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The Escanaba Grand Haven has ce Page 1 of 14 Source: http://www.coastguardfest.org/#!the-Escanaba/cotr USCGC Escanaba (WPG-77) Grand Haven has celebrated its unique relationship with the Coast Guard since the early 1900s when the U.S. Life Saving Service established a station in this Lake Michigan shoreline community. Today, Grand Haven is known as "Coast Guard City U.S.A" in recognition of her special relationship with the longest continuous seagoing service of our nation. The first cutter home ported in Grand Haven was USCGC Escanaba (WPG-77). Winter of 1932 the Escanaba arrived coated with ice to a warm welcome by the community and the Grand Haven High School band. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Source: http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/cgcEscanaba/history.asp file:///F:/New,%20htm/Coastguard%20%60Escanaba'/Escanaba%2077.htm 10/9/2014 The Escanaba Grand Haven has ce Page 2 of 14 1935 USCGC Escanaba (WPG-77) USCGC Escanaba (WPG-77) The 1st United States Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba was a "Michigan" ship from the beginning and was built at Defoe Works in Bay City, Michigan in 1932. She was commissioned soon after for the arduous duty of icebreaking on Lake Michigan. The 165-foot Algonguin class cutter was named for the city and river "Escanaba" which was derived from a Native American word meaning “flat rock”. She served on the Great Lakes and was stationed in Grand Haven, Michigan until the start of WWII. In early 1942, Escanaba was assigned to convoy duty, was transferred to war duty in the North Atlantic and assigned to the "Greenland Patrol". She escorted numerous convoys and participated in various search and rescue missions. While carrying out escort duties for many of the Allied convoys bound for Greenland and Iceland, Escanaba rescued survivors of two torpedoed ships. They rescued 22 men from the U.S.S. Cherokee on June 15, 1942 and rescued 133 more men from the U.S.S. Dorchester transport on February 3, 1943. For their outstanding heroism accomplishing this rescue mission, six officers and men of the Escanaba were awarded posthumous decorations & commendations by Admiral Royal E. Ingersol, then Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. Four months later the gallant Escanaba set out on what was destined to be her final mission. She was steaming in company with the cutters; Mojave, Tampa, Storis, Algonquin & Raritan providing protection to a convoy enroute to Newfoundland. During the early morning hours of June 13, 1943, an Allied convoy sailed from Narsarssuak, Greenland bound for St. John’s, Newfoundland with an escort consisting of the USCGC Mohave (flag), USCGC Tampa, USCGC Storis, USCGC Raritan and USCGC Escanaba. The convoy proceeded to the Northwest, encountering dense fog, icebergs & dangerous navigating conditions. The convoy had been alerted for the presence of an enemy submarine in the area. Then the Escanaba was torpedoed and sank quickly. At 05:10am on June 13, 1943, there was a sudden flash of light on the horizon with dense yellow & black smoke rising from the perimeter of the convoy. The cutters Storis & Raritan were ordered to investigate. Racing to the position where the Escanaba was last stationed, they discovered that the cutter was gone. She had been struck by an enemy torpedo and sank instantly. Within ten minutes of sighting the smoke, all that remained was debris and two survivors: Seaman First Class Raymond O’Malley and Boatswains Mate Second Class Melvin Baldwin. 101 men were lost including the Captain, Lieutenant Commander "Carl Uno Peterson". All that remains today of this proud ship are her rigged mast, her lifeboat and a few other items which are part of a memorial park in the City of Grand Haven. No monument will ever mark the place in the Atlantic where Escanaba and her brave crew sank but for the Nation she served so well she will always remain an honored memory. Her namesake carries on the traditions so firmly embedded in the history of the Coast Guard. The anguish of this small, close-knit community over the devastating loss of Escanaba was channeled into raising one million dollars in war bonds to purchase a replacement cutter the following year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Source: http://www.uscg.mil/history/articles/Escanaba.asp file:///F:/New,%20htm/Coastguard%20%60Escanaba'/Escanaba%2077.htm 10/9/2014 The Escanaba Grand Haven has ce Page 3 of 14 On August 4, 1943, the citizens of Grand Haven, Michigan stood somber as a ray of sunlight pierced the blackened sky. The mood changed instantly when a band broke the silence with the tune "Semper Paratus." The crowd of over 6,000 had gathered as they had for many years to celebrate Coast Guard day. This year, however, the crowd assembled for a more important