USCGC Sundew (WLB-404)

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Career

Class:	Iris
Laid down:	29 November 1943
Launched:	08 February 1944
Commissioned:	24 August 1944
Cost to build:	$861,589
Built by:	Marine Ironworks & Shipbuilding Corporation, Duluth, Minnesota
Decommissioned:	27 May 2004
Fate:	museum ship
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1,025 tons
Length:	180 feet
Beam:	37 feet
Propulsion:	2 General Motors EMD-645 V-8 Diesel engines
Speed:	13 knots
Range:	8000 miles at 13 knots
Complement:	48
Armament:	Wartime: 20mm guns, a 3 inch cannon and depth charges. Peacetime: None
Aircraft:	None
Motto:	Semper Paratus (Always Ready)

The Sundew in Duluth

The USCGC Sundew (WLB-404) s a 180 foot sea going buoy tender (WLB). An Iris class vessel, she was built by Marine Ironworks and Shipbuilding Corporation in Duluth, Minnesota. Sundew's preliminary design was completed by the U.S. Light House Service and the final design was produced by Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Corporation in Duluth. On 29 November 1943 the keel was laid, she was launched on 08 February 1944 and commissioned on 24 August 1944. The original cost for the hull and machinery was $861,589.

Sundew is one of 39 original 180-foot seagoing buoy tenders built between 1942-1944. All but one of the original tenders, the USCGC Ironwood (WLB-307), were built in Duluth.

In 1958, the Sundew was assigned to Charlevoix, Michigan, and the following November helped in the rescue of 2 survivors from the SS Carl D. Bradley when it sank in a storm on Lake Michigan 47 miles west-northwest of Charlevoix. The Sundew remained at Charlevoix until 1980.

She served 60 years for the Coast Guard and was decommissioned and retired on May 27, 2004. As part of her decommissioning, she was given to the city of Duluth, her last home port, to be used as a museum ship. The services provided by the Sundew were taken up by USCGC Alder (WLB 216).