POINT STUART, 1967
WPB 82358
Builder: J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp., Tacoma, WA
Commissioned: 17 March 1967
Decommissioned: 27 April 2001
Disposition: Transferred to El Salvador
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);
2 Caterpillar 3412 turbo-diesel engines (as of 1991)
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: 1 officer, 13 men (as of 1977)
2 officers, 8 men (1990)
Electronics:
Radar: SPN-11, CR-103 (1960)
Raytheon AN/SPS 64/69 (2001)
Armament: 1 x 20mm (1960)
2 x .50 cal. Browning MGs; Colt M16-A2 rifles; Browning 870 shotguns; Beretta 9MM PDW (1990)
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:
After being constructed in Tacoma, Washington by the J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corporation, the Point Stuart was initially stationed at Terminal Island in Long Beach, California. She was used for law enforcement and search and rescue operations. On 25 March 1968, she assisted following a collision between M/Vs Atlantic Trader and Steel Designer 2 miles off Point Fermin, California. She then transferred to San Diego.
Here her normal operating area included the waters north of Los Coronados Island to Point La Jolla extending seaward to include San Clement Island. She was also assigned to handle cases off Baja, California. Her primary mission was search and rescue but also enforced laws and treaties, participated in military preparedness training, as well as recreational boating safety. On 18 June 1970, she towed the disabled sloop Tioga to San Diego. On 13 July 1970, she towed a disabled 30-foot pleasure craft to San Diego. On 2 November 1970, she towed a disabled pleasure craft from 1 mile off Coronado Island to safety.
In the late 1970s she responded to numerous reported violations of U.S. territorial waters by Mexican commercial anchovy fishing vessels. In February 1994 she assisted the sinking S/V Ocean Citizen after first assisting the grounded F/V Rampage in Forney Cove, Santa Cruz Island. MLB-44308 and Coast Guard helo 6015 managed to save the two crewmembers and a cat that were aboard the Ocean Citizen and the crew of the Rampage. The Ocean Citizen sank while under tow by the Point Stuart.
In 1995 she transferred to Newport Harbor. The Point Stuart was decommissioned on 26 August 2001 and was transferred to the El Salvadoran Navy.
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