1871-1900 Yaquina Head Lighthouse Letter books

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Pages That Mention TENDERS

Coast Guard District narrative histories 1945

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TENDERS

At the time of the Coast Guard's taking over of the Lighthouse Service in the 13th Naval District, the tenders HEATHER, ROSE, MANZANITA, RHODODENDRON, and FIR were all operating in the district and became the property of the United States Coast Guard. Prior to the consolidation and upon the arrival of the FIR within the district, HEATHER had been removed from duty and tied to the sea wall at Lake Union Locks until the outbreak of war. At that time the Army borrowed her and she was never returned.

At the outbreak of the war, the MANZANITA was fitted out and supplied with special submarine cables for the laying of a protective loop across the approach to Dutch Harbor and again, she was loaned to the Canadian authorities for the laying of a similar cable at Prince Rupert. The tenders performed their regular duties during the war, but were equipped with small arms, depth charge racks, and deck guns for protection from submarines. The armament was removed following the cessation of hostilities and the complements of the tenders were thereby gradually reduced.

(Photo of the Tender Fir displayed here)

The Tender FIR Acquired when the Coast Guard and the Lighthouse Service were consolidated.

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Two fine tenders were commissioned and attached to the 13th Naval District during the war, the BASSWOOD, 1944, and the BLUEBELL, the following year. The Basswood was transferred after a year's general aide to navigation duty which involved servicing the isolated units and the LORAN project on Vancouver Island. In addition to these large tenders, the CO-65302-D was added and employed in buoy work and the maintenance of minor aids on the Upper Columbia River between The Dalles, Oregon and Pasco, Washington.

With the scarcity of Coast Guard Cutters in this district during the war, a vast amount of the assistance work fell upon the tenders. The increased size of the fishing fleet had the effect of causing more rescue operations, and in these, the tenders did an extraordinarily fine job.

(Photo inserted here)

Bringing a buoy in for overhaul aboard a tender

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units furnished the paint for camouflaging and structures. The last of the stations was returned to its normal peace time color by the end of the summer, 1945.

DISTRICT OFFICE PERSONNEL

Prior to, and for almost a year following the consolidation of the Lighthouse Service and the Coast Guard, the Aids to Navigation Section was administered by an Associate Mechanical Engineer with the assistance of two clerks and a stenographer. Both operational and engineering activities were combined in this section until the District was reorganized according to the Coast Guard organization plan. Engineering duties were then delegated to a separate Engineering Section and the operation and maintenance of aids to navigation became the responsibility of the Section. The Associate Mechanical Engineer, later promoted to Nautical Scientist, administered the department until the assignment of an Aids to Navigation Officer in 1944. Until that time, however the staff had increased to two Coast Guard Officers (R) (male) and one SPAR Officer, three enlisted Coast Guardsmen and six enlisted SPARS. In 1945, an Assistant Aids to Navigation Officer, trained especially in electronic aids was assigned to the section.

There was a little overlapping of activities between the Aids to Navigation Section and other departments, although its duties followed closely, in many instances, those of the Engineering Section, Vessel Operations, Port Security, Communications and Communications Engineering. These parallels were, respectively, in regards to surveying sites and deteraining??? structures, the movements of tenders, position of buoys and restricted areas, the monitoring of stations at North Head and Meadowdale and the activities of RACONS and the LORAN systems.

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FOREWORD

A history of Aids to Navigation is, prior to 1939, a history of the Lighthouse Service. Since 1789, the Lighthouse Service had established and maintained navigational aids along all coasts of the United States and all its inland waters. In 1939, the Reorganization Plan II provided for the consolidation of the Bureau of Lighthouses with the Coast Guard. The transfer of the duties from the Bureau to the Coast Guard were made mainly to reduce expenditures to the fullest extent for the efficient operation of the Government. It was appreciated and understood that there was a natural reluctance of personnel to change from the Bureau to another Service. To overcome this hesitation, the transfer was effected by avoiding discharges wherever possible and "cutting" the personnel by not filling vacancies which were in effect at the time of the transfer.

The Secretary of the Treasury authorized the induction of officers and crew of tenders and Lightships, Keepers of Lighthouses and Depots, Light Attendants, Radio Electricians, Examiners and Maintenance Supervisors, as the duties of those positions were comparable with duties performed in the military service of the Coast Guard. In addition to those positions, there was a large group of positions which were analogous to those now held by civilian employees of the Coast Guard, such as draftsmen, mechanics, laborers, watchmen, messengers in the sub-professional and custodial duties and various positions in the clerical, administrative and physical service. This group continued exactly as before and received promotions and increase in

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CONTENTS

I LIGHT STATIONS 1 II LIGHTSHIPS 14 III RADIOBEACONS 18 IV UPPER COLUMBIA RIVER 25 V BLACKOUT 39 VI ANRAC 45 VII SPECIAL BUOYS 51 VIII RACON-LORAN 56 IX LOCAL NOTICES TO MARINERS 68 X BUOY CARD FILE SYSTEM 69 XI TENDERS 75 XII STANDARDIZATION OF MINOR AIDS 80 XIII PERSONNEL OF AIDS TO NAVIGATION SECTION 83 XIV CHAPTER NOTES 1,11

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