Ewing, 1927 (WMEC-137)

Jan. 4, 2021
PRINT | E-MAIL

Ewing, 1927

WSC / WMEC-137


President William Henry Harrison appointed Thomas Ewing (1789-1871) to be the 14th Secretary of the Treasury in 1841 and he was retained by John Tyler after Harrison's death.  His term in office began on 4 March 1841.  He ended his term in office on 11 September 1841.  As a Senator from Ohio from 1831 until 1837, Ewing advocated rechartering the Second Bank of the United States and denounced President Jackson's removal of government deposits.  

In 1841, after Congress repealed a law supported by Levi Woodbury, the 13th Secretary of the Treasury, that created an Independent Treasury System, Ewing was called upon to devise a new depository for the government's funds. He introduced several options, including bills for a new national bank. None of his suggestions were adopted and Tyler thwarted his plan for organizing a central bank to replace the Independent Treasury System, maintaining that it was unconstitutional for the Treasury Department to authorize bank branches in the states without their consent.  After only six months, along with most of Tyler's cabinet, Ewing resigned in protest against Tyler's opposition to his proposals. Eight years later, in 1849, President Zachary Taylor appointed Ewing to be the first Secretary of the newly created Department of the Interior.


CLASS: Active Class Patrol Boat

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

COMMISSIONED: 26 March 1927

LAUNCHED: 15 March 1927

DECOMMISSIONED: 23 June 1967 and sold 23 January 1969

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

The CGC Ewing was originally based at New London, Connecticut and Boston, Massachusetts, before being reassigned to San Pedro, California, in May 1930.  She remained on the West Coast during the 1930s.  During World War II she performed ASW training at San Diego, California.  She was at Seward, Alaska from 1946-1947 and was laid up due to lack of personnel from 1947-1948).  She was at Alameda, California from 1949-1960 and at Monterey, California from 1960-1967.


SOURCES:

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

Donald Canney.  U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935.  Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.

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.

U.S. Coast Guard.  Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933.  Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).