USCGC Sea Cloud (WPG-284) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

USCGC Sea Cloud (WPG-284) was a weather ship

Weather ship

A weather ship was a ship stationed in the ocean as a platform for surface and upper air meteorological observations for use in weather forecasting. They were primarily located in the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans, reporting via radio...

for the United States 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...

and United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The ship served as the first racially integrated warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

in the United States Armed Forces

United States armed forces

The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...

since the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Originally a private yacht, she was transferred to the Coast Guard and then to the Navy during World War II. Following the war, Sea Cloud was returned to private ownership, serving as a yacht for numerous people, including Dictator of the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

Rafael Trujillo. The ship currently sails as a cruise ship based out of Europe.

Pre-military

Sea Cloud was built in Kiel, Germany as a Barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

for E. F. Hutton & Co.

E. F. Hutton & Co.

E. F. Hutton & Co. was an American stock brokerage firm founded in 1904 by Edward Francis Hutton, his brother Franklyn Laws Hutton, and later led by well known Wall Street trader Gerald M. Loeb. Under their leadership, Hutton became one of the most respected financial firms in the United States...

. She was launched in 1931 as the Hussar II; at the time of her construction, she was the largest private yacht in the world. In 1935, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union Joseph E. Davies

Joseph E. Davies

Joseph Edward Davies was appointed by President Wilson to be Commissioner of Corporations in 1912, and First Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission in 1915. He was the second Ambassador to represent the United States in the Soviet Union and U.S. Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg...

obtained the ship after marrying Hutton's ex-wife Marjorie Merriweather Post

Marjorie Merriweather Post

-External links:******...

. Davies renamed the ship Sea Cloud. As a man with political influence, Davies entertained many high profile people on the ship, including Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. The ship even served as an informal embassy, as Soviet and United States officials stayed and met on the vessel.

Coast Guard service

Davies had first offered the ship to the Department of the Navy

United States Department of the Navy

The Department of the Navy of the United States of America was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, to provide a government organizational structure to the United States Navy and, from 1834 onwards, for the United States Marine Corps, and when directed by the President, of the...

in 1941, but the Navy turned him down. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt objected to the ship entering service, remarking that she was too beautiful to be sacrificed. However, on January 7, 1942, the Navy reassessed their position, chartering the ship for $1 per year. The Navy sent Sea Cloud from Georgetown, South Carolina

Georgetown, South Carolina

Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, in the Low Country. Located on Winyah Bay at the confluence of the Great Pee Dee River, Waccamaw River, and Sampit River, Georgetown is the second largest seaport in South Carolina,...

, to the United States Coast Guard Yard

United States Coast Guard Yard

The United States Coast Guard Yard or just Coast Guard Yard is a United States Coast Guard operated shipyard located on Curtis Bay in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just south of the Baltimore city limits. It is the coast guard's sole shipbuilding and major repair facility, and part of the...

in Curtis Bay, Maryland, to be refitted as a "weather observation station vessel", and had its masts removed. The Sea Cloud was commissioned as a United States Coast Guard Cutter

United States Coast Guard Cutter

Cutter is the term used by the United States Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. A Cutter is or greater in length, has a permanently assigned crew, and has accommodations for the crew to live aboard...

on April 4, 1942, and assigned to the Eastern Sea Frontier

Eastern Sea Frontier

The Eastern Sea Frontier was a United States Navy operational command during World War II, that was responsible for the coastal waters from Canada to Jacksonville, Florida, extending out for a nominal distance of two hundred miles....

, with a permanent home port

Home port

A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull...

in 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...

.

During 1942, Sea Cloud mostly served as a weather ship

Weather ship

at Weather Patrol Station Number Two (position 52°0′N 42°30′W). On June 6, 1942, the ship rescued eight survivors from the schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

Maria da Gloria. On August 3, 1942 and August 4, 1942, the Sea Cloud served at Weather Patrol Station Number One while was converted to a weather ship.

Naval service

In 1943, the Navy asked for control of Sea Cloud and Nourmahal, another former yacht converted into a weather ship. On April 9, 1943, the United States Navy

United States Navy

commissioned Sea Cloud as USS Sea Cloud (IX-99), though she maintained a Coast Guard crew. She was assigned to Task Force 24.

Relieving in February 1944, Sea Cloud patrolled a one-hundred square mile area near the New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

coast, generating weather reports for the First Naval District. On February 27, 1944, Sea Cloud travelled to be refurbished at Atlantic Yard in East Boston, afterwards taking over a new one-hundred square mile area at Weather Station Number One.

