USCGC Barberry
{{Short description|US Coast Guard buoy tender}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= |caption = }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|coast guard}} |Ship name= Barberry |Ship namesake= Barberry |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= |Ship original cost= $172,557 |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= 14 November 1942 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=3 January 1943 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= 1 September 1970 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=Hull number: WLI-294 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Transferred to the State of Maryland in 1971 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=Cosmos-class tender |Ship type= |Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement= 167 tons or 178 tons (full load) |Ship length={{cvt|100|ft|m}} |Ship beam= {{cvt|24|ft|7|in}} |Ship height= |Ship draft= {{cvt|5|ft|4|in}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= 2 x Murphy 6-cylinder diesel engines, {{cvt|330|bhp|lk=in}} |Ship propulsion= two propellers |Ship speed= {{convert|10|kn}} |Ship range= {{cvt|3000|nmi}} at {{convert|6.5|kn}} |Ship boats= |Ship complement= 16 |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
USCGC Barberry (WLI-294) is a United States Coast Guard buoy tender that was donated to the state of Maryland in 1971. Based out of two locations in North Carolina and then Portsmouth, Virginia, during her Coast Guard career, the vessel was then used as an icebreaker by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. In 2020, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced that the vessel would be replaced; her replacement is expected to be commissioned in 2022.
Construction and characteristics
USCGC Barberry was launched on 14 November 1942 at Dubuque, Iowa, having been constructed by the Dubuque Boat & Boiler Works. Her sponsor was Louise Landgraf.{{cite book |title=Index to Coast Guard Bulletin: 1939{{endash}}1942 |date=1942 |publisher=United States Coast Guard |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_6p3deRzGEC&dq=uscg+barberry&pg=RA3-PA62}} One of eight {{sclass|Cosmos|tender|1}}s, she was operated by the United States Coast Guard. She was {{convert|100|ft|m}} long, had a beam of {{convert|24|ft|7|in}}, a draft of {{convert|5|ft|4|in}} and cost $172,557 to construct.{{cite web |title=Barberry, 1943 (WAGL / WLI-294) |url=https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Water/All/Article/2165581/barberry-1943-wagl-wli-294/ |publisher=United States Coast Guard |access-date=11 May 2022}} She displaced either 167{{cite web |last1=Gallagher |first1=John |title=Sailing into History: Department's Largest Vessel Ready for Retirement |url=https://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2020/03/01/sailing-into-history-departments-largest-vessel-ready-for-retirement/ |publisher=Maryland Department of Natural Resources |access-date=11 May 2022 |date=March 1, 2020}} or 178 tons. She had a crew of 16 and was equipped with a boom with a 5-ton capacity and an air-powered hoist; Barberry was not armed. The vessel had hull number WLI-294 and was named after the barberry, a type of shrub. Power was provided by two Murphy 6-cylinder diesel engines that provided {{convert|330|bhp|lk=in}} and drove two propellers. She could go at a top speed of {{convert|10|kn|lk=in}} and had a range of {{convert|3000|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|6.5|kn}}.
Career
Commissioned on 3 January 1943, she was assigned to the 5th District of the Coast Guard and operated out of Morehead City, North Carolina. During World War II, she provided aid to navigational duties. On 6 January 1945 she was transferred to Coinjock, North Carolina, and then to Portsmouth, Virginia, on 16 May 1950. Generally, she provided aid to navigation and search and rescue, as well as serving as a buoy tender.{{cite web |title=New DNR Vessel Christened the M/V Eddie Somers |url=https://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2022/03/04/new-dnr-vessel-christened-the-m-v-eddie-somers/ |publisher=Maryland Department of Natural Resources |access-date=11 May 2022 |date=March 4, 2022}} More specifically, she patrolled a boat race at Washington, D.C. in 1955, helped search for an aircraft off Stingray Point in 1956, aided a grounded yacht in 1958, and served as an icebreaker off Crisfield, Maryland, in 1959 and 1961. Declared surplus, she was decommissioned on 1 September 1970 and donated to the state of Maryland on 23 February 1971
Barberry entered service for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in 1972 and was renamed J. Millard Tawes, after a former Governor of Maryland. The largest vessel used by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as of 2020, the vessel was used for icebreaking around Crisfield Harbor and Smith Island, as well as being the backup icebreaker for the Port of Salisburg. It was also used to transport buoy weights are marked natural resource areas, and can provide evacuation services for Smith Island in case weather necessitates that. In March 2020, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced that the vessel would be retired, as maintenance was becoming difficult, partially because many of the major parts of the ship such as the engines had seen their manufacture discontinued decades earlier. As of March 2022, J. Millard Tawes has not been retired, with her replacement, MV Eddie Somers, expected to be commissioned later in the year.
References
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Further reading
- {{cite book|last=Scheina|first=Robert L.|title=U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946–1990|year=1990|publisher=Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-0-87021-719-7}}
{{Cosmos-class tender}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barberry}}
Category:Ships of the United States Coast Guard