Tiger, 1927

Sept. 10, 2020
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TIGER, WSC 152

A photo of USCGC Tiger, circa 1928

USCGC Tiger, 20 December 1928 


CLASS: Active Class Patrol Boat

BUILDER: American Brown Boveri Electric Corp., Camden, NJ

COMMISSIONED: 3 May 1927

LAUNCHED: 18 April 1927

DECOMMISSIONED: 12 November 1947 and sold 14 June 1948

DISPLACEMENT: 232 tons

PROPULSION: Two 6-cylinder, 300 hp engines

LENGTH: 125 feet

BEAM: 23 feet, 6 inches

DRAFT: 7 feet, 6 inches

COMPLEMENT: 3 officers, 17 men

ARMAMENT: 1 3"/27 (1927); in WWII two dc racks were added


Class History:

This class of vessels was one of the most useful and long- lasting in Coast Guard service with 16 cutters still in use in the 1960’s. The last to be decommissioned from active service was the Morris in 1970; the last in actual service was the Cuyahoga, which sank after an accidental collision in 1978. They were designed for trailing the "mother ships" along the outer line of patrol during Prohibition.  They were constructed at a cost of $63,173 each. They gained a reputation for durability that was only enhanced by their re-engining in the late 1930’s; their original 6-cylinder diesels were replaced by significantly more powerful 8-cylinder units that used the original engine beds and gave the vessels 3 additional knots.  All served in World War II, but two, the Jackson and Bedloe, were lost in a storm in 1944.  Ten were refitted as buoy tenders during the war and reverted to patrol work afterward.


History:

USCGC Tiger was built by the American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation in Camden, New Jersey.  She was placed in commission on 3 May 1927.  She operated out of Coast Guard Base Two at Stapleton, New York, until shifting to Norfolk, Virginia, and arriving there on 6 June 1933.  Subsequently, the 125-foot cutter was transferred to Hawaii and operated out of Honolulu.  In the summer of 1941, she came under Navy jurisdiction and was assigned to the local defense forces of the 14th Naval District.  Equipped with depth charges and listening gear, Tiger operated out of Honolulu--in company with her sister ship Reliance and the 327-foot cutter Taney--into the critical fall of 1941. On 7 December, the Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the Pacific Fleet at its Pearl Harbor base. Tiger--patrolling off Barber's Point that morning-- won her sole "battle star" on this date. 

Little is known of the ship after this point other than that she operated out of Honolulu for the duration of the war on local patrol and antisubmarine duties.  In 1948, Tiger was decommissioned and sold.

Tiger received one battle star for her World War II service.


Sources:

Cutter History File.  USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.  Washington, DC: USGPO.

Robert Scheina.  U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II.  Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982.