POINT LOOKOUT, 1962
WPB 82341
Builder: Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, MD
Commissioned: 12 December 1962
Decommissioned: 24 March 1994
Disposition: Scuttled on 4 April 1997 8 miles off the coast at Ocean City, MD, as an artificial reef
Length: 82’10” oa, 78’ bp
Navigation Draft: 5’11” max (1960)
Beam: 17’7” max
Displacement: 69 fl; 60 light (1960)
Main Engines: 2 Cummins diesel (see class history)
BHP: 1,600
Performance, Maximum Sustained: 18.0 kts, 542-mi radius (1,600 hp, 1963)
Performance, Economic: 9.4 kts, 1,500-mi radius (1,600 hp, 1963)
Maximum Speed: 22.9 kts (1963)
Fuel Capacity: 1,840 gal
Complement: 8 men (1960), 2 officers, 8 men (1965)
Electronics:
Radar: SPN-11, CR-103 (1960), or SPS-64
Armament: 1 x 20mm (1960), 5 x .50 cal mg, 1 x 81 mm mortar (Vietnam service)
Class history—The 82-foot patrol boats have mild steel hulls and aluminum superstructures. Longitudinally framed construction was used to save weight.
These boats were completed with a variety of power plants. 82301 through 82313, 82315 through 82317, and 82319 through 82331 were powered by two Cummins 600-hp diesels. Boats 82318 and 82332 through 82379 received two Cummins 800-hp diesels. The 82314 was fitted with two 1,000-hp gas turbines and controllable-pitch propellers. The purpose of this installation was to permit the service to evaluate the propulsion equipment. All units were eventually fitted with the 800-hp diesels. Units remaining in 1990 were re-equipped with Caterpillar diesels.
WPB 82301 through 82344 were commissioned without names; at that time the Coast Guard did not name patrol craft shorter than 100 feet. In January 1964 they were assigned names.
Ship's history:
The Point Lookout was stationed at Pascagoula, MS, from 1962 to 1964. She was used for law enforcement and search and rescue operations.
From 1965 to 1994, she was stationed at Morgan City, LA. On 1 March 1965, she towed the disabled yacht Circe 120 miles east-southeast of Key West, FL, and passed tow to the cutter Cape Knox. In March 1966, she towed the disabled F/V Rex from 40 miles southwest of Morgan City to that port. On 15 June 1966, she escorted the Norwegian M/V Sage Sky to Southwest Pass after she had struck a submerged object. On 24 September 1967, she towed the disabled F/V Christopher 45 miles southeast of Sabine, TX, to Morgan City, AL. On 17 April 1968, she assisted following the collision between tugs 6 miles west of Morgan City, LA. One of the tugs was towing a barge that was carrying a highly explosive substance. On 23 May 1968, she served as on-scene commander following a spill of 50 barrels of asphalt near New Orleans. On 19 June 1966, she helped fight fire on barges in Intercoastal Waterway 10 miles south of Abbeville, LA. On 10 August 1969, she assisted in the rescue of a man off an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. On 21 October 1969, she assisted the Corps of Engineers in warning offshore oil rigs as well as barges in the Morgan City, LA, area of the approach of Hurricane Laurie.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
"The 82-Foot Class Patrol Boat." U.S. Coast Guard Engineer's Digest No. 133 (Mar-Apr 1962), pp. 2-5.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990