USCGC Red Beech
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USCGC ''Red Beech'' (WLM-686) was a coastal
buoy tender A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. This term can also apply to an actual person who does this work. The United States Coast Guard uses buoy tenders to accomplish one of its primary missions of main ...
designed, built, owned, and operated by 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 ...
. She was launched in 1964 and homeported at Governors Island, New York. Her primary mission was maintaining 250 aids to navigation along the
Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
,
East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...
,
Raritan River The Raritan River is a river of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its Drainage basin, watershed drains much of the mountainous areas in the North Jersey, northern and Central Jersey, central sections of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay near ...
,
Kill Van Kull __NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York (state), New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, Bayonne, New Jersey, in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York ...
,
Arthur Kill The Arthur Kill (sometimes referred to as the Staten Island Sound) is a tidal strait in the New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary between Staten Island (also known as Richmond County), New York, and Union and Middlesex counties, New Jersey. It ...
, and throughout
New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...
. Her secondary missions included search and rescue, light icebreaking, law enforcement, and
marine environmental protection Marine environmental protection is one of the eleven missions of the United States Coast Guard (USCG). Protecting the delicate ecosystem of oceans is a vital Coast Guard mission. The Coast Guard works with a variety of groups and organizations to ...
. ''Red Beech'' was initially assigned to the 3rd Coast Guard District, but was later moved to the 1st Coast Guard District when the 3rd was absorbed in a reorganization. At the end of her Coast Guard career she was sunk off the coast of
Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, officially the Town of Ocean City, is an Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic resort city in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland, along the East Coast of the United States. The population was 6,844 at the 2020 United States c ...
as part of an artificial reef.


Acquisition

USCGC ''Oak'' (WAGL-239) was built in 1921 for the
United States Lighthouse Service The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of th ...
. Come the 1960s, she was one of the last Coast Guard buoy tenders propelled by a steam engine. Her machinery was so antiquated that when the ship was decommissioned in 1964 she was transferred to
The Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, education and research centers, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trus ...
, which put her boilers and steam engine on display. She was the longest continuously serving vessel in the Coast Guard fleet at the time of her retirement. Maintaining steam-powered buoy tenders like ''Oak'' had become costly and problematic, as spare parts for their engines were no longer available and had to be fabricated. Congress funded ''Red Beech'' as a replacement.


Construction and characteristics

''Red Beech'' was built at the
Coast Guard Yard The United States Coast Guard Yard or just Coast Guard Yard is a United States Coast Guard operated shipyard located on Curtis Bay in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just south of the Baltimore city limits. It is the Department of Homela ...
in
Curtis Bay, Maryland Curtis Bay is a residential / commercial / industrial neighborhood in the southern portion of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The neighborhood is on steep sloping heights, about four city blocks wide (west to east) and fifteen ...
. Her
keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...
was
laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...
on 14 October 1963. She was launched on 6 June 1964. She was sponsored by Helen Columbus, wife of Captain Charles E. Columbus, commander of the Coast Guard Yard. Her initial cost was $2,383,984. Her hull was built of welded steel plates. The ship was
long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...
, with a
beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...
of , and a
draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...
of . Her shallow draft and flat bottom was required for her work along the edges of dredged channels, but this hull form made her harder to maneuver and more prone to rolling. Her hull was reinforced for light icebreaking. She displaced 471 tons with a light load, and 572 tons with a full load. The ship had two
Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...
D398A 12-cylinder
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...
s rated at each. These drove two four-bladed controllable-pitch propellers which were in diameter. Red-class ships had a maximum speed of . She had a
bow thruster Manoeuvering thrusters (bow thrusters and stern thrusters) are transversal propulsion devices built into or mounted to either the Bow (watercraft), bow or stern (front or back, respectively) of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow th ...
for increased maneuverability. This was driven by a power take-off from the starboard propulsion engine. ''Red Beech''s tanks held of diesel fuel. This gave her a range of at , or at full speed. There were three engine control stations, two on the
bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
wings and one in the pilothouse. Her buoy deck featured a crane with the ability to lift 10 tons, which could be controlled from two different stations just below the bridge deck. The cranes' hydraulics were driven by a power take-off from the port propulsion engine. Her buoy deck had of working space. The ship had a crew of 4 officers and 28 enlisted men. In 1966 her commanding officer was a lieutenant, her executive officer was a lieutenant, j.g., her first lieutenant was a
warrant officer Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...
3, and her engineering officer was a warrant officer 2. Crew quarters were air-conditioned, a notable improvement in comfort at the time.


Coast Guard service

''Red Beech'' was commissioned at the Coast Guard Yard at a ceremony on 20 November 1964. She was assigned to Governors Island, New York, where she replaced USCGC ''Oak''. The bulk of her time was spent at sea tending her buoy fleet or moored, maintaining the ship and training the crew. Maintaining her buoys included verifying that they were in their charted positions, replacing lights and batteries, cleaning off marine growth, and inspecting and replacing their mooring chains and sinkers. On occasion, she was assigned a variety of other missions, as described below.


