STORIS WMEC-38/ WAGB-38/ WAG-38/ WAGL-38
ex-ESKIMO
Nicknames: "Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast"; "Queen of the Fleet"
Call Sign NRUC
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Builder: Toledo Shipbuilding Co., Toledo , OH
Builder's Number: CG-82
Cost: $2,072,889 (hull & machinery)
Length: 230’ oa
Beam: 43’ 2” mb
Draft: 15’ max (1945)
Displacement: 1715 fl (1945); 2030 fl (2006)
Keel Laid: 14 July 1941
Launched: 4 April 1942
Commissioned: 30 September 1942
Decommissioned: 8 February 2007
Status: Temporary Storage Suisun Bay, California
Propulsion: 1 electric motor driven by generators driven by 3 Cooper-Bessemer-type GN-8 8-cylinder diesels; single screw
Top speed: 13.0 knots
Economic speed: 8 knots
Complement: 17 officers, 131 enlisted men (1945); 12 officers, 72 Enlisted (2006)
Electronics:
Detection Radar: Bk (1943); SL (1945)
Sonar: QCL-2 (1945)
Armament: 2-3"/50 (single); 4-20mm/80 (single); 2 depth charge tracks' 4 Y-guns; 2 Mousetraps (1945); 1- 25MM Gun, 2- .50 cal machine guns (2006)
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Design:
STORIS was designed by the U.S. Coast Guard with detail drawings by Toledo Shipbuilding Company to be a supply ship with a degree of icebreaking capability for the waters around Greenland. The contract was let on 26 January 1941. Her design closely parallels the smaller 180-foot buoy tenders of 1942-1944. She was to be named ESKIMO. During her construction, however, the State Department, concerned that the natives of Greenland might find the name offensive, requested that another name be selected. "STORIS" is a Scandinavian word meaning "great ice." STORIS was the first tender fitted with a double top-lift boom and is the only example of her class.
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Cutter History:
World War II and the 1950s
The USCGC STORIS was assigned to CINCLANT (DESLANT) from 1942 to 1945. Stationed at Boston, Massachusetts, the cutter was used extensively in the waters around Greenland. STORIS conducted anti-submarine exercises in Casco Bay, Maine until 19 May 1943 before escorting a convoy to Argentina, Newfoundland and Narsarssuak, Greenland. Afterward, the cutter proceeded to sea to observe ice and weather conditions. On 12 June1943, STORIS joined Convoy GS-24 en route to St. John's, Newfoundland. The next day, 13 June, at 0510 there was an explosion on USCGC ESCANABA and the ship sank almost immediately. STORIS screened USS RARITAN as the latter picked up survivors. In August 1943, STORIS escorted a convoy to Frobisher Bay in the Canadian Arctic. The cutter searched for survivors of USAT NEVADA on 18 December 1943. During most of January 1944, the cutter broke ice in the Greenland fjords and transported supplies to various stations. From 7 July 1944 through 31 October 1944 it searched for German trawlers off northeast Greenland. In the months following, STORIS conducted escort duties in the waters around Greenland. This duty continued even after the cessation of hostilities in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO).
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Postwar to 1957
In the years immediately following World War II, STORIS continued to be stationed at Boston. From 1 December 1947 through 15 September 1948, she was stationed at Curtis Bay, Maryland and was used to support military preparedness. Upon completing the assignment at Curtis Bay, STORIS transferred to Juneau, Alaska where she performed law enforcement and search and rescue operations from 15 September 1948 through June 1957. Missions of note included the 16 December 1954 rescue of survivors from a Coast Guard aircraft crash at Haines Harbor, Alaska and the deployment with the U.S. Navy for Arctic operations during the summer of 1955. On 17 January 1956, the crew fought a fire at a cold-storage plant in Juneau and later in the year the cutter again deployed for Arctic operations with the Navy.
