Escanaba Under the Sunlight

It wasn't too much longer before the ship I wanted to see appeared.  Rather the cutter I wanted to see appeared.  The Coast Guard calls their ships cutters.

 The USCGC Escanaba (WMEC-907) which is a medium endurance cutter is based in Boston, Massachusetts.  She was built by Robert Derecktor Shipyards in Middletown, Rhode Island in 1987.  She is one of the Famous Class Cutters that have been in service since 1979.

 She was returning from her visit to the Grand Haven Coast Guard festival is sort of named after a previous Escanaba.  She is equipped with two Alco V-18 Diesel engines for propulsion and two V-12 Diesel engines for power.  She has a top speed of 19.5 knots and has a crew of 14 officers and 86 enlisted personnel.  She is equipped with the same 76 mm cannon that the Oliver Hazard Perry ships used to use.  Her range is almost 10,000 nautical miles.  They are mostly used for drug enforcement but I think they can fulfill other Coast Guard missions.

 The previous Escanaba was also a Coast Guard cutter that was built at the Defoe Shipyards in Bay City, Michigan in 1932.  She was stationed in Grand Haven and they considered her their cutter.

 In the time while she was stationed on the Great Lakes, she was an ice breaker and search and rescue ship.  In the winter of 1934, she helped rescue the crew of the Henry Cort.

 In 1941, she was transferred to Boston, where she participated in the anti-submarine work of the convoy escorts.

 In 1943, she was sunk by either a mine or torpedo.  They are not sure of her circumstances.  Later, her mast was recovered and is now in Grand Haven.

 The people of Grand Haven helped raise some of the money to built the replacement to their cutter.  That particular Escanaba served from 1945 to 1974.

And this particular Escaba is the third one.  I hope the name Escanaba lives on like the name Enterprise.