Rose, 1916
WAGL 242
Any of numerous shrubs or vines of the genus Rosa, usually having prickly stems, compound leaves, and variously colored, often fragrant flowers.
Builder: Anderson Steamboat Company, Seattle, Washington
Length: 127' 9"
Beam: 24' 6"
Draft: 9' 4"
Displacement: 567 tons
Cost: $92,135
Commissioned: 8 August 1916
Decommissioned: 15 October 1947
Disposition: Sold, 14 June 1948
Machinery: 2 triple-expansion, inverted, direct-acting steam engines; 2 oil-fired, Almy-type water tube boilers; 330 SHP; 2 propellers.
Performance & Endurance:
Max: 10.3 knots
Cruising: 8.0 knots
Deck Gear: Wood mast and boom; steam powered 8-ton capacity winch.
Complement: 20
Armament: 3 x 6-pounders (1917)
History:
The United States Tender Rose, the third to carry that name although she was the first Rose built specifically for the Lighthouse Service. She was built as a steel-hulled coastwise tender by Anderson Steamboat Company of Seattle, Washington, for duty along the Pacific Northwest. Her construction had originally been authorized in 1908 under the name Aster, but construction was delayed until 1914 and by that time the Lighthouse Service had changed her name to Rose.
She was assigned to the 17th Lighthouse District and operated out of Portland and Astoria, servicing aids to navigation along the coast of Oregon. After the U.S. entered World War I, the Rose was acquired by the Navy on 16 July 1917 for service as a patrol vessel. She was commissioned into the Navy on that same day under the command of ENS Charles A. A. Modeer. She performed patrol and inspection duty, target towing and buoy laying in the 13th Naval District during her World War I service. She was based at Astoria and cruised in the Astoria and Portland area until she was decommissioned about 22 November 1918. Rose was returned to the Lighthouse Service on 13 June 1919.
In 1936 she was lengthened 10 feet, forward of her deckhouse, by the same company that built her. After the Coast Guard absorbed the Lighthouse Service in 1939, she remained based out of Astoria. In 1942 she was given the designation and hull number WAGL-242.
She was decommissioned on 15 October 1947 and sold on 14 June 1948. She eventually ended up in Canadian hands as the private vessel Northern Express.
Sources:
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.