USCGC Gresham (WAVP-387), later WHEC-387, later WAGW-387, was a Casco-class

Casco class cutter

The Casco class was a large class of United States Coast Guard cutters in commission from the late 1940s through the late 1980s. They saw service as weather reporting ships in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans until the early 1970s, and some saw combat service during the Vietnam War.-Design:Between...

 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...

 in service from 1947 to 1973.

Construction and U.S. Navy service

Gresham began life as the 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...

 Barnegat-class motor torpedo boat tender

Motor torpedo boat tender

Motor torpedo boat tender is a type of ship used by the U.S. Navy during World War II. The Motor torpedo boat tender's task was to act as a tender in remote areas for patrol boats and to provide the necessary fuel and provisions for the torpedo boats she was responsible for...

 USS Willoughby (AGP-9)

USS Willoughby (AGP-9)

The second USS Willoughby was a motor torpedo boat tender that served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946.-Construction and Deployment:...

. She was laid down on 15 March 1943 as a Barnegat-class small seaplane tender designated AVP-57 by Lake Washington Shipyard

Lake Washington Shipyard

Lake Washington Shipyards was a shipyard in Houghton, Washington on the shore of Lake Washington. Today the shipyards are the site of the lakeside Carillon Point business park...

 at Houghton

Houghton, Washington

Houghton is one of the lakeside neighborhoods of the city of Kirkland, Washington. Consisting mostly of upscale, single-family homes, Houghton overlooks Lake Washington and is one of the wealthier districts of the Eastside suburbs of Seattle. The village was named for Willard Houghton, a local...

, Washington. While under construction, she was converted into a motor torpedo boat tender and was launched as such on 21 August 1943. She commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 into the U.S. Navy on 18 June 1944. She operated in support of the New Guinea campaign

New Guinea campaign

The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...

, the Philippines campaign

Philippines campaign

Philippines campaign may refer to various military campaigns that have been fought in the Philippine Islands, including:-Spanish colonial period :...

, and operations in Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

 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...

, and continued her Borneo operations after the war ended. She was decommissioned

Ship decommissioning

To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

 on 26 June 1946 and stricken from the Navy List

Navy List

A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....

 on 19 July 1946.

Transferred to the United States Coast Guard

While Willoughby was at Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo

Vallejo, California

Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, between December 1945 and June 1946, 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...

 inspected her for possible Coast Guard service. Barnegat-class ships were very reliable and seaworthy and had good habitability, and the Coast Guard viewed them as ideal for ocean station duty, in which they would perform weather

Weather

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

 reporting and search and rescue

Search and rescue

Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...

 tasks, once they were modified by having a balloon

Balloon

A balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig...

 shelter added aft and having oceanographic

Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...

 equipment, an oceanographic winch

Winch

A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in or let out or otherwise adjust the "tension" of a rope or wire rope . In its simplest form it consists of a spool and attached hand crank. In larger forms, winches stand at the heart of machines as diverse as tow trucks, steam shovels and...

, and a hydrographic

Hydrography

Hydrography is the measurement of the depths, the tides and currents of a body of water and establishment of the sea, river or lake bed topography and morphology. Normally and historically for the purpose of charting a body of water for the safe navigation of shipping...

 winch installed.

Willoughby was transferred to the Coast Guard at Government Island

Coast Guard Island

Coast Guard Island is in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda, California. The island is situated in the historic Brooklyn Basin, now known as Embarcadero Cove. It is within the Alameda city limits, but is accessible, by car, only via a bridge to Dennison Street in Oakland.The Island...

, Oakland

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, California, simultaneously with her Navy decommissioning on 26 June 1946. After undergoing conversion for use as a weather-reporting ship, she was commissioned into Coast Guard service as USCGC Gresham (WAVP-387) on 1 December 1947.

During her Coast Guard career, Greshams primary duty was to serve on weather stations in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 to gather meteorological

Meteorology

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...

 data. While on duty in one of these stations, she was required to patrol a 210-square-mile (544-square-kilometer) area for three weeks at a time, leaving the area only when physically relieved by another Coast Guard cutter or in the case of a dire emergency. While on station, she acted as an aircraft check point at the point of no return

Point of no return

The point of no return is the point beyond which one must continue on his or her current course of action because turning back is physically impossible, prohibitively expensive or dangerous. It is also used when the distance or effort required to get back would be greater than the remainder of the...

