View source for USCGC Escanaba (WPG-77)

{{other ships|USCGC Escanaba}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Escanaba 1935 2.jpg
|Ship caption=''Escanaba'' before World War II
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=[[United States]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|coast guard}} {{USN flag|1943}}
|Ship name=USCGC ''Escanaba'' (WPG-77)
|Ship namesake=[[Escanaba, Michigan]]
|Ship ordered=10 November 1931<ref Name=Scheina21>Scheina, p 21</ref>
|Ship builder=[[Defoe Shipbuilding Company]], [[Bay City, Michigan]]<ref name=USCG01>"Escanaba, 1932", Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard-Manned Army & Navy Vessels, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office</ref> 
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=17 September 1932
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=23 November 1932
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|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sunk by torpedo or mine, 13 June 1943
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship class="A" class cutter
|Ship displacement={{convert|1005|LT|abbr=on|lk=in}}
|Ship length={{convert|165|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|36|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|12|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed={{convert|12.8|kn|abbr=on|lk=in}}
|Ship range={{convert|5079|mi|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement= 105
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=2 × [[3"/50 caliber gun|3"/50]]; 2 × 20mm/80 (single mount); 2 × [[depth charge]] tracks; 4 × [[Depth charge projector#Delivery mechanisms|"Y" guns]]; 2 × [[Mousetrap (weapon)|mousetraps]]
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The '''USCGC ''Escanaba'' (WPG-77)''' was a {{convert|165|ft|abbr=on}} "A" type [[United States Coast Guard]] cutter stationed on the [[Great Lakes]] from her commissioning in 1932 until the start of U.S. military involvement in [[World War II]] in 1941.  With the outbreak of war, ''Escanaba'' redeployed to participate in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]], during the course of which she was ultimately lost with nearly all hands.  Struck by either a [[torpedo]] or [[Naval mine|mine]] in the early morning of 13 June 1943, while serving as a convoy escort, ''Escanaba'' suffered a fiery explosion and sank within minutes, leaving only two survivors and one body out of her 105-man crew to be found on the surface by rescuers.

==Construction==
''Escanaba'' was built at [[Bay City, Michigan]] by the [[Defoe Shipbuilding Company]] with contract for her construction signed 10 November 1931 at a cost of $525,550. She was one of six {{convert|165|ft|abbr=on}} "A" type cutters designed as a light icebreaker and her type were the first Coast Guard cutters to have a geared-turbine drive. The double-reduction DeLaval geared-turbine was powered by two [[Babcock & Wilcox]] main boilers which produced 1500 shaft horsepower. The ship carried 41500 gallons of oil to fire her boilers.<ref Name="Scheina21" />

==Great Lakes service==
[[File:Escanaba 1935 1.jpg|thumb|210px|left|''Escanaba'' (right) breaks ice for two merchant vessels on the Great Lakes in the mid-1930s]]
''Escanaba'', named for the [[Escanaba, Michigan|city]] and [[Escanaba River|river]] in the [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan]], was built at the [[Defoe Shipbuilding Company]] in [[Bay City, Michigan]] in 1932.  The six cutters of her class were designed primarily for light [[ice breaking]], rescue, and law enforcement duties.  She was commissioned on 23 November 1932 in [[Grand Haven, Michigan]], which would be her permanent station and home port until she was redeployed to the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] for combat duty in the Second World War.  ''Escanaba'''s primary, pre-war missions were ice breaking and [[search and rescue]] on the [[Great Lakes]], which caused her to become well known throughout the region and a beloved part of her home port's community.  During this period, from 1932 to 1934, future USCG [[Commandant of the Coast Guard|Commandant]] [[Edwin J. Roland]] served aboard ''Escanaba'' as [[gun|gunnery officer]] and [[navigator]].<ref name=USCG02>"Edwin J. Roland, USCG"' Biographies of Coast Guard Commandants, U.S Coast Guard Historian's Office</ref>

In the winter of 1934, ''Escanaba '' rescued the crew of the [[lake freighter]] {{SS|Henry Cort}} after running aground at [[Muskegon channel|Muskegon]].

