USCGC Aurora (WPC-103)

USCGC Aurora (WPC-103) was a 165-foot (50 m), steel-hulled, diesel-powered Thetis-class patrol boat of the United States Coast Guard.

History
United States Coast Guard
Name: USCGC Aurora
Namesake: Aurora
Builder: Bath Iron Works
Laid down: January 1931
Launched: 28 November 1931
Commissioned: December 1931
Decommissioned: 17 January 1960
Identification: WPC-103
Honours and
awards:		  Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Fate: sold, 16 December 1968
General characteristics
Class and type: Thetis-class patrol boat[1]
Displacement:
  • 337 long tons (342 t) (1933)
  • 350 long tons (360 t) (1945)
Length: 165 ft (50 m)
Beam: 25 ft 3 in (7.70 m)
Draft:
  • 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m) (1933)
  • 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m) (1945)
Installed power: 1,340 bhp
Propulsion: 2 × Winton Model 158 6-cylinder diesels 1,340 brake horsepower (1,000 kW)
Speed:
  • 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph) cruising
  • 16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph) maximum
Range:
  • 1,750 statute miles (14 knots)
  • 3,000 statute miles (11 knots)
  • 6,417 statute miles (6 knots)
Complement:
  • 44 (1933)
  • 75 (1945)
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • None (1933
  • SF Radar (1945)
  • QCO Sonar (1945)
Armament:

History

She was laid down in January 1931 at the Bath, Maine shipyard of Bath Iron Works and launched on 28 November 1931[2] one of 18 Thetis-class patrol boats.[3][4] She was commissioned on 21 December 1931.[4] She was one of the early ships in the mid-1941 established Alaskan Sector (colloquially known as the "Alaskan Navy") of the 13th Naval District under Captain Ralph C. Parker.[5] During the Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands in June 1942, she served as part of Task Force 8 under Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald, Commander of the North Pacific Force, tasked with defending Alaska from Japanese attack. She was part of Task Group 8.2 (the Surface Search Group) consisting of the patrol craft of Parker's fleet: his flagship, the gunboat (Charleston); 5 cutters (Aurora, Onondaga, Haida, Cyane, and Bonham); 14 YP patrol vessels; and an old ocean tugboat (Oriole). TG 8.2 was to establish a picket line to signal any Japanese approach.[6][7][8] Their picket was augmented by planes from the Air Search Group consisting of twenty PBY Catalina flying boats (operated by seaplane tenders Williamson, Gillis, and Casco) and one land-based B-17 Flying Fortress bomber.[6]

Some time after the war, she was based at San Juan, Puerto Rico.[9] She was involved in operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) and the Dominican Civil War (1965)[10][11] for which she was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.[12] She was decommissioned on 17 January 1960 and sold on 16 December 1968.[13] She finished her days as a merchant ship under the same name (registration SE1998).[10]

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References
  1. "USCGC Atalanta". naval-history.net. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  2. Gogin, Ivan. "COAST GUARD SHIPS AND CRAFT 165-ft "B" cutters (1931-1934)". Navypedia.org.
  3. Dropkin, Les (January 2002). "The Thetis Class Coast Guard Patrol Boats" (PDF). Potomac Association.
  4. Clancey, Patrick. "Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945 Coast Guard Cutters & Craft". HyperWar Foundation via Ibiblio. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  5. Ostrom, Thomas P. (May 13, 2009). The United States Coast Guard in World War II: A History of Domestic and Overseas Actions. McFarland & Company. p. 140. ISBN 9780786442560.
  6. Vego, Milan (January 1, 2016). HM 22 2nd Ed.: Major Fleet-versus-Fleet Operations in the Pacific War, 1941–1945. Naval War College. p. 126.
  7. THE CAMPAIGNS of the PACIFIC WAR (PDF). United States Navy United States Strategic Bombing Survey (PACIFIC) Naval Analysis Division. 1946. p. 101. Surface Search Group, Commander Alaskan Sector, (Capt. Parker): One gunboat, 1 mine sweeper, 5 Coast Guard cutters, 14 small patrol vessels
  8. Vego lists Oriole as an oiler (AO) although she was designated a tugboat (old) or ATO on 15 May 1944. The Strategic Bombing Survey lists a minesweeper (AM) which was Oriole's designation until 1 June 1942 when she was designated an ocean tugboat (AT)
  9. Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. U.S. Congress. October 29, 1963. p. 64.
  10. Silverston, Paul. The Navy of the Nuclear Age, 1947–2007. Routledge. p. 261. ISBN 9781135864668.
  11. All Hands. United States Navy. January 1966. p. 52.
  12. "Coast Guard Military Medals and Awards Manual" (PDF). Defense.gov. 15 August 2016. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  13. Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft, 1946-1990. Naval Institute Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780870217197.
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