Hawthorn, 1921

Jan. 26, 2021
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Hawthorn, 1921


A thorny tree or shrub of the genus Crataegus, bearing white or pinkish flowers and reddish fruit.


Builder: Consolidated Shipbuilding Corporation, Morris Heights, New York

Length: 160'

Beam: 30'

Draft: 10' 6"

Displacement: 950 tons (1945)

Cost: $357,250

Commissioned: 28 December 1921 

Decommissioned: 24 July 1964

Disposition: Sold

Machinery: 1 triple-expansion steam engine; 1 200 psi Scotch boiler; 700 SHP; single propeller

Performance & Endurance:

        Max: 8.0 knots (1921); 9.0 knots (1945)
       Cruising:  8.0 knots; 1,750 mile range (1945)

Deck Gear: 20-ton capacity boom; steam-powered hoist

Complement: 27

Armament: None

Electronics: BK radar (1943); SO-8 radar (1945)


Tender History:

The Hawthorn was one of two Oak-Class 160-foot buoy tenders built for the U.S. Lighthouse Service by the Consolidated Shipbuilding Company of Morris Heights, New York, the other being USLHT Oak.  The Hawthorn was built as a replacement for the tender Jessamine.  She was ordered to the 3rd Lighthouse District and operated out of New London, Connecticut, where she tended aids to navigation.

She was converted from coal to oil-fired boilers in 1934.  She continued operating out of New London during World War II and that city remained her homeport until she was decommissioned.  On 28 June 1955 she assisted the fishing vessel Natican near Fishers Island.  On 26 July 1956 she assisted following the collision between the Italian passenger ship Andrea Doria and the Swedish passenger ship Stockholm off Nantucket.  On 27 December 1956 she assisted in the search for a Navy AD-4 aircraft eight miles off Fishers Island.

She was decommissioned on 24 July 1964 and was sold on 29 November 1965.


Sources:

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

Douglas Peterson.  United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.

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.