User:Cuprum17/USRC Yamacraw (1909)

Builder: New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey Length: 191' 8" oa Beam: 32' 6" Draft: 13' Displacement: 1,080 Cost: $200,000 Commissioned: 17 May 1909 Decommissioned: 11 December 1937 Disposition: Machinery: Triple-expansion steam, 18", 29", and 47" diameter x 30" stroke Top Speed: 14.1 knots Economical Speed: 8 knots Cruising range: 3,500 miles (economical speed) Complement: 8 officers, 65 enlisted Electronics: Armament: 2 x 6-pound rapid-fire guns (1909) 2 x 3"/50 caliber dual-purpose guns (1930) Cutter History: The Yamacraw, a steel-hulled "First Class Cruising Cutter," was built by the New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 24 October 1908 and was christened by a Miss Tildeman of Savannah, Georgia. The new cutter entered commissioned service on 17 May 1909. Her homeport was Savannah.

The Yamacraw, a steel-hulled "First Class Cruising Cutter," was built by the New York Shipbuilding Company of Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 24 October 1908 and was christened by a Miss Tildeman of Savannah, Georgia. The new cutter entered commissioned service on 17 May 1909. Her homeport was Savannah. During the next few years, she destroyed derelicts and other hazards to navigation, patrolled regattas and other nautical races, enforced customs laws, carried out special duties as required, sailed on winter cruises each year, and participated in search and rescue operations when needed. After the start of World War I, she was ordered to enforce neutrality laws. Tragedy struck Yamacraw on the night of 3 March 1917. An original report published in the 1917 Annual Report of the United States Coast Guard (Washington: GPO, 1917, pp. 28-31) described what happened that night: "In a hazardous service, such as the Coast Guard, where men must risk their lives to save others who are in perilous positions, it is expected that occasions will arise where the rescuers themselves are lost in their brave attempts to save the unfortunate. But few years have elapsed wherein one or more of the members of the Coast Guard have not been sacrificed in the interests of humanity. It remained for the year just past, however, to develop what was, in all probability, the most disastrous incident of this kind ever recorded in the annals of the Coast Guard, or of either of its forbears, the Revenue-Cutter Service and Life-Saving Service. Ten men of the crew of the cutter Yamacraw lost their lives on March 4, 1917, in an attempt to rescue the crew of the stranded steamer Louisiana. The conditions leading up to this catastrophe, and the circumstances attendant thereto, are best told in the following copy of Special Order No. 16, issued by the Secretary of the Treasury on April 2, 1917: TREASURY DEPARTMENT Washington, April 2, 1917.

After the U.S. declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917, Yamacraw was "temporarily" assigned to the Navy for duty. She retained her Coast Guard crew. The Navy assigned her to the Sixth Patrol Force that operated from the capes of the Chesapeake to Nantucket Shoals lightship. She continued on this duty until 19 July 1917 when she was transferred to the Fifth Naval District with headquarters at Norfolk and served in this district until she was selected to go overseas. She was assigned to convoy duty, escorting merchant ships. On her fourth convoy escort voyage one of the ships in the convoy was torpedoed. It was not considered a good policy for a ship to leave a convoy during the war to attempt any rescue of survivors of sunken ships but Yamacraw's commanding officer requested permission to return to the sinking ship to attempt to rescue any survivors. Permission was granted and she returned to the sinking ship's aid. Only four survivors were located and rescued. During the war the cutter escorted many merchant vessels and cruised for over 36,000 miles. After the war, she returned to her peacetime routine and was again homeported at Savannah, Georgia. She served on the International Ice Patrol from 1 April to 7 July 1921. After the passage of Prohibition she took an active part in the Coast Guard's enforcement efforts along the southeastern coast. The Yamacraw was decommissioned on 11 December 1937 at Curtis Bay, Maryland.