USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

A conversation among Whalers
Jefecinco
Posts: 1592
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:35 pm
Location: Gulf Shores, AL

USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

Postby Jefecinco » Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:59 am

We see [the USCGC SAGINAW buoy tender] pass by on the waterway every few weeks. I don't know its length but estimate it to be around 100-feet. After USCGC SAGINAW went past yesterday, I've tried to get some information about this vessel with little success.

If I can photograph it I'll post it.
Butch

jimh
Posts: 11672
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

Postby jimh » Thu Aug 11, 2022 4:58 pm

Here is some background on United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) SAGINAW:

https://www.facebook.com/USCGSectorMobile/posts/uscgc-saginaw-is-responsible-for-the-maintenance-of-aids-to-navigation-for-over-/3930221773655317/

It looks like the SAGINAW is home-ported in Mobile. Give her a call at (251) 441-5197.

She is listed as part of SECTOR MOBILE in the USCG 8th District.
https://www.atlanticarea.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/District-8/District-Units/Sector-Mobile/

Google search here: https://www.google.com/search?q=USCGC+Saginaw+(WLIC+803)

Jefecinco
Posts: 1592
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:35 pm
Location: Gulf Shores, AL

Re: USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

Postby Jefecinco » Sat Aug 13, 2022 10:10 am

Thank you for the references. There is surprisingly little public information on the "Saginaw". I read that the vessel is 160 feet long. I'm amazed as I guessed the length at around 100 feet. I need to have an eye calibration performed.
Butch

dtmackey
Posts: 760
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:29 pm

Re: USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

Postby dtmackey » Mon Aug 15, 2022 8:57 am

Some say that bouy tender duty is one of the worst duties in the Coast Guard, but I loved it. Back in 1986 and 1987 I was stationed on the USCGC SPAR (WLB-403) out of South Portland Maine, and we serviced from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Canada. We also refueled lighthouses. That duty was lots of fun, and I am glad I had that opportunity.

The Spar has since been sunk as an artificial reef off North Carolina.

http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/WRECKS/SPAR/SPAR.HTML

D-

jimh
Posts: 11672
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

Postby jimh » Mon Aug 15, 2022 9:43 am

Here in the Great Lakes there are many buoys that have to removed in late Fall because of ice on the Great Lakes. Then all those buoys have to be put back in the water in early Spring.

In many cases these buoys mark dangerous shoals. The buoy tenders in the Great Lakes are large ships that need significant water to operate. Thus the navigation of the buoy tender must be done very carefully, for when there is no buoy in place, there is nothing marking the hazard, and, as soon as a buoy is hauled out, then again there is nothing marking the hazard.

There was a rather infamous incident in Lake Superior in 1989. The buoy tender USCGC MESQUITE was working late at night, and removed a buoy that marked a dangerous rock shoal east of the Keweenaw Peninsula. As soon as the buoy was aboard, the ship backed away from the hazard into deep water to secure the buoy on deck. During this maneuver the officer of the watch changed. The commanding officer had left the bridge. Some time later when the buoy was secured, the ship got underway.

The position of the ship was plotted by dead reckoning as there was no other method available. The plotted position did not take into account set and drift while the ship was not making way. When the ship got underway on the new course and heading, it sailed right over the shoal whose lighted buoy it had just removed. The hull was holed. Waves bounced the hull on and off the rocks. The ultimate outcome was the ship was declared a loss. It was eventually removed and then scuttled in deeper water to become a recreational diving attraction.

I believe the USCGC MESQUITE was one of the largest ships ever lost by the Coast Guard, and the incident was not exactly great for their image.

It is a complicated story. There are many unusual circumstances involved. Foremost is that the USCGC MESQUITE had never operated in this area before, because its normal operating area was not western Lake Superior.

