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USCGC Owasco (WHEC-39)
Encyclopedia
USCG Owasco (WHEC-39) was an Owasco class
high endurance cutter which served with the US Coast Guard
from 1945 to 1973. Originally intended for World War II service, she was commissioned only weeks before the end of the war and consequently did not see combat until her deployment in the Vietnam War
more than 20 years later.
at San Pedro, California on 18 June 1944 and commissioned on 18 May 1945, barely two months before the end of World War II. Initially fitted out as a gunboat, the vessel was converted to peace time status at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland through the removal of much of her armament and installation of observation facilities and aerological equipment, a conversion completed in May 1946. Around this time her homeport was changed from Galveston, Texas
to Boston
. Owasco was named for Owasco Lake
, New York
.
, which would remain Owasco's homeport for the rest of her operational career.
A typical ocean station patrol for Owasco was described in a 1973 unit history: "When the OWASCO leaves New London for ocean station she is heading for a 210 mile square, and once there remains for 28 days obtaining meteorological and oceanographic data and information. A characteristic signal from her radiobeacon serves as an aid to navigation. She also furnished all passing aircraft within radar range accurate information as to their position, course, speed, and up to date weather forecasts. While performing her duties as an Ocean Station Vessel, she carries a crew of 13 officers and 121 men."
. Under the leadership of Commander William R. Fearn and with a crew of 160, Owasco took part in Operation Market Time, the attempt to interdict communist supply lines by sea.
Owasco departed New London 20 May 1968 for Guantanamo Bay, where her crew underwent refresher training. She then made ports stops at Hawaii
, Guam
and Subic Bay
before arriving in theatre on 23 July of the same year.
Owascos operational duties in this period were described by a contemporary Coast Guard press release:
Owascos first Market Time patrol began on 10 August 1968 just south of the Demilitarized Zone in the South China Sea. From 13 September to 3 October 1968 the vessel operated as the SOPA Administrator for all U.S. Naval vessels in Hong Kong, maintaining the shore patrol for the fleet and handling all mail, communications, and matters concerning U.S. naval personnel there. On 1 October 1968, Owasco departed for Subic Bay for a regular upkeep.
Owasco returned to Subic Bay for emergency dry dock repairs between 15 and 25 January. Between 26 January and 11 March the vessel was back on Market Time Station One duty. On 14 March 1969 Owasco departed Subic for her home port of New London, but on the way was diverted for a medevac mission for crew members of the Norwegian M/V Norefjell 300 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras
, after which she resumed her journey, arriving at New London on the 23rd.
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By the end of her tour overseas, Owasco had supplied logistical support to 86 Navy Swift boats and 47 Coast Guard 82-foot patrol boats. She had detected 2,596 junks and conducted 178 "actual boardings and 2,341 inspections", exceeding the "results of any Squadron Three cutter thus far." She conducted 17 Naval Gunfire Support Missions, firing 1,330 rounds of 5-inch ammunition."
Owasco was officially credited with killing four enemy soldiers, destroying 18 bunkers and damaging 10, destroying 11 "military structures" and damaging 17, destroying 550 meters of "Enemy Supply Trails", destroying 1 sampan, 1 loading pier, and interdicting 3 "Enemy Troop Movements." The ship carried out 49 underway replenishments while in theatre and her medical personnel carried out 7 medical and civic action programs
(MEDCAP), treating 432 Vietnamese civilians.
Owasco class cutter
The Owasco Class Cutter was a cutter class operated by the United States Coast Guard. A total of thirteen cutters in the class were built, all named after lakes. Eleven were constructed by the Western Pipe & Steel Company at San Pedro, California, while the remaining two—Mendota and...
high endurance cutter which served with the US Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
from 1945 to 1973. Originally intended for World War II service, she was commissioned only weeks before the end of the war and consequently did not see combat until her deployment in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
more than 20 years later.
Peacetime service
Owasco, the lead ship in her class, was launched by the Western Pipe and Steel CompanyWestern Pipe and Steel Company
The Western Pipe and Steel Company was an American manufacturing company that is best remembered today for its construction of ships for the Maritime Commission in World War II. It also built ships for the U.S...
at San Pedro, California on 18 June 1944 and commissioned on 18 May 1945, barely two months before the end of World War II. Initially fitted out as a gunboat, the vessel was converted to peace time status at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland through the removal of much of her armament and installation of observation facilities and aerological equipment, a conversion completed in May 1946. Around this time her homeport was changed from Galveston, Texas
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Owasco was named for Owasco Lake
Owasco Lake
Owasco Lake is the sixth largest and third easternmost of the Finger Lakes of New York in the United States of America . The name Owasco can be roughly translated from a Mohawk and Iroquois term meaning "crossing"....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Regular Coast Guard duties
After the refit, Owasco returned to regular Coastguard duties, including law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue operations. She was decommissioned in 1951 and recommissioned on 15 August 1955, at which time her homeport was changed to New London, ConnecticutNew London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, which would remain Owasco's homeport for the rest of her operational career.
A typical ocean station patrol for Owasco was described in a 1973 unit history: "When the OWASCO leaves New London for ocean station she is heading for a 210 mile square, and once there remains for 28 days obtaining meteorological and oceanographic data and information. A characteristic signal from her radiobeacon serves as an aid to navigation. She also furnished all passing aircraft within radar range accurate information as to their position, course, speed, and up to date weather forecasts. While performing her duties as an Ocean Station Vessel, she carries a crew of 13 officers and 121 men."