Search and rescue

In June 1970, ''Red Beech'' recovered a
Cessna 150 The Cessna 150 is a two-seat tricycle gear general aviation airplane that was designed for flight training, touring and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 22-23. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Monica CA, 1977. In 19 ...
aircraft which crashed into
Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...
and sank off
New Rochelle New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtown Manhattan. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the 7th-largest city and 2 ...
. The pilot was dead at the controls when the plane was raised. It was taken to Fort Totten.


Law enforcement

In October 1981 the trawler ''Falcon'' sank off the New Jersey coast. Recovery of loose bales of
hashish Hashish (; ), usually abbreviated as hash, is a Compression (physics), compressed form of resin (trichomes) derived from the cannabis flowers. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, As a Psychoactive drug, psychoactive ...
in the area led to the dispatch of ''Red Beech'' to the site of the wreck with divers from the Coast Guard's Atlantic Strike Team. Over of hashish was salvaged from the wreck, the second largest hashish seizure in
US Customs Service The United States Customs Service was a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted criminal ...
history. The ship's commanding officer during this incident was Lieutenant Robert J. Papp, jr., later
Commandant of the Coast Guard Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...
.


Marine environmental protection

On 25 October 1972, a barge owned by
Atlantic Richfield Arco may refer to: Places * Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy * Arco, Idaho, in the United States * Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States * ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings Companies * ARCO (b ...
was loading gasoline and light fuel oil in Arthur Kill when it exploded and began burning. ''Red Beech'' was dispatched among other assets to assess damage to buoys caused by the explosion and to monitor the spill. She was dispatched to other fires and spills in her heavily industrialized service area on several occasions. The
Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
n-flagged tanker ''Aeolus'' flooded and sank from a leak in her engine room. She settled to the bottom in of water about southeast of New York Harbor. Her main deck and superstructure remained above water. ''Red Beech'' was dispatched to the scene on 25 August 1974 with pumps capable of per minute to remove the oil aboard before it spilled.


Winter operations

''Red Beech'', and several other cutters were used for light icebreaking in the rivers and bays around New York and Baltimore. This was an important mission in that a number of communities relied on heating oil, gasoline, and fuel oil for power plants delivered by
barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...
s on these waterways. Her icebreaking was sometimes used to free ships that had been frozen in. In January and February 1978 she broke of ice in the
Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
to free eight vessels. Large buoys placed in freshwater rivers where ice conditions are difficult can be damaged, sunk, or dragged off-station. In the fall, ''Red Beech'' replaced 33 such buoys with smaller seasonal buoys which were less susceptible to ice damage. In the spring, she swapped these out for the larger buoys.


Public engagement

The Coast Guard offered tours of ''Red Beech'' on several occasions including: * Armed Forces week in May 1967 * An open house at the Saugerties Coast Guard station in August 1975 * The Great Cow Harbor Day festival in
Northport, New York Northport is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Huntington, New York, Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, New York (state), New ...
in September 1993 * American Heritage Festival at
Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous
in October 1995 * Governors Island Ship Visitation in May 1996


Awards and honors

''Red Beech'' earned a
Coast Guard Unit Commendation The Coast Guard Unit Commendation is the highest peacetime unit award that may be awarded to military commands of the United States Coast Guard. The decoration was first created in 1963 and is presented to members of any Coast Guard unit that di ...
in 1986 for her participation in the
Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...
Centennial Celebration. The ship was awarded the Coast Guard
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 ...
in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1986, and in 1991. The 1977 commendation was for her icebreaking services in lower New York Harbor and in Chesapeake Bay. The 1986 award was for her response to a waterfront fire. The Special Operations Service Ribbon was awarded for her response to the
1993 Storm of the Century The 1993 Storm of the Century (also known as the 93 Superstorm, The No Name Storm, or the Great Blizzard of '93/1993) was a devastating cyclonic storm, or nor'easter, that formed over the Gulf of Mexico on March 12, 1993. The cold weather, heav ...
and again in 1996 for her security role during the 50th anniversary celebration for the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. In 1982, ''Red Beech'' was deemed the outstanding transportation unit of the United States Coast Guard by the National Defense Transportation Association.


Decommissioning and sinking

''Red Beech'' was decommissioned on 18 June 1997 at Governors Island. She was replaced in New York Harbor by the . ''Red Beech'' was returned to the Coast Guard Yard where she was cleaned of potentially toxic materials in preparation to be sunk as part of an
artificial reef An artificial reef (AR) is a human-created freshwater or marine benthic structure. Typically built in areas with a generally featureless bottom to promote Marine biology#Reefs, marine life, it may be intended to control #Erosion prevention, erosio ...
. She was sunk on 10 June 2000 and became part of the Great Eastern Reef, about off Ocean City, Maryland.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Beech Ships built by the United States Coast Guard Yard 1964 ships Red-class coastal buoy tenders