reason; to pay tribute to the cutter Escanaba which had been sunk just six weeks before. The Escanaba, built in 1932, was one of a class of six cutters designed for light icebreaking, law enforcement and rescue work. Home ported in Grand Haven, the 165 ft. cutter served in the Great Lakes for eight years. It made annual trips up Lake Michigan to Sault Ste. Marie each spring to break ice in the St. Mary's River. Many times this included cutting ore vessels out of the ice. By keeping navigation open and making many rescues the cutter became well known and endeared to all the maritime communities along Lake Michigan. With the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the United States sent vessels to patrol the icy waters of Greenland. The Escanaba, well suited for such work, contributed greatly to the initial patrol and ice breaking duties. The Escanaba, however, had never been designed as a war vessel. The crew grew from 62 to over 100 to handle additional armament, sound gear, and depth charges--all added to the vessel to make it capable of fighting submarines. After spending some months on the Greenland patrol, the Navy assigned the Escanaba to convoy merchant ships in the North Atlantic. Duty in this part of the Atlantic could be extremely harsh. Ice readily formed on the ships, which had to be chipped and chopped off and sometimes melted off with live steam. Heavy weather tossed the ships about the waves like toys, and the men and the gear inside. The warships in the North Atlantic fought an illusive enemy that could sink merchant vessels and then disappear without a trace leaving the escort vessels to pick up survivors and drop depth charges with no positive results. The Navy armed a number of Coast Guard cutters and intended for them to perform the same operations as destroyers. But they had various limitations. The Escanaba's particularly short cruising range limited its ability to do certain tasks. These vessels overall worked well as escort ships, yet they could never function as destroyers. For just over two months during the summer of 1942, the Escanaba performed weather patrol duty in the North Atlantic. In September it went back to breaking ice and escort work. During this difficult duty the Escanaba participated in several major rescues. In June 1942, Escanaba, in a convoy bound from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Cape Cod, rescued 22 men from the torpedoed passenger ship Cherokee. The most famous rescue occurred when the torpedoed Army transport Dorchester sank in February 1943. During this rescue the ship's commanding officer, LCDR Carl U. Peterson, made the first use of rescue swimmers to pull the victims from the icy waters, saving an amazing 132 men. For the next several months Escanaba escorted vessels from Greenland to Newfoundland and back. On June 10 1943, the cutter formed part of a convoy that sailed from Narsarssuak, Greenland to St. John's Newfoundland. In company with the cutters Mojave, Tampa, Storis, Algonquin, and Raritan, the transport Fairfax, and the tanker Laramie they all steamed out of Narsarssuak in weather considered bad for even for the North Atlantic. Convoy GS-24 proceeded northwest for awhile to skirt an ice field. On the twelfth the ships encountered many bergs and growlers amongst dense fog which made navigation difficult. By the morning of the thirteenth the convoy had successfully avoided the ice by changing direction and steaming west and south. The convoy headed south with Escanaba on station on the left side of the formation. Here the cutter made anti-submarine sweeps 3,000 yards from the center. Just after 5 am, seaman Raymond O'Malley, who had just relieved the wheel on Escanaba, heard what he thought was the sound gear tracking a torpedo. A moment later a terrific explosion ripped through the cutter. The explosion blew O'Malley to the overhead and only his grasp on the wheel kept him from greater injury. When O'Malley regained his senses he observed that everyone else on the bridge lay seriously wounded. O'Malley made his way to the wing of the bridge, putting on his life preserver as he went. As he got out the door he saw the after deck in splinters and the main mast falling overboard. Moments later he was swept into the bitterly cold water. file:///F:/New,%20htm/Coastguard%20%60Escanaba'/Escanaba%2077.htm 10/9/2014 The Escanaba Grand Haven has ce Page 4 of 14 Another crewman, BM2 Melvin Baldwin, lay asleep two decks below when the explosion occurred. Blown out of his bunk he headed topside but found it difficult due to the extensive structural damage. Baldwin was one of the few lucky men from below to reach the deck. He reached the main deck but the ship settled so fast that as he headed forward, water struck him from behind and sucked him down with the ship.

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