USCGC Acacia (WAGL-200)
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | General John F. Story |
| Namesake: | General John F. Story |
| Builder: | Fabricated Shipbuilding Corporation and Coddington Engineering Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Laid down: | 1918[1] |
| Acquired: | 1919[2] |
| Commissioned: | 1920 |
| Status: | transferred to the United States Lighthouse Service, 1922 |
 | |
| Name: | Acacia |
| Namesake: | Acacia |
| Acquired: | 1922 |
| Commissioned: | 14 April 1927 |
| Identification: | Hull symbol: WAGL-200 |
| Fate: | sunk, 15 March 1942 |
| Notes: | USLHS absorbed by the USCG 1 July 1939 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Speedwell-class mine planter |
| Displacement: | 1,130 long tons (1,150 t) |
| Length: | 172 ft 6 in (52.58 m) |
| Beam: | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draft: | 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: |
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| Range: | 1,692 mi (2,723 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Complement: |
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USCG Acacia (WAGL-200) was originally built for service by the US Army as a Speedwell-class mine planter shortly after World War I and later transferred to the US Lighthouse Service then the US Coast Guard. She was sunk in 1942 by a German U-boat.
Construction
Acacia was laid down by Fabricated Shipbuilding Corporation and Coddington Engineering Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as General John F. Story, for the US Army, sometime around 1 October 1918. She was delivered around 1 May 1919, and commissioned into the Army's Mine Planter Service in 1920.[1][3]
Service history
US Army – transfer to the USLHS
Acacia was a Speedwell-class mine planter originally built for the US Army in 1918 and 1919. Six were transferred to the US Lighthouse Service at no cost in 1922. The original intent was for these vessels to serve a dual purpose: mine-planter in case of a war, and lighthouse tender during peacetime. Unfortunately, this conversion proved to be impracticable and too expensive and they were modified exclusively for service as tenders at a cost of between $41,022 to $110,963. Each had a turtleback forecastle installed and their anchors were mounted high to prevent the ship from being hung up on a buoy she was servicing. A steel main deck was added forward; new windows were installed in the pilothouse, and a new refrigerating plant was added. All vessels were then commissioned from 1923 to 1927 with new names.[3]
USLHS and USCG service
Acacia was assigned to the San Juan, Puerto Rico, area 21 April 1927. The ship’s field of operations included Puerto Rico and adjacent islands, Virgin Islands, Guantánamo Bay, and Cuba. Although the ship was designated as a lighthouse tender she was also used to perform construction and repair of stations, small structures, piers, etc. in addition to her work of tending aids to navigation. After the San Felipe hurricane on 13 September 1928, the crew nicknamed themselves "The Acacia Construction Company" because of the number of repairs they performed. She ran aground off Fajardo, Puerto Rico, in September 1932, during a hurricane, probably the San Ciprian hurricane, but was safely refloated.[3]
The ship's main mission was in to place and repair aids to navigation equipment, in which they maintained approximately 255 during her time in service. The crew supported shore lights, unwatched lights, lighted buoys, unlighted buoys and beacons, and radio beacons on both the Panama Canals Atlantic and Pacific sides, the western Caribbean, Morro Puercas and the Jicarita Island Lights. In addition, Acacia rendered numerous salvage services involving vessels and persons in distress. The most notable was the rescue of the Brazilian training ship Almirante Saldanha. The vessel and its crew were given up for lost after the ship had run aground off San Juan Harbor Entrance 25 July 1938. Acacia rescued her crew, and the rescue created a celebration in Brazil and gained the attention of international officials.[3]
In June 1938, Boatswain Ora Doyle took command of the tender from Master John A. Anderson, who transferred to command Manzanita. In late 1939, Acacia and the cutter Unalga towed the seized Italian tanker Colorado, which had its engine room damaged through sabotage by its interned crew, from San Juan to Galveston, Texas for repairs, one of the longest towing operations in Coast Guard history to that time.[3]
Sinking
On 15 March 1942, from 11:37 until 12:11, while en route alone from Curaçao, Netherlands West Indies to Antigua, British West Indies, Acacia was sunk by gunfire from the German submarine U-161 as part of Operation Neuland approximately 150 mi (130 nmi; 240 km) south of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The U-boat opened fire on the unarmed tender with 68 rounds from her 10.5-centimetre (4.1 in)/45 caliber deck gun, 92 rounds from her 3.7-centimetre (1.5 in)/83 caliber anti-aircraft (AA) gun, and 70 rounds from her 2-centimetre (0.8 in)/65 caliber AA gun. Acacia caught fire and the entire crew of Acacia abandoned ship before she sank by the stern. The survivors were located by a PBY "Catalina" and picked up by Overton. They were landed at San Juan 16 March 1942. She was the only US tender sunk by enemy action during the war.[3][4]
Acacia sank at 16°17′N 63°44′W / 16.283°N 63.733°WCoordinates: 16°17′N 63°44′W / 16.283°N 63.733°W, about 80 mi (70 nmi; 130 km) southwest of Saint Kitts and Nevis.[4]
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Online resources
- "Shipbuilding Notes". Shipping: A Weekly Record of Marine Transportation, Supplemented by Ship Construction and Outfitting Notes and News. Shipping Publishing Co. Inc., New York City. IV (5). 3 August 1918. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- "Acacia, 1927" (PDF). U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- "U.S. Coast Guard Tenders - 1915 Through WWII (WAG, WAGB, WAGL, WLB, WLM, WLI, WLR, WIX)". www.ShipbuildingHistory.com. 14 February 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "USCGC Acacia (WAGL 200)". www.UBoat.net. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
External links