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Northwest Passage in 1957
On 1 July 1957, STORIS departed in company with the Coast Guard Cutters BRAMBLE and SPAR to search for a deep draft channel through the Arctic Ocean and to collect hydrographic information. This historic transit ended a 450-year search for the Northwest Passage – a route for large ships across the top of North America. Upon her return to Greenland waters, STORIS became the first U.S. registered vessel to circumnavigate the North American continent. She was assigned to a new homeport at Kodiak, Alaska.
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Afterward
Though still classified as a light icebreaker, STORIS’ primary functions shifted to enforcing laws and treaties of the domestic and foreign fisheries in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. During the summer of 1958, the cutter assisted in the resupply of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line stations in the Arctic. On 3 January 1959, Alaska became the 49th State in the Union, and the Bering Sea Patrol ceased operations. On 7 April 1959, the crew conducted a medical evacuation (medevac) of a seaman from the Soviet merchant vessel PISCAVAYA INDUSTRIVA located at Akun Bay in the Aleutian Islands. Later in 1959, STORIS conducted its final DEW Line resupply mission as the Canadian government subsequently took on the mission of resupplying the radar stations. In the 1960,s. STORIS' mission regarding Alaskan Fisheries Patrol intensified as large fleets of Soviet and Japanese fishing vessels moved into Alaskan waters to harvest the abundant stocks of crabs and bottom fish. Following the earthquake of 27 March 1964, STORIS broke ice in Cook Inlet in an attempt to aid those in distress.
During January-February 1965, the cutter unsuccessfully searched for three Russian trawlers reported to be in the vicinity of the Unimak Pass. In March 1965, however, STORIS intercepted the Soviet fishing vessel PAVEL CHEBOTNYAGIN as she was illegally crabbing in restricted waters off Alaska and escorted the offender to international waters. In 1967, a Soviet trawler was boarded and seized for fishing within one mile of shore. A $5,000 fine was levied against the ship's master in federal court. This was the first Fisheries Patrol prosecution for a violation off Alaska. In subsequent years, interceptions of Soviet and Japanese vessels illegally fishing Alaskan waters continued to constitute the majority of the ship's noteworthy activities. On 7 September 1969, the hull was holed by ice as the cutter assisted the tugboat ACTIVE. On 17 January 1972, STORIS discovered the Soviet supply ship, LAMUTT, and the trawler, KOLYVAN, engaged in fishing support operations within U.S. territorial waters in the Bering Sea. After having been boarded by members of the STORIS' crew, the Soviets made an attempted escape into the ice. STORIS seized the vessel and the ship's master was prosecuted. A $150,000 fine was levied against the Soviets by the federal court. That was the largest fine to date for foreign-flagged vessels engaged in illegal fishing in US waters.
Later in 1972, STORIS underwent a major renovation which saw the elimination of the cargo hold and her conversion from a light icebreaker (WAGL) to a medium endurance cutter (WMEC). The reconfiguration also resulted in the ship's complement being reduced to 30 enlisted men. In 1975, STORIS along with USCGC BURTON ISLAND and USCGC CITRUS provided icebreaking assistance to tugs and barges carrying vital supplies and materiel to Prudhoe Bay for the construction of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline. STORIS underwent another major overhaul in 1986 that replaced her power plant and expanded her living quarters to include a new berthing area for women and a lounge for the crew. During the Fall of 1992, STORIS made a port call at Petropavlovsk on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. This was the first entry of a foreign military vessel into the port since 1854 when the British and French attempted to seize it during the Crimean War.
Until she was decommissioned, STORIS held the distinction of being the oldest commissioned cutter in the Coast Guard fleet, bore the honorary title of "Queen of the Fleet" and proudly displayed her gold "38" hull numbers. STORIS routinely patrolled the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. During her seven decades of service to the nation, she continued to perform her duties of enforcement of laws and treaties, search and rescue, homeland security, icebreaking, and military readiness. STORIS conducted her last patrol of 54 days in the Bering Sea just prior to her decommissioning on 8 February 2007.
