USCGC Cahoone

Cahoone, 1927 WSC/WMEC-131 CLASS: Active Class Patrol Boat BUILDER: American Brown Boveri Electric Corp., Camden, NJ COMMISSIONED: 21 February 1927 LAUNCHED: 27 January 1927 DECOMMISSIONED: 11 March 1968 and sold 12 December 1968 DISPLACEMENT: 232 tons PROPULSION: 2 x 6-cylinder, 300 hp engines LENGTH: 125 feet BEAM: 23 feet, 6 inches DRAFT: 7 feet, 6 inches PERFORMANCE: Max speed: 13 knots, 1945, 2,500 mile range Econ. speed: 8.0 knots, 3,500 mile range COMPLEMENT: 3 officers, 17 men (1960) ARMAMENT: 1927: 1x 3"/27 1941: 1 x 3"/23, 2 x depth charge tracks 1945: 1 x 40mm/80 (single), 2 x 20mm/80 (single), 2 x depth charge tracks, 2 x mousetraps 1960: 1 x 40mm/60

USCGC Cahoone was an Active Class Patrol Boat of the United States Coast Guard. Launched in 1927, she served until 1968.

Class history

This class of vessels was one of the most useful and long- lasting in Coast Guard service with 16 cutters still in use in the 1960’s. The last to be decommissioned from active service was the Morris in 1970; the last in actual service was the Cuyahoga, which sank after an accidental collision in 1978. They were designed for trailing the "mother ships" along the outer line of patrol during Prohibition. They were constructed at a cost of $63,173 each. They gained a reputation for durability that was only enhanced by their re-engining in the late 1930’s; their original 6-cylinder diesels were replaced by significantly more powerful 8-cylinder units that used the original engine beds and gave the vessels 3 additional knots. All served in World War II, but two, the Jackson and Bedloe, were lost in a storm in 1944. Ten were refitted as buoy tenders during the war and reverted to patrol work afterward.

Cutter history

Stationed at Stapleton, NY, she took part in the rescue of survivors of the cruise ship Morro Castle, which burned off New Jersey in 1934. She was at Curtis Bay, MD, in 1936 and at Morehead City, NC, in 1937. By 1940 she was t San Pedro, CA, where she remained through World War II. From 1946 to 1954 she was at Mt. Edgecumbe, AK. She was stationed at Galveston, TX, until 1968.

References

• USCGC Cahoone (1927) at US Coast Guard Historian, which cites:
  • Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, DC: USGPO.
  • Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982.
  • Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990.