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Wartime History of the 83527
The Wheeler 83 Footer
Design - 83-footers were wood-hulled craft, the hull form was the round bilged type, single planked. Walter J. McInnis was appointed design agent on December 6 1940 to develop the plans for the 83-foot class. The design was completed March 19 1941 and 40 units were contracted to Wheeler Shipyard, Inc., Brooklyn, NY. War started before the contract was completed and subsequent contracts for 44, 40 and 106 units were awarded.
 
The early units were fitted with an Everdur bronze wheelhouse. These were prefabricated in Boston. MA. and shipped by railcar to the Wheeler Yard. Later units (83436--83529) had plywood wheelhouses because of a shortage of bronze. Those 83-footers operating above Cape Henry. VA. were ice sheathed. All the craft were capable of 20.6 kts full speed at the time of delivery, but their performance was degraded by machinery wear as well as the increased displacement from armaments. radar. and sonar. Twelve additional units were built for the USN and four transferred to Cuba, three the Dominican Republic, one to Haiti, and four to Venezuela. Nineteen Coast Guard units were also transferred to Latin American navies during the war including eight to the navies of Cuba ,two to Colombia, six to Peru and three to Mexico.
 
General Service - From 1941-45 they were used for antisubmarine patrol, coastal convoy escort and search and rescue. In the Spring of 1944. 60 units were shipped to Great Britain and became USCG Rescue Flotilla No. 1, based at Poole, England. It deployed in Two 30 boat rescue groups for Normandy  landings and rescued 1500men. Thirty of these 60 units returned to the United States, 24 remained in Europe, 4 were transferred to the Royal Navy, and 2 were lost in January 1945. Forty units were ordered to COMSERV7THFLEET in the PHILSEAFRON as USCG PTC Flotilla Number One and operated out of Manicani Island. just south of the Island of Samar near Leyte. None of the units had served in Europe and none were returned to the United States. All were decommissioned in the Philippines and disposed of by Foreign Liquidation Commission (an organ of the  U.S. State Department) in 1945. Twenty four additional units were transferred to the Pacific to serve in Advanced Base Harbor Defense Force (ABHD) (code named LION) at bases in Okinawa and Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands, and Saipan and Guam in the Mariana Islands. Four of these units had served in Europe. Following WWII most 83 footers remaining in the Coast Guard were in a decommissioned status for brief periods and only final decommissioning is cited.

Visit the Dragon Lady site for another version of this history.
 
The Active CG-83527
CG-83527 was built by Wheeler Shipyards Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y. She was commissioned April 8, 1944 and assigned to Anti-Submarine duties with GULFSEAFRON (Miami, FL) in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico areas. On June 6, 1945 she was loaded on an LST for shipment to San Pedro, CA. Plans were to send her to an advanced base in the Pacific, but these orders were cancelled. She was then assigned to Search and Rescue duty in Tacoma, WA until decommissioning 18 December 1962. Sold 30 July 1964.   MVC-007F.JPG (56232 bytes)

Wartime armament included a 20mm machine gun, anti-submarine rocket and depth charges. The rockets and depth charges were later removed.

From the Commandant, USCG, Dec 3, 1964, by F.X. Riley, Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Chief, Floating Units Division.

Letter from the Coast Guard written in 1964 outlining the history of the 83527 Jim Brown (former crewman) Letter and Photos Documents located by the Tacoma Public Library . Early 50s photo courtesy Wink Weber
 
Photos - Tom McAdams
   
       
       
Photos - Myron "Tike" Hillman
       
Tike served on the 83527 from 1954 to 1956 and was the un-official ships photographer. Here is the start of his collection that he is sharing with us. More to come later.
       
Letter - Chief Annas
       

Chief Annas Letter Click Here

    
       
Photo - Al Johnson           

     
       
Al Kearl and the NW Airliner Crash           
Al Kearl from Sequim, WA. Read these article about the NW Orient Airlines Crash near Tacoma, WA.  

       

"1953 Award for boarding 800 Boats." - from Ed Young
From Left to right:
Annas BMC
Davenport BM1
Burkenbine EN1
Well EN2
 		 Malloy GM2
Eldridge EN2
Murphy RD2
Young SA
Ryman Ensign		 Presenter Unknown

       
       
Surplus Sale Documents
     
1964 Auction Document Defense Surplus Document Treasury Department Document Original Bill of Sale
       
After the Sale
       
This history is continued at "Civilian History"
       

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