USCGC Duane (WPG-33)

USCGC Duane (WPG-33)
USCGC Duane underway in the early 1960s
Location: Monroe County, Florida, USA
Nearest city: Key Largo
NRHP Reference#: 02000494[1]
Added to NRHP: May 16, 2002

The USCGC Duane (WPG-33/WHEC-33) (earlier known as the USCGC William J. Duane) was a cutter in the United States Coast Guard. Her keel was laid on May 1, 1935 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was launched on June 3, 1936 as a search and rescue and law enforcement vessel.

The "Treasury" class Coast Guard cutters (sometimes referred to as the "Secretary" or 327-foot class) were all named for former Secretaries of the Treasury Department. The cutter Duane was named for William John Duane, who served as the third Secretary of the Treasury to serve under President Andrew Jackson.

Contents

History

After fitting out, she departed the Philadelphia Navy Yard on October 16, 1936 and arrived at Oakland, California on November 24. She was then assigned to temporary duty in Honolulu, and arrived there on December 9, 1936, to participate in the U.S. colonization efforts of the Line Islands in the Pacific. The Duane then returned to her permanent homeport of Oakland, arriving on February 25, 1937. For the next two years, she joined the Bering Sea Patrol Force for annual cruises of that area. In mid-1937 her name was shortened to merely Duane. In September 1939 she was assigned to duty with Destroyer Division 18, conducting neutrality patrols along the Grand Banks (these patrols were known as "Grand Banks Patrols"), as ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt. She departed Oakland on September 7, 1939 and arrived at her new homeport of Boston on September 22, 1939. Here she conducted four Grand Banks patrols, from October through December, 1939, completing her final patrol on January 12, 1940.

World War II convoys escorted

Convoy Escort Group Dates Notes
SC 81 5 May 1942[2] Iceland shuttle
SC 83 17 May 1942[2] Iceland shuttle
ON 98 27-30 May 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
ON 102 14-17 June 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
SC 89 29 June 1942[2] Iceland shuttle
ON 112 14-17 July 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
SC 91 19 July 1942[2] Iceland shuttle
ON 116 25-29 July 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
ON 117 31 July-3 Aug 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
ON 120 9-14 Aug 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
SC 95 14 Aug 1942[2] Iceland shuttle
SC 99 12 Sept 1942[2] Iceland shuttle
ON 136 5-9 Oct 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
SC 103 10 Oct 1942[2] Iceland shuttle
ON 140 19-24 Oct 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
SC 105 25-26 Oct 1942[2] Iceland shuttle
ON 144 8-15 Nov 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
ON 148 25-27 Nov 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
HX 216 28 Nov-1 Dec 1942[4] Iceland shuttle
SC 110 1-2 Dec 1942[2] Iceland shuttle
ON 156 25-30 Dec 1942[3] Iceland shuttle
SC 114 [2] Iceland shuttle
SC 116 16-24 Jan 1943[2] Iceland shuttle
ON 163 26 Jan-3 Feb 1943[3] Iceland shuttle
HX 233 MOEF group A-3 12-20 April 1943[4] from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland

Duane was converted to an Amphibious Force Flagship in 1944. Upon completion, she was to have been taken over by the Navy and assigned the hull number AGC-6. However, this plan was dropped and she was retained for Coast Guard service.

The ocean-weather station program was permanently established by multi-national agreement soon after the end of World War II. The Coast Guard was then assigned the duty of manning those stations for which the U.S. accepted responsibility. As the 327s completed conversion to ocean station vessels, each immediately deployed to their new stations. For most of the next twenty years, Duane and her sisters, except Taney which was stationed in the Pacific, alternated duty between weather stations Charlie (850 miles northeast of St. Johns, Newfoundland), Bravo (250 miles northeast of Cape St. Charles, Labrador); Delta (located 650 miles southeast of Argentia, Newfoundland); and Echo (850 miles east northeast of Bermuda). Sometime later these became known simply as "ocean stations." Although the crew probably considered these patrols boring, they were important to the continued growth and safety of international over-water commercial air flights.

On 4 December 1967 Duane was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three off the coast of Vietnam, where she served as the flagship for Coast Guard squadron. The Duane permanently departed Vietnamese waters on July 28, 1968. The Duane then again returned to ocean station duty but this task was rapidly becoming obsolete. The stations were decommissioned in the early 1970s, having been overtaken by electronic aids to navigation such as LORAN. The mid-1970s were a period of transition for the Coast Guard with the passage of the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act and the nation's shift towards increased interdiction of narcotics smugglers. These operations called for off-shore patrols of up to three weeks.

Duane left Coast Guard service and was decommissioned on August 1, 1985 as the oldest active U.S. military vessel and was laid up in Boston for a number of years.

Duane is now a historic shipwreck near Key Largo, Florida, United States. The cutter was deliberately sunk on November 27, 1987 to create an artificial reef. It is located a mile south of Molasses Reef. On May 16, 2002, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.[1]

Decorations

References

  1. ^ a b National Register of Historic Places - May 24, 2002
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "SC convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/sc/index.html. Retrieved 2011-06-21. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "ON convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/on/index.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
  4. ^ a b "HX convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hx/index.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 

External links

Bibb · Campbell · Duane · Hamilton · Ingham · Spencer · Taney