USCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-83)

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Career (United States)
USCGC Mackinaw.
Builder:	American Ship Building & Drydock Company
Laid down:	20 March 1943
Launched:	04 March 1944
Commissioned:	20 December 1944
Decommissioned:	10 June 2006
General characteristics
Displacement:	5,252 LT (5,336 t/5,882 ST)
Length:	290 ft (88 m)
Beam:	74.3 ft (22.6 m)
Draft:	19.5 ft (5.9 m)
Propulsion:	6 × Fairbanks-Morse 10-cylinder diesel engines, total 10,000 shp (7,500 kW) Three propellers
Speed:	15 kn (28 km/h/17 mph)
Capacity:	Diesel fuel: 276,000 U.S. gal (1,040,000 L) Lubrication oil: 7,000 U.S. gal (26,000 L) Potable water: 40,200 U.S. gal (152,000 L) Ballast water: 121,631 U.S. gal (460,420 L) Heel and trim ballast water: 345,828 U.S. gal (1,309,100 L)
Complement:	8 Officers, 67 Enlisted
Notes:	Two 6,000 lb (2,700 kg) Bower Stockless anchors with 2-inch diameter links.

USCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-83) was a 290-foot (88 m) vessel specifically designed for ice breaking duties on the Great Lakes.

Mackinaw's design was based on the "Wind" class of Coast Guard icebreakers, but the cutter was built wider and longer than the other Wind class vessels so that her draft would be shallower. Because of this, the Mackinaw was unique in the Coast Guard fleet. Incidentally, this design made the Mackinaw too wide to fit through the pre-1959 Welland Canal, and the Mackinaw never served on salt water.

The Mackinaw was homeported in Cheboygan, Michigan during active service. Due to the Mackinaw's age and expensive upkeep, the cutter was decommissioned and replaced with a smaller multipurpose cutter USCGC Mackinaw (WLBB-30), which was commissioned in Cheboygan the same day.

The old Mackinaw moved under its own power on June 21, 2006 from the port of its decommissioning to a permanent berth at the SS Chief Wawatam dock at the ship's namesake port, Mackinaw City, Michigan where she now serves as a museum ship.

[edit] Ham Radio

The Cheboygan, Emmet Counties Public Service Communications Organization has established a full-time Ham Radio Station on board the Icebreaker Mackinaw Museum Ship.

The CCECPSCO is currently installing repeaters on the Mackinaw to provide communications coverage throughout the Straits of Mackinac. These repeaters, operating under the call-sign W8AGB, are on 145.110 with 103.5 PL and 444.375 with 107.2 PL. The organization is also actively assisting the Museum with restoration and operation of various communications, navigation, and power systems. Included with the radios on-board the ship are two Sunair RT-9000 HF transceivers with matching antenna couplers and vertical antennas. Ham Radio operators visiting the Mackinaw may operate the W8AGB station whenever a CCECPSCO member is present.