USCGC Cape Cross
{{Short description|Search and rescue patrol boat}}
{{use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|coast guard}} |Ship name=Cape Cross |Ship namesake=Cape Cross, Hoonah–Angoon, Alaska |Ship owner=U.S. Coast Guard |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=United States Coast Guard Yard, Baltimore, Maryland |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=20 August 1958 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=2 March 1990 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Transferred to Micronesia, 28 September 1989 |Ship status= |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Micronesia |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Micronesia|naval}} |Ship name=Paluwlap |Ship namesake= |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired=28 September 1989 |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=FSM–03 |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate= |Ship status= |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Ship class=Type "C" {{sclass2|Cape|cutter | United States Coast Guard Cutter}}
|Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement=98 tons |Ship length={{convert|95|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft={{convert|6|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=*4 × Cummins VT-600 diesels (1958–1982)
|Ship sail plan= |Ship speed={{convert|26|kn|km/h|abbr=on}} |Ship range={{convert|3,560|nmi|km|abbr=on}} |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=15 (1961) |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors=Radar: AN/SPS-64 (1987) |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*2 × M2 Browning machine guns (as completed)
|Ship armor= |Ship notes= }} |
USCGC Cape Cross was a {{convert|95|ft|m|adj=on}} type "C" {{sclass2|Cape|cutter||United States Coast Guard Cutter}} constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1958 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.Scheina, p 79
Design
The Cape-class cutter was designed originally for use as a shallow-draft anti-submarine warfare (ASW) craft and was needed because of the increased tension brought about by the Cold War. Cape Cross was a type "C" Cape-class cutter and was never fitted with ASW gear because the Coast Guard's mission emphasis had shifted away from ASW to search and rescue by the time she was built. The hull was constructed of steel and the superstructure was aluminum."Cape Cross, 1958 (WPB-95328)", Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office She was powered originally by four Cummins VT-600 diesel engines; however during 1980–1982 she was refit with two 16V149 Detroit Diesel main engines.Scheina, p 80
History
The Cape class was originally developed as an ASW boat and as a replacement for the aging, World War II vintage, wooden {{convert|83|ft|m|adj=on}} patrol boats that were used mostly for search and rescue duties.Scheina, p 80 With the outbreak of the Korean War and the requirement tasked to the Coast Guard to secure and patrol port facilities in the United States under the [https://uslaw.link/citation/us-law/public/81/679 Magnuson Act of 1950], the complete replacement of the 83-foot boat was deferred and the 95-foot boat was used for harbor patrols.Green, D.L.; "The 82-foot Class Patrol Boat", The Engineer's Digest, March–April 1962, Number 133, pp 2–5, U.S. Coast GuardJohnson, p 283 The first 95-foot hulls were laid down at the Coast Guard Yard in 1952 and were officially described as "seagoing patrol cutters". Because Coast Guard policy did not provide for naming cutters under {{convert|100|feet|m|}} at the time of their construction they were referred to by their hull number only and gained the Cape class names in 1964 when the service changed the naming criteria to {{convert|65|feet|m|}}. The class was named for North American geographic capes.Johnson, p 284
The Cape class was replaced by the {{convert|110|ft|m|adj=on}} {{sclass2|Island|cutter|4}} beginning in the late 1980s and many of the decommissioned cutters were transferred to nations of the Caribbean and South America by the Coast Guard.Scheina, p 63Colton, "U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Craft Built Since WWII (WPB, WPC, WSES)"{{bsn|date=April 2022}}
Cape Cross was homeported at New Castle, New Hampshire from 1959 to 1968 where she was used for law enforcement and search and rescue (SAR). In June 1965, she assisted in the unsuccessful search of a ditched U.S. Air Force C-121 aircraft east of Nantucket, Massachusetts. On 28 May 1967, she medevaced a crewman from the fishing vessel Phillip J. Two Polish motor vessels were escorted from U.S. waters on 11 June. On 26 September, she escorted a lost fishing vessel {{convert|45|nmi|km|abbr=on}} east-southeast of Boston, Massachusetts back to Boston. On 2 May 1968, she responded to a distress call with {{USCGC|Cape Horn|WPB-95322|6}} from the fishing vessel Stella Maris {{convert|110|nmi|km|abbr=on}} east of Nantucket and both cutters escorted her to Newport."Cape Horn, 1958 (WPB-95322)", Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office
In 1969, her homeport was transferred to Gloucester, Massachusetts where she was used for law enforcement and SAR missions. On 10 January 1977, two crewmen from the fishing vessel Chester A. Poling off Cape Ann, Massachusetts.
In 1982, Cape Cross underwent a major renovation which included removing the four Cummins main drive engines and replacing them with two Detroit Diesel units. After this modification, she was stationed at Crescent City, California for law enforcement and SAR. After 15 April 1987, she was homeported at Hilo, Hawaii.
Disposition
After decommissioning in 1990, Cape Cross was transferred to the Federated States of Micronesia and recommissioned as Paluwlap (FSM 03).
Citations
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References
- {{cite web|title=Cape Cross, 1958 (WPB-95321)|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/CapeCross1958.asp|website=Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=26 April 2015}}
- {{cite web|title=Cape Horn, 1958 (WPB-95322)|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/CapeHorn1958.asp|website=Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=27 April 2015}}
- {{cite web|last1=Colton|first1=Tim|title=U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Craft Built Since WWII (WPB, WPC, WSES)|url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/smallships/wpc3.htm|website=Shipbuildinghistory.com|publisher=Shipbuilding History|access-date=21 April 2022}}
- {{cite journal|last=Green|first=D.L.|title=The 82-foot Class Patrol Boat|journal=The Engineer's Digest|date=March–April 1962|number= 133|pages=2–5|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard}}
- {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Robert Irwin|year=1987|title=Guardians of the Sea, History of the United States Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present|publisher=Naval Institute Press, Annapolis|isbn=978-0-87021-720-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/guardiansofseahi00john}}
- {{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}}
{{Cape class cutter}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Cross}}