USCGC Morris

Active-class were designed for trailing the "mother ships" along the outer line of patrol during Prohibition. They were constructed at a cost of $63,173 each. They gained a reputation for durability that was only enhanced by their re-engining in the late 1930s; their original 6-cylinder diesels were replaced by significantly more powerful 8-cylinder units that used the original engine beds and gave the vessels an additional 3 knots. All served in World War II, but two, the Jackson and Bedloe, were lost in a storm in 1944. Ten were refitted as buoy tenders during the war and reverted to patrol work afterward.

Originally designated WPC, for patrol craft, they were re-designated WSC, for sub chaser, in February 1942, during World War II. The "W" appended to the SC (Sub Chaser) designation identified vessels as belonging to the U.S. Coast Guard. Those remaining in service in May 1966 were re-designated as medium endurance cutters, WMEC.

Morris was laid down and launched by American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation, Camden on 4 April 1927. She was commissioned on 19 April 1927.

Her command was transferred to the US Navy in 1941 until 1946.

The Morris, identifiable by its "W147" marking, plays a prominent role in a 1961 episode of the television series Perry Mason entitled "The Case of the Traveling Treasure."[2]

In May 1966, she was redesignated as WMEC-147.

USCGC Morris was the last Active-class to be decommissioned. She is preserved at the Liberty Maritime Museum in Sacramento, California since 2015.[3]

In 2019 the ship was listed for sale on Craigslist.[4]

It was announced in May 2021 that the Marine Aviation Museum in Texas had acquired the ship and preparations were underway to sail her to Texas under her own power.[5]

She transited the Panama Canal in August 2021 and arrived in Galveston, Texas on September 8, 2021.[6]

Rum Patrol

• Canney, Donald L. (1995). U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790–1935. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-1-55750-101-1.
• Flynn, Jim; Lortz, Ed; Lukas, Holger (March 2018). "Answer 39/48". Warship International. LV (January 2018): 23–25. ISSN 0043-0374.
• Johnson, Robert Irwin (1987). Guardians of the Sea, History of the United States Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-0-87021-720-3.
• Scheina, Robert L. (1982). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-0-87021-717-3.
• Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946–1990. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-0-87021-719-7.