==World War II==

===Greenland Patrol service===

With the outbreak of war in 1941, ''Escanaba''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> home port was shifted to [[Boston]], and she was assigned to the [[Greenland Patrol]], performing escort duty and [[search and rescue]] operations in the [[North Atlantic]].  
[[File:Escanaba WWII 4.jpg|thumb|175px|right|"All hands at Quarters on deck;" circa late 1942]]
On 15 June 1942, while escorting [[convoy]] XB-25 from [[Cape Cod]] to [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], ''Escanaba'' had two [[submarine]] contacts and made attacks on them.  No sinkings were confirmed.  After making these attacks, the ship rescued 20 people from the SS ''Cherokee'', which had been sunk by a [[U-boat]].  In that same month, ''Escanaba'' was credited with the sinkings of two enemy submarines in a single day. However, German records show no U-boats were sunk.  

From 1 July until 23 August 1942, she was on weather patrol.

===SS ''Dorchester'' rescues===
[[File:Escanaba-Dorchester rescue.jpg|200px|left|thumb|''Escanaba'' rescuing the survivors of {{SS|Dorchester||6}} in the predawn darkness of 3 February 1943.]]On 3 February 1943, ''Escanaba'' participated in the rescue of the survivors of the {{SS|Dorchester}}, which had been torpedoed by a German submarine.  The rescue was marked by the ''Escanaba''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> historic first use of [[rescue swimmer]]s clad in [[survival suit]]s to aid survivors, who were too weakened by [[Shock (circulatory)|shock]] or [[hypothermia]] in the icy water to pull themselves up cargo nets or sea ladders to the safety and warmth of rescuers' ships, or even to hold on to ropes cast to them from the rescue vessel. By way of the lines the rescue swimmers tied around those who were having trouble helping themselves, many struggling survivors who--debilitated by the cold--would have otherwise died, were hauled aboard the ''Escanaba'' by crewmen on deck. Even those in the water who appeared to be dead were harnessed by the retrieval swimmers and pulled aboard – it was found that only 12 of the 50 apparently dead victims thus brought aboard by the retrieval teams actually turned out to be dead. The rest proved themselves to be quite alive once given the benefit of warmth, dryness, and medical attention.

In all, ''Escanaba'' plucked 133 survivors from the water that day, only one of whom went on to die aboard the cutter after rescue.  For their work in supervising and organizing the rescue, commanding officer [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]] Carl U. Peterson received the [[Legion of Merit]] and executive officer [[Lieutenant]] Robert H. Prause Jr., whose experiments in a tethered rubber suit off a dock at [[Bluie West One]] had paved the way for this new "retriever method," received a letter of commendation. [[Ship's doctor]] Assistant Surgeon Ralph R. Nix of the [[United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps|US Public Health Service]] also received a letter of commendation for his work saving the lives of the critically chilled survivors.  Three crew members who went "over the side" to bring in survivors, [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] Richard A. Arrighi, Ship's Cook 2nd Class [[Forrest O. Rednour]], and Steward's Mate 3rd Class Warren T. Deyampert, were awarded the [[Navy and Marine Corps Medal]] for their actions in the water.  All decorations and commendations, however, were to be awarded posthumously.

===Sinking of ''Escanaba''===
On 10 June 1943, ''Escanaba'' began escorting her last convoy, GS-24 from [[Narsarsuaq|Narsarssuak]] to [[St. John's, Newfoundland]], in company with the [[USCGC Mojave (WPG-47)|''Mojave'']] (Flag), [[USCGC Tampa (1921)|''Tampa'']], [[USCGC Storis (WMEC-38)|''Storis'']], and ''Algonquin''.  The vessels they were tasked to escort were [[List of United States Army transport ships|USAT]] ''Fairfax'' and the tug [[USS Raritan (WYT-93)|USS ''Raritan'']].<ref name=USCG03>Browning, Jr., Dr. Robert M., "The Sinking of the USCGC Escanaba", U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office</ref>