Storm damaged
Owasco was damaged during a series of violent storms in January 1962, when wind gusts at times reached 80 miles an hour. A lifeboat was damaged by a wave and her SPS-29 radar antenna sheared off, while the crew was obliged to work continuously to keep the cutter free from ice. A photo caption from the time noted: "Using muscle power and a baseball bat, a crewman attacks ice formed of spray on the superstructure of the Coast Guard's 255-foot cutter OWASCO during her recent weather patrol and plane guard duty on Ocean Station "Bravo" situated in the passage between Labrador and Greenland. A northeaster picked up spume from high waves and deposited it as ice over the vessel. Crewmen fought this ice battle for ten hours to preserve the ship's stability. They use bats, pick handles, meat cleavers, fire axes, shovels and other objects to crack away the dangerous tons of white weight."Vietnam War
On 13 October 1967, Owasco was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three in VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Under the leadership of Commander William R. Fearn and with a crew of 160, Owasco took part in Operation Market Time, the attempt to interdict communist supply lines by sea.
Owasco departed New London 20 May 1968 for Guantanamo Bay, where her crew underwent refresher training. She then made ports stops at Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
and Subic Bay
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...
before arriving in theatre on 23 July of the same year.
Owascos operational duties in this period were described by a contemporary Coast Guard press release:
Although her patrol areas may change from time to time during the next several months, her duties will not. Market Time units are assigned primarily to keep the Communists from sneaking men, arms and other supplies into the Republic of Vietnam. They include U.S. Navy aircraft, destroyer escort radar picket ships, ocean minesweepers and swift boats and Vietnamese Navy Junk Force craft, as well as 82 foot and high endurance Coast Guard cutters. Owasco is one of five of the latter group, which makes up Coast Guard Squadron Three on duty with the Seventh Fleet's Cruiser-Destroyer Group in Southeast Asia.
In addition to keeping track of shipping in their patrol areas and inspecting and searching suspicious water craft and their occupants, Market Time units are often called upon to lend gunfire support to friendly forces ashore. Owasco's 5 inch, .38 caliber main battery is well suited to shore bombardment and she also carries 81 mm mortars and .50 caliber machine guns for close range engagements with the enemy.
Owascos first Market Time patrol began on 10 August 1968 just south of the Demilitarized Zone in the South China Sea. From 13 September to 3 October 1968 the vessel operated as the SOPA Administrator for all U.S. Naval vessels in Hong Kong, maintaining the shore patrol for the fleet and handling all mail, communications, and matters concerning U.S. naval personnel there. On 1 October 1968, Owasco departed for Subic Bay for a regular upkeep.
Crew citation
A few weeks later in November, Owasco crewmen went to the aid of a Navy Swift boat in an incident that was described in the ships official cutter scrapbook:Six Owasco crewmen were cited for meritorious service as a result of direct action with the enemy, while the ship was patrolling Market Time Area Two on Wednesday 6 November 1968. The six men had just completed a medcapCivic action programA civic action program also known as civic action project is a type of operation designed to assist an area by using the capabilities and resources of a military force or civilian organization to conduct long-term programs or short-term projects...
mission ashore in Phouctan...Embarked in Navy Swift Boat PCF-75 for rendezvous with the Owasco, the boat, in company with the ill-fated PCF-70, received hostile gunfire during which PCF-70 personnel were hit from a surprise recoilless rifle ambush on the beach. Two men were killed and four others wounded.
LCDR Spott USPHS (medical officer) and SN Maison (corpsman assistant) rendered medical aid in the midst of the enemy attack. Four other Owasco men, LTJG Mack, BM2 Scheyer, DC3 Bane, EM3 Switlik all assisted in rescue and salvage operations to the battle damaged Navy craft. For their achievement under fire, Doctor Spott and seaman Maison received Navy Commendation medals, while the other four were cited in Letters of Commendation by Commander, 7th Fleet. On 19 June 1969, LTJG Warren Hudson USN, the PCF-70 skipper who was wounded in the action, visited the Owasco in New London to express his thanks to the commanding officer.
Owasco returned to Subic Bay for emergency dry dock repairs between 15 and 25 January. Between 26 January and 11 March the vessel was back on Market Time Station One duty. On 14 March 1969 Owasco departed Subic for her home port of New London, but on the way was diverted for a medevac mission for crew members of the Norwegian M/V Norefjell 300 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras
Cape Hatteras
Cape Hatteras is a cape on the coast of North Carolina. It is the point that protrudes the farthest to the southeast along the northeast-to-southwest line of the Atlantic coast of North America...
, after which she resumed her journey, arriving at New London on the 23rd.
Summary of Vietnam War service
Owasco was officially credited with killing four enemy soldiers, destroying 18 bunkers and damaging 10, destroying 11 "military structures" and damaging 17, destroying 550 meters of "Enemy Supply Trails", destroying 1 sampan, 1 loading pier, and interdicting 3 "Enemy Troop Movements." The ship carried out 49 underway replenishments while in theatre and her medical personnel carried out 7 medical and civic action programs
Civic action program
A civic action program also known as civic action project is a type of operation designed to assist an area by using the capabilities and resources of a military force or civilian organization to conduct long-term programs or short-term projects...
(MEDCAP), treating 432 Vietnamese civilians.