, a relay point for messages from ships and aircraft, as a source of the latest weather information for passing aircraft, as a floating oceanographic laboratory, and as a search-and-rescue ship for downed aircraft and vessels in distress, and engaged in law enforcement

Law enforcement agency

In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...

 operations. She also served on the Bering Sea Patrol, took part in United States Coast Guard Reserve

United States Coast Guard Reserve

The United States Coast Guard Reserve is the reserve component of the United States Coast Guard. It is organized, trained, administered, and supplied under the direction of the Commandant of the Coast Guard through the Director of Reserve and Leadership....

 training cruises, and participated in the U.S. Navy's underway refresher training program to ensure her readiness to support military operations.

U.S. Coast Guard service in the Pacific 1947-1967

Upon commissioning in 1947, Gresham was assigned to the 12th Coast Guard District, with her home port at Alameda

Alameda, California

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...

, California. Her first ocean station patrol was at Ocean Station Fox, and began with her departure for the patrol on 26 March 1948. For the next few months she conducted naval mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

 and coastal patrols and served on Ocean Station Fox and Ocean Station Able.

During July 1949, Gresham was among the ships patrolling the Transpacific Yacht Race

Transpacific Yacht Race

The Transpacific Yacht Race is an offshore yacht race starting off Point Fermin, San Pedro, near Los Angeles, and ending off Diamond Head Lighthouse in Honolulu, a distance of around . Started in 1906, it is one of yachting's premier offshore races and attracts entrants from all over the world...

 from Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, California, to Honolulu

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...

, 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...

. On 9 September 1949 she assisted the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 merchant ship SS Pacific Enterprise, which had run aground two nautical miles (3.7 kilometers) north of the Point Arena Light Station in thick fog

Fog

Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...

.

On 8 January 1950 Gresham was assigned to Ocean Station Peter in the Pacific; cutter USCGC Winnebago (WPG-40) relieved her on 29 January 1950. Later in 1950 she served on Ocean Station Nan and Ocean Station Oboe.

In 1951 Gresham served on Ocean Station Uncle and Ocean Station Sugar. On 16 June 1951 cutter USCGC Chautauqua (WPG-41) relieved her on Ocean Station Sugar, and she proceeded to Yokosuka, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. She repeated the cruise from Ocean Station Sugar to Yokosuka in March 1952 and February 1954.

On 22 May 1955, Gresham assisted merchant ship SS David Thompson, which was adrift in the Pacific. During July 1955 she again escorted the Transpacific Yacht Race.

After several more weather patrols, Gresham departed Alameda on 13 August 1956, for Vancouver, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, via Port Angeles

Port Angeles, Washington

Port Angeles is a city in and the county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 19,038 at the 2010 census. The area's harbor was dubbed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791, but by the mid-19th century the name had...

, Washington, on a U.S. Coast Guard Reserve training cruise. On 30 September 1956, she was relieved from Ocean Station November by cutter USCGC Pontchartrain (WPG-70). On 17 October 1956, Pontchartrain rescued passengers of the passenger ship

Passenger ship

A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is...

 Sovereign of the Skies; Gresham left Alameda and rendezvoused with Pontchartrain at San Francisco Light Station on 19 October 1956 as Pontchartrain brought in the rescued passengers.

Tragedy struck Gresham on 17 December 1958 while she was relieving cutter USCGC Klamath (WPG-66) on Ocean Station Romeo. The ships were in a line-ahead formation with Gresham 500 yards (457 m) ahead of Klamath and transferring mail

Mail

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

 to Klamath when a large wave

Wave

In physics, a wave is a disturbance that travels through space and time, accompanied by the transfer of energy.Waves travel and the wave motion transfers energy from one point to another, often with no permanent displacement of the particles of the medium—that is, with little or no associated mass...

 engulfed Greshams quarterdeck

Quarterdeck

The quarterdeck is that part of a warship designated by the commanding officer for official and ceremonial functions. In port, the quarterdeck is the most important place on the ship, and is the central control point for all its major activities. Underway, its importance diminishes as control of...

