USCGC Mesquite

USCGC Mesquite USCGC Mesquite.
History
United States
Builder	Marine Ironworks & Shipbuilding Corporation, Duluth, Minnesota
Cost	$874,798
Laid down	20 August 1942
Launched	14 November 1942
Commissioned	27 August 1943
Decommissioned	January 1990
Fate	ran aground December 4, 1989; scuttled for underwater diving preserve
General characteristics
Class and type	Mesquite (B-Class)
Displacement	1,025 long tons (1,041 t)
Length	180 ft (55 m)
Beam	37 ft (11 m)
Propulsion	2 × Cooper-Bessemer GN8 diesel engines
Speed	13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Range	8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	48
Armament	Wartime: 20 mm guns, a 3-inch cannon and depth charges. Peacetime: None.

The USCGC Mesquite (WLB-305) was a 180-foot seagoing buoy tender (WLB). A Mesquite class vessel, it was built by Marine Ironworks and Shipbuilding Corporation in Duluth, Minnesota. Mesquite's preliminary design was completed by the United States Lighthouse Service and the final design was produced by Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Corporation in Duluth. On 20 August 1942 the keel was laid. It was launched on 14 November 1942 and commissioned on 27 August 1943. The original cost for the hull and machinery was $874,798.

Mesquite is one of 39 original 180-foot seagoing buoy tenders built between 1942 and 1944. All but one of the original tenders, the USCGC Ironwood (WLB-297), were built in Duluth.

Mesquite aground on her final voyage

Mesquite served until December 4, 1989, when it grounded on a reef off of the Keweenaw Peninsula in Lake Superior after, ironically, replacing the summer navigational buoy that warned of that very reef. After several hours of trying to free the vessel, the crew reluctantly abandoned ship.

The Coast Guard had intended to salvage the ship in the spring, but after several winter storms swept through, further damaging the vessel through crushing ice and hammering waves, it was determined that the damage was too severe. Mesquite was deliberately sunk in 120 feet of water not far from the reef where it was wrecked. It has been adaptively reused as an underwater scuba diving attraction of the Keweenaw Underwater Preserve.

External links

• official USCG page devoted to Buoy Tenders built in the 1940s.
• Welland Canal profile of the Mesquite, with a more recent photo.
• Unofficial fan site of USCGC Mesquite - before and after intentional sinking.