At 0510 on 13 June, a large sheet of flame and dense smoke were seen rising from the ''Escanaba'', though no explosion was heard by the other ships in the convoy.  She sank at 0513, going down so quickly that she did not have time to send any distress signals.  ''Storis'' and ''Raritan'' were ordered to investigate and rescue survivors while the rest of the convoy began zigzagging and steering evasive courses to avoid enemy [[submarine]]s.  Although ''Storis'' and ''Raritan'' were able to arrive on the scene within ten minutes, only two survivors and one body could be found.  At 0715 the two vessels returned to the main body of the convoy, having rescued [[Boatswain's Mate (US Coast Guard)|Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class]] Melvin A. Baldwin and [[Seaman (rank)|Seaman 1st Class]] Raymond F. O'Malley Jr., and having found the body of LT Prause.  The entire crew of 13 [[Officer (armed forces)|officers]] and 92 [[Naval rating|men]] was lost to the explosion or to rapid hypothermia in the {{convert|39|F|abbr=on}} water with the exception of Baldwin and O'Malley, whose survival was attributed to their soaked clothing having frozen their unconscious bodies to floating debris, which prevented them from following their shipmates to the bottom.

The exact cause of the explosion could not be determined at the time, but was commonly attributed to a torpedo fired by one of several U-boats which were in the area at the time.  However, no U-boats claimed the kill, and, according to Browning, it is now considered more probable that the cutter was sunk by a drifting [[Naval mine|mine]].<ref>[https://uboat.net/forums/read.php?3,94529,94591#msg-94591 Uboat Forum accessed 25 August 2018]</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Escanaba in the Labrador Sea.jpg|right|thumb|350px|''USCGC Escanaba'' in the [[Labrador Sea]], 2021]]
The city of [[Grand Haven, Michigan|Grand Haven]] was hit hard emotionally by the loss of "its" cutter.  As the war wore on, the citizens of [[Grand Haven, Michigan|Grand Haven]] managed to raise more than $1,000,000 in [[Series E bond|bonds]] to build [[USCGC Escanaba (WHEC-64)|a new cutter bearing the same name]] ([[USCGC Escanaba (WHEC-64)]]) in order to honor the ill-fated ship and its men. The third [[USCGC Escanaba (WMEC-907)|Escanaba (WMEC-907)]] was commissioned in 1987 and is currently based in Portsmouth, Virginia. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Sinking of the USCGC Escanaba |url=https://centennial.legion.org/michigan/post28/1943/06/13/sinking-uscgc-escanaba |access-date=7 May 2022 |website=The American Legion}}</ref>  In 1949, the Michigan city renamed Kelly Memorial Park to ''Escanaba'' Park to honor ship and her crew.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020 |title=Escanaba Park |url=https://grandhaven.org/visitors/parks/escanaba-park/ |access-date=7 May 2021 |website=City of Grand Haven, Michigan}}</ref>  Each year during the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival, the city holds a memorial service to honor the sacrifice of the 103 men who were lost with ''Escanaba''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival |url=https://www.facebook.com/CoastGdFestival/?ref=page_internal |access-date=7 May 2022 |website=Facebook}}</ref>

==Notes==

;Citations
{{Reflist|}}
;References cited

{{Refbegin}}
*{{DANFS}}
* {{cite web|title=Escanaba, 1932|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Escanaba_1932.asp|work=Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard-Manned Army & Navy Vessels|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|format=asp|access-date=28 October 2013}} 
* {{cite web|title=Edwin J. Roland, USCG|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=7 May 2022|work=Biographies of Coast Guard Commandants|url=https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Notable-People/All/Article/1762688/admiral-edwin-j-roland/}}
* {{cite web|last=Browning Jr.|first=Dr. Robert M.|title=The Sinking of the USCGC Escanaba|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/articles/Escanaba.asp|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=28 October 2013|format=asp}}
* {{cite book|last=Scheina|first=Robert L.|year=1982|title=U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II|publisher=Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-0-87021-717-3}} 
*[http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/tande/WPG/wpg77.html The Coast Guard at War, Transports and Escorts, CGC Escanaba (WPG-77)]
{{Refend}}

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{{June 1943 shipwrecks}}
{{Algonquin-class cutter}}

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[[Category:Ships of the United States Coast Guard]]
[[Category:Ships built in Bay City, Michigan]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II]]
[[Category:1932 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in June 1943]]
[[Category:Algonquin-class cutters]]