, injuring 11 enlisted men, inflicting a severe head injury on Ensign

Ensign (rank)

Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....

 George T. Bergman, and washing Bergman overboard. The cutters could not recover Bergman.

During 1959 and 1960, Gresham served on Ocean Station November seven times. During this period, the U.S. Ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....

 to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, Henry Cabot Lodge

Henry Cabot Lodge

Henry Cabot "Slim" Lodge was an American Republican Senator and historian from Massachusetts. He had the role of Senate Majority leader. He is best known for his positions on Meek policy, especially his battle with President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 over the Treaty of Versailles...

, arranged for Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 Premier

Premier

Premier is a title for the head of government in some countries and states.-Examples by country:In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister"...

 Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...

 to tour San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...

 while Khrushchev was visiting San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, California, during his September 1959 state visit to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Gresham was in port at Alameda at the time, and was chosen to carry Khrushchev on his tour of the bay.

Gresham continued her duties on Ocean Station November throughout the next few years. On 1 May 1966, she was reclassified as a high endurance cutter

High endurance cutter

The designation of High endurance cutter was created in 1965 when the United States Coast Guard adopted its own designation system. High endurance cutters encompassed its largest cutters previously designated by the United States Navy as Coast Guard gunboats , Coast Guard destroyer escorts , and...

 and redesignated WHEC-387.

Vietnam War service 1967-1968

Gresham departed San Francisco for Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, Hawaii, on 16 April 1967 under the command of Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 Norman L. Scherer, USCG. Upon her arrival in Hawaii, Gresham became flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

 of Coast Guard Squadron Three, which was designated Task Unit 70.8.6. Captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

 John E. Day, commander of the squadron, hoisted his pennant

Pennant (commissioning)

The commissioning pennant is a pennant flown from the masthead of a warship. The history of flying a commissioning pennant dates back to the days of chivalry with their trail pendants being flown from the mastheads of ships they commanded...

 aboard Gresham upon activation of the squadron on 24 April 1967.

Coast Guard Squadron Three was tasked to operate in conjunction with U.S. Navy forces in Operation Market Time

Operation Market Time

Operation Market Time was the United States Navy’s effort to stop troops and supplies from flowing by sea from North Vietnam to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War...

, the interdiction of communist

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 coastal arms and munitions traffic along the coastline of Vietnam

Vietnam

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 –...

 during 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...

. The squadrons other Vietnam War duties included fire support for ground forces, resupplying Coast Guard and Navy patrol boat

Patrol boat

A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties.There have been many designs for patrol boats. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, or police force, and may be intended for marine and/or estuarine or river environments...

s, and search-and-rescue operations. Serving in the squadron with Gresham were cutters USCGC Yakutat (WHEC-380)

USCGC Yakutat (WAVP-380)

USCGC Yakutat , later WHEC-380, was a Casco-class United States Coast Guard cutter in service from 1948 to 1971.-Construction and U.S. Navy service:...

, USCGC Bering Strait (WHEC-382)

USCGC Bering Strait (WAVP-382)

USCGC Bering Strait , later WHEC-382, was a Casco-class United States Coast Guard cutter in service from 1948 to 1971.-Construction and U.S. Navy service:...

, USCGC Barataria (WHEC-381)

USCGC Barataria (WAVP-381)

USCGC Barataria , later WHEC-381, was a Casco-class United States Coast Guard cutter in service from 1949 to 1969.-Construction and U.S. Navy service:...

, and USCGC Half Moon (WHEC-378)

USCGC Half Moon (WAVP-378)

USCGC Half Moon , later WHEC-378, was a Casco-class United States Coast Guard cutter in service from 1948 to 1969.-Construction and U.S. Navy service:...

; like Gresham, they all were former Navy Barnegat-class ships. They departed Pearl Harbor on 26 April 1967 and reported to Commander, United States Seventh Fleet

United States Seventh Fleet

The Seventh Fleet is the United States Navy's permanent forward projection force based in Yokosuka, Japan, with units positioned near Japan and South Korea. It is a component fleet force under the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of the forward-deployed U.S. fleets, with...