There is a book about the MESQUITE:
Shipwreck of the Mesquite: Death of a Coast Guard Cutter
by Frederick Stonehouse

I am sure I have read that book, as I remember a lot of details about the incident. I am very surprised that the official report of the USCG investigation cannot be found on-line.

dtmackey
Posts: 760
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:29 pm

Re: USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

Postby dtmackey » Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:19 am

Buoy ops are sometimes in tight places very close to ledges and other hazards. The year before I arrived on USCGC SPAR, it went over Moulton ledge near Bar Harbor Maine causing significant damage to the keel requiring emergency onsite repairs to prevent major flooding and also shipyard repair. In the accident, the keel was damaged to the point where the starboard side engine crankshaft was bent (the crank was about 15' or longer) and that engine was out of commission for the time I was onboard and we ran on a single engine since the cutter was set up as diesel electric turning one screw and it was decided to leave it this way until the CG figured out what to do.

When I left the ship it was in Newport, Rhode Island, I and they cut the superstructure and decks out to remove both engines and re-power with modern diesel since the engines on-board were original 1940's Fairbanks Morse engines.

jimh
Posts: 11672
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

Postby jimh » Mon Aug 15, 2022 1:08 pm

I was aboard the USCGC MAKINAW, while she was still in service as the biggest icebreaker on the Great Lakes. She was also powered by Fairbanks-Morse diesel and electric motors driving the three propeller shafts. The Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines used two opposing pistons in each cylinder.

A recent article says Fairbanks-Morse continues to use opposing-piston design in its modern engines. See

https://www.fairbanksmorse.com/blog/new ... anks-morse

I was also able to go aboard the icebreaking harbor tug USCGC BRISTOL BAY in 1997 while they conducting some training evolutions. That ship also used Fairbanks-Morse engines. I guess the Coast Guard liked that design. More on the BRISTOL BAY trip at

https://continuouswave.com/boats/bristolBay/ship.html

That trip was 25-years ago. My good friend was a CW04 in the USCG Reserve, and he arranged my coming along on that outing. He and I are both long since retired.

dtmackey
Posts: 760
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:29 pm

Re: USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

Postby dtmackey » Mon Aug 15, 2022 1:48 pm

jimh wrote:I was aboard the USCGC MAKINAW, while she was still in service as the biggest icebreaker on the Great Lakes. She was also powered by Fairbanks-Morse diesel and electric motors driving the three propeller shafts. The Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines used two opposing pistons in each cylinder.

A recent article says Fairbanks-Morse continues to use opposing-piston design in its modern engines.


As soon as you said opposed piston, I looked at an old photo alumn and I'm in error, the buoy tender I was on used Cooper-Bessemer GND-8 four-cycle diesel engines

Here's a little vid on them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1FnMQufs48

I have pics of the work done on ours trying to save the engine due to the bent crank and it was decided to install oval crank bearings to allow enough movement for the bent crank. Needless to say after lots of work and tax payer money, when they started it the entire cutter shuttered really bad, so the engine was deemed dangerous and District One refused to allow us to run and we continued operations on the single motor.

If you like the idea of opposed piston motors, there's a new twist of them with new technology from Archates. Cummins also has one they are trialing with the military.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=AwrFFttph_piFSsBBShXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMyNDU5OERfMQRzZWMDcGl2cw--?p=achates+power+opposed-piston+engine&fr2=piv-web&type=E211US1441G0&fr=mcafee#id=2&vid=773a6e238261a2e537d0f5ec3c8ef4f0&action=view

D-

Jefecinco
Posts: 1592
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:35 pm
Location: Gulf Shores, AL

Re: USCG Bouy Tender Saginaw

Postby Jefecinco » Tue Aug 16, 2022 10:50 am

Very interesting posts. While in the Army I managed power plants using both Fairbanks Morse OP two stroke engines and Cooper Bessemer four stroke cycle engines.

At the Safeguard Antimissile Missile site in Nekoma, ND in 1976 our power plant was powered by six three megawatt Cooper Bessemer engines. The were normally operated on natural gas using a sip of diesel for a pilot fuel. The were turbocharged. Interestingly the engines were operated at 360 RPM.

In the Dominican Republic in 1983 through 1985 aboard the Army Corps of Engineers Power Barge Master Sargent Andrew J Weber moored at San Pedro de Macoris we used a pair of ten megawatt GE gas turbine powered generators and three Fairbanks Morse Opposed Piston two stroke super charged and turbocharged engines. Both were fired by diesel fuel.

Both of those assignments were the most technically challenging and interesting assignments of my 35 year Army career.
Butch