Larkspur, 1903
WAGL-226
A plant of the genus Delphinium, with spurred, variously colored flowers.
Builder: Port Richmond, New York
Length: 169' 2"
Beam: 30'
Draft: 10' 6"
Displacement: 888 tons
Cost: $123,258.77
Commissioned: 24 February 1943
Decommissioned: 10 January 1946
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: 2 vertical inverted compound fore & aft express steam engine; 2 water-tube express coal-fired boilers; 750 IHP; twin propellers.
Performance & Endurance:
Max: 10.0 knots (1903); 9.0 knots; 1,640 mile range (1945)
Cruising: 8.0 knots; 1,830 mile range (1945)
Deck Gear: Steam-powered winch
Complement: 29 (1907); 41 (1945)
Armament: None (as launched); 2 x 20mm/80 (single); 1 depth charge track (1945)
Electronics: None (as launched); RCA Model AR-1401 radio-compass (1931); WEA-2a sonar (1945)
Tender History:
The steam-powered Larkspur, a bay and sound tender built with a steel hull and a composite superstructure, was built in Port Richmond, New York, and was completed in 1903. As completed, she had two masts and was fitted with sails for auxiliary power if needed. She was assigned as an inspection tender in the 3rd Lighthouse District and was stationed at Staten Island, New York.
On 26 February 1909, she went to the assistance of the USRC Mohawk, which had run aground on rocks near Hell Gate in New York Harbor. The revenue cutter was safely refloated and Larkspur escorted her into New York harbor.
She had new machinery and boilers installed in 1916-1917 at a cost of $84,778. She was laid up for three years beginning in June, 1933. In 1938 she was refurbished and she was switched from coal to oil burning. She was then transferred to the 8th Lighthouse District and was stationed at Mobile, Alabama.
During World War II, she received the designation and hull number WAGL-226 and was armed with a small depth charge track, a sonar apparatus, and two 20mm anti-aircraft cannons, one mounted on her forecastle and one on her aft deck house. She continued operating out of Mobile. On 30 November 1945 she was ordered to steam to Curtis Bay, Maryland, along with the CGC Sunflower.
She was decommissioned on 10 January 1946 at Curtis Bay and was sold by the War Shipping Administration on 19 February 1947 to W. B. Fountain.
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.