, for Market Time duty on 4 May 1967. They were joined by Navy radar picket

Radar picket

A radar picket is a radar-equipped ship, submarine, aircraft, or vehicle used to increase the radar detection range around a force to protect it from surprise attack. Often several detached radar units encircle a force to provide increased cover in all directions.-World War II:Radar picket ships...

 destroyer escort

Destroyer escort

A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...

s (DERs) of Escort Squadrons 5 and 7.

The ten Market Time ships arrived at 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...

 in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 on 10 May 1967. The five Coast Guard cutters and five Navy destroyer escorts continuously manned four Market Time stations off Vietnam, while only Navy warships served on two Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 patrol stations. One ship rotated duty as the station ship in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

. Gresham remained in the Western Pacific until 28 January 1968 and arrived home at Alameda on 10 February 1968.

U.S. Coast Guard service in the Pacific 1968-1969

Gresham made her final patrol in the Pacific when she served on Ocean Station November in September 1969. On the night of 23 September 1969 she went to the assistance of the 543-foot (166 m) containerized

Intermodal container

An intermodal container is a standardized reusable steel box used for the safe, efficient and secure storage and movement of materials and products within a global containerized intermodal freight transport system...

 cargo ship

Cargo ship

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...

 SS Hawaiian Legislator, which had lost power in her main propulsion gear and was adrift approximately 70 nautical miles (129.6 km) south of Greshams position. After rendezvousing first with U.S. Navy ammunition ship

Ammunition ship

An ammunition ship is a warship specially configured to carry ammunition, usually for Navy ships and aircraft. Their cargo handling systems, designed with extreme safety in mind, include ammunition hoists with airlocks between decks, and mechanisms for flooding entire compartments with sea water in...

 USS Firedrake (AE-14)

USS Firedrake (AE-14)

USS Firedrake , a Wrangell-class ammunition ship was launched 12 May 1944 by North Carolina Shipbuilding Co., Wilmington, N.C., as Winged Racer; sponsored by Mrs. R. M. Kitchins; acquired by the Navy 29 June 1944; and commissioned 27 December 1944 in Jacksonville, FL, Commander A...

 to transfer a Coast Guardsman with appendicitis

Appendicitis

Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...

 for transport to San Francisco, Gresham went to the aid of Hawaiian Legsilator and took her under tow towards San Pedro, California. On 26 September 1969 she turned the tow over to a commercial tug

Tugboat

A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...

 and then set course for San Francisco. She moored at Government Island, Alameda, on 30 September 1969. She was then deactivated and placed in reserve.

U.S. Coast Guard service in the Atlantic 1970-1973

In January 1970 Gresham was reactivated and transferred to the United States East Coast, assigned a new home port at Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. She was assigned the duty of establishing a new weather station, Ocean Station Hotel, approximately 250 nautical miles (463 km) northeast of Norfolk and deemed necessary to report critical weather data necessary to improve storm-warning forecasts for the northeastern United States after winter storms in 1969 shut down large areas there; the new XERB-1 weather buoy

Buoy

A buoy is a floating device that can have many different purposes. It can be anchored or allowed to drift. The word, of Old French or Middle Dutch origin, is now most commonly in UK English, although some orthoepists have traditionally prescribed the pronunciation...

 also was tested at Ocean Station November for use by Gresham at Ocean Station Hotel.

Gresham arrived at Norfolk on 7 February 1970 and established Ocean Station Hotel on 20 February 1970. On 27 February 1970 she was reclassified as a meteorological cutter and redesignated WAGW-387.

USCGC Taney (WHEC-37)

USCGC Taney (WHEC-37)

USCGC Taney is a United States Coast Guard High Endurance Cutter, notable as the last ship floating that fought in the attack on Pearl Harbor, although she was actually moored in nearby Honolulu Harbor not Pearl Harbor itself. She was named for Roger B...

 replaced Gresham on Ocean Station Hotel early in 1973.

Decommissioning and disposal

Gresham was decommissioned on 25 April 1973. She was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 21 May 1973 for lay-up in the James River

James River (Virginia)

The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...

 in Virginia. She was sold for scrapping on 25 October 1973 to B. V. Intershitra of Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.