoys and on April 24, 1966 ''Plantree'' became the first Coast Guard buoy tender to enter the Vietnam theater of operations. She set 16 off-loading buoys in 4 ports. Other requests for aids to navigation resulted in the Coast Guard deploying four buoy tenders, including ''Planetree'', on short rotations during the Vietnam war''.'' During her 1967 Vietnam deployment, ''Planetree'' set ship anchorage and mooring buoys off
Da Nang Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is o ...
and
Chu Lai Chu Lai is a seaport, urban and industrial area in Núi Thành District, Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam. The city is served by Chu Lai International Airport. It is also the site of the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone (Vietnamese: ''Với Khu Kinh T� ...
. Among the unique challenges faced in the war zone was that aids to navigation were used for target practice by all sides in the conflict. Batteries for lighted buoys were stolen by all sides for use in cars and other applications. Whenever any of the Coast Guard buoy tenders were deployed to the theater they sailed with Vietnamese lighthouse service personnel aboard. The training they received was deemed sufficient to turn over responsibility for maintaining their own aids to navigation in December 1972, but by then the regime was falling. The last Coast Guard buoy tender left Vietnamese waters in the spring of 1973 as part of the general withdrawal of U.S. forces. ''Planetree'' earned the
Vietnam service award Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.


Alaska service

Planetree was given a refit in 1974. She received an "austere" renovation, the less comprehensive of the two buoy tender service life extension programs the Coast Guard implemented at that time. This refit was expected to extend the ship's life by 8 to 10 years. Crew quarters were improved and modernized, and a new crew lounge was added. The climate control system was modernized, and the main engines and electrical switchboards were overhauled. New 100 kilowatt generators were installed. After the renovation, in August 1974, ''Planetree'' was reassigned to
Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality A mu ...
. Her primary mission remained the maintenance of aids to navigation. One unusual aspect of this service is that she was responsible for supplying the last staffed lighthouse in Alaska, Five Finger Island. ''Planetree'' sailed from Alaska to Hawaii several times during her career to join training exercises. On one trip, in January 1993, she encountered a storm which produced 100-mile per hour gusts and waves 55 feet high. Three small holes opened in the ship's hull causing a 30 to 50 gallon per hour leak. The application off quick-drying cement as temporary patches cut the leaks down to 3 to 5 gallons per hour, which the ship's pumps handled easily. ''Planetree''
hove to In sailing, heaving to (to heave to and to be hove to) is a way of slowing a sailing vessel's forward progress, as well as fixing the helm and sail positions so that the vessel does not have to be steered. It is commonly used for a "break"; this ...
until the weather moderated, reducing her speed to just the minimum required to allow her rudder to be effective in steering the ship. Even at this low speed, the ship began to leak propeller shaft lubricant which threatened her ability to continue steering. USCGC ''Douglas'' ''Munro'' responded to ''Planetree'' bringing additional lubricant, and the ship made port as the weather moderated. In September 1984 ''Planetree'' was tending a buoy about 5 miles west of Gustavus, Alaska. She struck a submerged object which tore a hole in her hull 3 feet long and eight inches wide. Her main hold flooded to ten feet deep. She sought shelter at Bartlett Cove in
Glacier Bay National Park Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is an American national park located in Southeast Alaska west of Juneau. President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the area around Glacier Bay a national monument under the Antiquities Act on February 26, 1925. C ...
where commercial divers installed a temporary patch. In 1985 ''Planetree'' was transferred to Ketchikan, replacing USCGC ''Laurel''. In her new homeport she was responsible for 254 aids to navigation between
Dixon Entrance The Dixon Entrance (french: Entrée Dixon) is a strait about long and wide in the Pacific Ocean at the Canada–United States border, between the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia in Canada. The Dixon Entrance is part o ...
and Juneau. On April 6, 1989 ''Planetree'' was directed to sail for
Prince William Sound Prince William Sound ( Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the ...
to assist in the Coast Guard response to the
Exxon Valdez oil spill The ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. '' Exxon Valdez'', an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company bound for Long Beach, California struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef, west ...
. ''Planetree'' and USCGC ''Yocona'' attempted to corral floating oil near Seward with floating boom. At 10:11 pm on January 25, 1990 ''Planetree'' ran aground at Deception Point in the southern part of Wrangell Narrows. There were no injuries and the ship was promptly refloated, but her hull was pierced and began to flood. USCGC ''Firebush'', USCGC ''Elderberry'', and USCGC ''Anacapa'' responded and brought emergency pumps and divers. The divers found a 1' x 2' hole, a 6" x 1" crack and a 5-foot dent on ''Planetree's'' port side. The pumps prevailed, removing 3.2 million gallons of water from the ship's hold. ''Planetree'' ultimately made it to drydock in Ketchikan under her own power.''Planetree'' was decommissioned in Ketchikan on March 19, 1999. During her career she earned several honors including the Coast Guard Unit Commendation, two
Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or ...
s, and eight
Coast Guard E Ribbon The Coast Guard E Ribbon was established in September 1990 and is the United States Coast Guard equivalent to the Navy E Ribbon. Also known as the ''Coast Guard Excellence Ribbon'', the decoration is a unit award which is presented to the off ...
s. She was replaced in Ketchikan by USCGC ''Anthony Petit''.


Retirement

After decommissioning, ''Planetree'' was placed in the ready reserve fleet and moored with other mothballed ships at
Suisun Bay, California Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the ent ...
. Several efforts were made to donate the ship to a worthy non-profit organization. The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 sought to donate ''Planetree'' to the Jewish Life museum in Sherman Oaks, California. In 2005 Congress acted to give ''Plaintree'' to CAS Foundation, Inc. of Indiana. In 2009 the Senate took action to donate the vessel to The Anchor Program in Richmond, California. None of these donations happened. In 2018 the
Maritime Administration Maritime administrations, or flag state administrations, are the executive arms/state bodies of each government responsible for carrying out the shipping responsibilities of the state, and are tasked to administer national shipping and boating issu ...
contracted with All Star Metals of Brownsville, Texas to recycle ''Planetree'' and USCGC ''Iris''. They were drydocked at
Mare Island Mare Island ( Spanish: ''Isla de la Yegua'') is a peninsula in the United States in the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the ...
to clean their bottoms and repair their hulls sufficiently for them to reach Texas. The drydock contract was for $268,000. The two ships were towed to Brownsville where they arrived on January 28, 2019. It was reported that the cost of the recycling was $1,359,400.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Planetree (WLB-307) Mesquite-class seagoing buoy tenders 1943 ships Ships built in Duluth, Minnesota Historic American Engineering Record in San Francisco