U.S. Coast Guard Cutter CGC Morro Bay WTGB-106
This is a tribute to our service's intrepid buoy tenders and tugs - the workhorse "Black Hulls."
The cutter fleet of the U.S. Coast Guard features black, white and red hulls demarking a vessel's primary duty assignment. Tenders and tugs - as so noted - are painted black. Longer-distance cutters are white. Icebreakers are red. The Coast Guard's old lightships were also painted red.
The Black Hull tenders, tugs and associated work barges place buoys, handle tower construction, pile driving and extraction, and maintain more than 28,200 aids to navigation (ATONS), according to the website Professional Mariner. The tugs, meantime, also engage in ice-breaking. The fleet's labor-intensive mission covers the oceans, the Great Lakes and inland waters like the Mississippi River.
Regardless of color, life-saving trumps all other duty for the entire Coast Guard fleet, and the Black Hulls have performed with distinction in that capacity. In July 1956, for example, the buoy tender Hornbeam W394 helped rescue people from the foundering ocean liner SS Andrea Doria off New England.
In January 2021, Defense Media Network provided this assessment of the Black Hulls: "As important as these ships are, they are old – with an average age of 55 years – and urgently need to be replaced. The job isn’t getting easier. Traffic has increased; commercial tug and barge units have gotten bigger, and more traffic is being conducted at night, so those lighted navigational aids are even more important."
In January 2021, Defense Media Network provided this assessment of the Black Hulls: "As important as these ships are, they are old – with an average age of 55 years – and urgently need to be replaced. The job isn’t getting easier. Traffic has increased; commercial tug and barge units have gotten bigger, and more traffic is being conducted at night, so those lighted navigational aids are even more important."
ASPEN
It's a name familiar to Colorado. Aspen passes Golden Gate Bridge as it transits San Francisco Bay on Sept. 17, 2014. Aspen WLB-208 is a seagoing buoy tender. The government has maintained a fleet of tenders dating back to the U.S. Light House Service, which merged with the Coast Guard in 1939. In keeping with Lighthouse Service practice, tenders are name for foliage, according to the Coast Guard Historian's Office.
In December 2021, cutter Aspen departed San Francisco for a major overhaul at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, Maryland.
On the bridge as the cutter Aspen departs San Francisco Bay for Baltimore.
CONIFER
Another name familiar to Colorado is Conifer. The cutter Conifer WLB-301 patrolled in war and peace. The 180-foot seagoing buoy tender and her sister ships were commonly referred to as "one-eighties" - primarily serving as the backbone of the Coast Guard's Aids to Navigation fleet for over 50 years," Wikipedia said. World War Two demanded different tasks. Conifer joined a search or a damaged German U-Boat with Army aircraft in 1944. "The planes located an oil slick, and Conifer depth-charged the area," Wikipedia said. "Additional oil appeared through the day, and the submarine was presumed sunk."
SLEDGE
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Cutter Sledge WLIC-75303, a 75-foot buoy tender, with barge at work on the Delaware River near Philadelphia on April 19, 2017. Sledge is based in Baltimore.
SMILAX
Photo: Coast Guard, Wikipedia
Cutter Smilax WAGL/WLIC-315 is the "Queen of the Fleet" - the oldest active Coast Guard cutter. Commissioned in 1944, the inland construction tender is based at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Smilax is responsible for maintaining 1,226 fixed ATONS as well as 26 bouys throughout the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
ELDERBERRY
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Cutter Elderberry WLI-65401 prepares to set buoys along the Mendenhall Bar, Juneau, Alaska. The 65-foot tender was launched in 1954. On Feb. 1, 1985, Elderberry battled a fire at the Alaska Glacier Seafoods Company cannery in Petersburg. "She was able to knock down the flames sufficiently to land four of her six-man crew on the dock to continue fighting the fire deeper into the building," Wikipedia said. The cutter was awarded a unit citation.
SCIOTO
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Our Coast Guard sector - Upper Mississippi River - operates a fleet of inland tenders, including cutter Scioto WLR-65504, a 65-foot river buoy tender based in Keokuk, Iowa.
Our sector's other buoy tenders are based in St. Louis, Omaha, Peoria and Dubuque. In days of old, the river's navigational aids were maintained by the U.S. Lighthouse Service, which merged with the Coast Guard in 1939. Early river tenders were paddlewheels.
BOLLARD
Cutter Bollard WYTL-65614 is a 65-foot icebreaking harbor tug that patrols Long Island Sound and operates north to Narragansett Bay. It also performs icebreaking duty on the Connecticut River. Homeport is New Haven.
ALDER
In July 2021, cutter Alder WLB-216, a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender, arrived at Coast Guard Yard on Curtis Bay in Baltimore, Maryland, for major maintenance.
Launch of cutter Alder in February 2004 at Marinette Marine Corporation at Marinette, Wisconsin. Alder is know as "King of the Waters."
FIR
Cutter Fir WAGL/WLM 212 was the last lighthouse tender built specifically for the U.S. Lighthouse Service, which merged with Coast Guard in 1939. Fir was commissioned Oct. 1, 1940 and served until Oct. 1, 1991, earning the title "Queen of the Fleet" for its longevity. Fir was converted into a museum ship.
HAWSER
As a fog lifts, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hawser WYTL-65610 sails up the Hudson River north of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, on May 5, 2009. The 65-foot small harbor tug was commissioned in 1963.
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