Cottonwood, 1939 (WAGL-209)

Dec. 9, 2020
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Cottonwood, 1939

WAGL-209; ex-Le Clair


A softwood tree of the genus Populus, bearing seeds with cotton-like tufts, especially P. deltoides of eastern and central North America.


Builder: Grafton, Illinois

Length: 151'

Beam: 34' 8"

Draft: 5'

Displacement: 243 tons

Cost: $7,500 (acquisition); $2,500 (conversion)

Commissioned: 1915 (War Department); 1939 (USCG)

Decommissioned: 25 May 1946

Disposition: Sold, 1 May 1947

Machinery:  2 tandem compound steam engines; 1 Foster-Wheeler Express boiler; 320 SHP; stern paddle-wheel

Performance & Endurance:

        Max: 8.0 knots
        Cruising: 6.0 knots; 750 mile range

Complement: 36

Armament: None

Electronics: None


Tender History:

The Cottonwood was the ex-Le Clair, a stern paddle-wheel steamer constructed of steel in 1915.  The Coast Guard acquired her from the War Department on 17 May 1938.

She was assigned to the 9th Naval District and served out of St. Louis, Missouri and Chattanooga, Tennessee where she serviced aids to navigation for 650 miles of the Tennessee River above the Kentucky Dam.


Sources:

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