Talk:USCGC Escanaba (WHEC-64)

If it belongs
If this belongs on the talk page, let's put it there:

additions / corrections − 	I served on the Escanaba as a Quartermaster/signalman Oct 67 to June 70 − 	her top speed was 18 knots not 17 .....She was commissioned in 1946... − 	she had a massive 6 bladed tugboat type propeller & reduction gear for towing the largest ships afloat at that time.... − 	She had 6 not 2 torpedo tubes on port and stbd triple mounts.... also an ANSQS-1 ASW sonar from the 1950's....... − 	She mounted two 50 caliber machine guns on top of her two 81 mm mortars on both sides of the Hedghog mount on the gun deck fwd of the bridge......two additional 50 caliber machine guns mounted aft by the torpedo tubes...... − 	She had an Air Force Aircraft detection radar on her after mast for use tracking commercial aircraft on her Ocean Station Vessel duties on the 4 Atlantic Ocean stations 1/3rd the way to Europe.... She served One month at sea then one month in port.... − 	her civilian Weather people launched weather balloons from the catwalks behind the square box type shed where the weather geeks inflated their balloons ...... − 	The first CG ship of her name was sunk in Convoy duty in WW2.....The 3rd serves today... She was a good ship :) Lewis Lewishb (talk) 02:03, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

There it is. Sammy D III (talk) 22:51, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

Rescue of crew members of M/T Ragny
I see in the edit history there has been an account of the rescue of the crew members of Finnish "M/T Ragny":

''On 27 December 1970 the Escanaba again was called to action. The Finnish flagged tanker SS Ragny had broken up in a heavy mid-winter storm. Steaming at full speed for nearly 24 hours, the Escanaba arrived on seen to find another ship, the SS Platte, having attempted rescue but curtailed the effort after the Platte's lifeboat capsized and lost one crewman The Escanaba proceded to rescue 31 surviving crew members stranded on the Ragny's slowly sinking stern section by jumping into the water and being pulled into the Escanaba's 26' motor lifeboats, one at a time. Six other's from the SS Ragny perished in the ships break up. Escanaba's crew was awarded the Coast Guard Unit Commendation Ribbon''

The text has been deleted in no time with comment "Unreferenced, wrong place in article". In wrong place it has been, and a bit poor English, but references to this miraculous rescue do exist. The author may have used the site of Coast Guard stories http://www.jacksjoint.com/ragny.htm because both texts seem to have some errors in common, like identifying the diesel powered tanker as "SS Ragny". There's also an article in supplement "Sjöliv" ("Sea life") in the Swedish language newspaper Ålandstigningen 9-Oct-2009 http://www.sjofart.ax/files/sjoliv_2_2009.pdf pp. 21-23 recollecting this event.

Also wondering if there might be any archives that could have images of the separated bow section of Ragny? It seems crews of both the reconnaissance aircraft and Escanaba have seen it afloat. (I'm aware of a few photos of the stern section.) Sivullinen (talk) 19:28, 19 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Seems a record of this rescue also exists at a subpage of Escanaba home page describing her predecessors http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/cgcEscanaba/WHEC64.asp even if it was not mentioned in the U.S. Coast Guard History Program document of Escanaba VHEC-64:


 * On December 27, 1970 ESCANABA performed a dramatic rescue at sea when the crew saved the lives of 31 crewmembers from the 540 foot Finnish tanker Ragny, approximately 1,000 miles southeast of Boston in storm force winds and seas. ESCANABA was awarded the Coast Guard Unit Commendation and the Finnish Lifesaving Medal for the rescue. Sivullinen (talk) 15:46, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

So, I put the story of the rescue of M/T Ragny back into the article. Feel free to add more details of this miraculous rescue, if deemed necessary, lots of sources do exist.Sivullinen (talk) 21:36, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Btw, there are two different decommision dates (28 June 1974 and 23 June 1973) of "Escanaba" in the two webpages of USCG site, which one is correct? Sivullinen (talk) 21:57, 6 December 2013 (UTC)