On April 5, 1944, Sea Cloud received radar indication of a small target at position 39°27′N 62°30′W, bearing 350° at 3000 yards. General quarters

General quarters

General Quarters or Battle Stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal the crew to prepare for battle or imminent damage....

were sounded and battle stations manned, but contact was lost ten minutes later. The target was identified as a submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

, but after Sea Cloud carried out standard anti-submarine drills

Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....

with no evidence of damage being inflicted, she returned to port.

After minor repairs, Sea Cloud was rebased to Argentia, Newfoundland, where she was assigned to Weather Station Number Three. While patrolling the area on June 11, 1944, the crew spotted a Navy TBF Avenger

TBF Avenger

The Grumman TBF Avenger was a torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air or naval arms around the world....

, exchanging recognition signal

Recognition signal

A recognition signal is a signal where a person, a ship, an airplane or something else is recognized. They can be used during war or can be used to help the police recognize each other during undercover operations...

s. Sea Cloud received orders to report to the and join the five other escort ships under her command. The envoy searched for a raft reported in the area, but returned with no sightings. After this event, Sea Cloud was once again reassigned to Weather Station Number Four. After a search for a downed aircraft, she returned to port in Boston. Sea Cloud was decommissioned on November 4, 1944 at the Bethlehem Steel

Bethlehem Steel

The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...

Atlantic Yard and returned to Davies, along with $175,000 for conversion to pre-war appearance.

Integration

In late 1944, Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

Carlton Skinner

Carlton S. Skinner was the first civilian governor of Guam and a prominent advocate for the integration of the United States Armed Forces...

took command of the ship, after previously serving as executive officer in November 1944. At that time, black seamen were only permitted to serve as ship stewards. After witnessing a black man save the crew of the yet still be denied promotion because of the rule, Skinner proposed an experiment. Skinner submitted his plan to the Secretary of the Navy and was allowed to sail his first weather patrol with a fully integrated crew. Within a few months, fifty black sailors, including two officers, were stationed aboard the Sea Cloud. Skinner requested that the experiment not be publicized and the ship not be treated differently from other ships in the task force. Skinner showed that his integrated crew could work just as efficiently as a segregated crew, if not more so, when his crew passed two fleet inspections with no deficiencies.

Return to civilian service

Following its return, Sea Cloud received a reassembled rigging

Rigging

Rigging is the apparatus through which the force of the wind is used to propel sailboats and sailing ships forward. This includes masts, yards, sails, and cordage.-Terms and classifications:...

in 1947, and a new set of twenty-nine sails in 1949. She was painted white, and a gold eagle painted on the bow. The ship's reconstruction took nearly four years. After evaluating the cost of running a 72-person crew, Post decided to sell the ship.

Presidential yacht Angelita

Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

, purchased Sea Cloud in 1955, trading a secondhand Vickers Viscount

Vickers Viscount

The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...

for it. He renamed the ship Angelita after his daughter. The yacht served as a houseboat and government office. Following Trujillo's assassination on May 20, 1961, his family attempted to smuggle themselves and Trujillo's body to the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

aboard the Angelita, but were forced back by the Dominican Republic's new government.

School ship Patria

Five years after Trujillo's death, the ship, now named Patria, was sold to Operation Sea Cruises. Company president John Blue renamed her Antarna. He brought her to the United States, but port authorities docked the boat after a dispute. Charles and Stephanie Gallagher paid the fees to get the ship free and set her to sea, even though Blue still held the ship's papers. The two dreamed of making the ship an "oceanic school" where students would supplement their traditional learning with at-sea education. Blue eventually retrieved his ship after a confrontation in Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

Cruise ship Sea Cloud

After the ship stayed in port for eight years, Hartmut Paschberg and a group of Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

associates purchased her, once again naming her Sea Cloud. Paschberg and thirty-eight other men sailed the ship to Europe, arriving in the Port of Hamburg on November 15, 1978. Sea Cloud spent eight months undergoing repairs in the now-named Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyard, the very yard she was built in. She was redesigned with a sixty-four passenger capacity for a crew of sixty. The ship set sail on its first cruise in 1979, and is still operating as a cruise ship. In 2011, the Sea Cloud underwent extensive renovations at the MWB-Werft, Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...

External links

Official website of Sea Cloud Cruises, the current operator of the ship
Sea Cloud at Ship Spotting World including additional photography and videos
numerous video clips of Sea Cloud

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.