Boutwell, 1927
WSC-130
George S. Boutwell (1818-1905) was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to be the 28th Secretary of the Treasury. He served from March 12, 1869 until March 16, 1873. Boutwell had spent a long career in public service, including tours of duty as the first Commissioner of Internal Revenue during 1862 and 1863. He also served as a Congressman from 1863 until 1869, before being appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as Secretary of the Treasury in 1869.
CLASS: Active Class Patrol Boat
BUILDER: American Brown Boveri Electric Corp., Camden, NJ
COMMISSIONED: 21 February 1927
LAUNCHED: 27 January 1927
DECOMMISSIONED: 7 May 1963 and sold 16 May 1964
DISPLACEMENT: 232 tons
PROPULSION: 2 x 6-cylinder, 300 hp engines
LENGTH: 125 feet
BEAM: 23 feet, 6 inches
DRAFT: 7 feet, 6 inches
PERFORMANCE:
Max speed: 13 knots, 1945, 2,500 mile range
Econ. speed: 8.0 knots, 3,500 mile range
COMPLEMENT: 3 officers, 17 men (1960)
ARMAMENT: 1927: 1x 3"/27
1941: 1 x 3"/23, 2 x depth charge tracks
1945: 1 x 40mm/80 (single), 2 x 20mm/80 (single), 2 x depth charge tracks, 2 x mousetraps
1960: 1 x 40mm/60
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.
CUTTER HISTORY:
This vessel was stationed at New York until transferred to Charleston, SC, in September 1032. She was at Curtis Bay, MD (1936) and later at Panama City, FL (1940). She remained in the Gulf through World War II, rescuing forty-four people from the tanker R. W. Gallagher 13 July 1942. She was at Port Isabel, TX (1952-53) and then at Brownsville, TX (to 1963).
SOURCES:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990.