USCGC Point Thatcher
Coast Guard Patrol Boat CG-82314 Escorts the SS African Pilot into Port Everglades
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | USCGC Point Thatcher (WPB-82314) |
Namesake | Point Thatcher, Tongass National Forest, Sitka, Alaska |
Owner | United States Coast Guard |
Builder | Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland |
Laid down | 11 July 1960[1] |
Launched | 24 March 1961[1] |
Commissioned | 13 September 1961 |
Decommissioned | 13 March 1992[2] |
Fate | Sunk as artificial reef off Ocean City, Maryland in 2000[2] |
General characteristics | |
Type | Patrol Boat (WPB) |
Displacement | 60 tons |
Length | 82 ft 10 in (25.25 m) |
Beam | 17 ft 7 in (5.36 m) max |
Draft | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 1963 • 22.9 knots (42.4 km/h; 26.4 mph) |
Complement | Domestic service (1961) 8 men; (1965) 2 officers, 8 men |
Sensors and processing systems | 1961 • SPN-11 radar, CR-103 |
Armament | 1961 • 1 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon |
USCGC Point Thatcher (WPB-82314) was an 82-foot (25 m)
Construction and design details
Point Thatcher was built to accommodate an 8-man crew.[4] She was powered by two 1,000 hp (746 kW) gas turbine engines and had two variable-pitch propellers. This was the only Point class cutter equipped in this manner and the Thatcher was used by the Coast Guard to evaluate gas turbine propulsion.[2] Water tank capacity was 1,550 U.S. gallons (5,900 L) and fuel tank capacity was 1,840 U.S. gallons (7,000 L) at 95% full.[2][4]
The design specifications for Point Thatcher included a steel hull for durability and an aluminum superstructure and longitudinally framed construction was used to save weight. Ease of operation with a small crew size was possible because of the non-manned main drive engine spaces. Controls and alarms located on the
History
After commissioning Point Thatcher was stationed at
From early 1966 to early 1971 she was once again homeported at Miami. On 19 February 1966 she transported 16 Cuban refugees from Gun Cay,
In 1985 Point Thatcher was moved to Nokomis, Florida. On 7 May 1985 she rescued three persons from a raft in the Gulf of Mexico. On 2–3 March 1987 she towed the disabled FV Beach King from a point 225 miles south of Mobile, Alabama to safety at St. Petersburg, Florida during a storm. Later the same week on 7–8 March, she towed the disabled FV Miss Ann and the pleasure craft Grenada II to Fort Myers, Florida in 18-foot seas.[2]
When USCGC Acushnet was transferred to the Pacific coast in July 1990, Point Thatcher joined her sister cutter USCGC Point Estero in August at Gulfport, Mississippi where their primary mission was law enforcement and Point Thatcher set a record during that time for 14 drug arrests in coastal waters.[2]
Point Thatcher was decommissioned 13 March 1992 and moved to USCG Training Center Cape May, New Jersey for use as a training hulk. In the spring of 2000 she was sunk as an artificial reef off Ocean City, Maryland.[2]
References
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Historian's Office, U.S Coast Guard. "USCGC Point Thatcher (WPB-82314)". U.S. Coast Guard. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis. ISBN 978-0-87021-719-7.
- Scotti, Paul C. (2000). Coast Guard Action in Vietnam: Stories of Those Who Served. Hellgate Press, Central Point, OR. ISBN 978-1-55571-528-1.