USCGC Sweetgum

USCGC Sweetgum (WAGL-309) was a Mesquite-class buoy tender built in 1943 and operated by the United States Coast Guard. She was later transferred to Panama as SMN Independencia (A-401). The ship was named after a North American tree of the genus Liquidambar having prickly spherical fruit clusters and fragrant sap.[1]

USCGC Sweetgum hoisting a Martin PBM Mariner
History
United States
NameSweetgum
NamesakeSweetgum
BuilderMarine Iron and Shipbuilding Corp.
Laid down21 February 1943
Launched15 April 1943
Commissioned20 November 1943
Decommissioned2 February 1990
Recommissioned10 January 1992
Decommissioned15 February 2002
ReclassifiedWLB-309, 1965
Homeport
Identification
Honors and
awards		See Awards
FateTransferred to Panama, 2002
Panama
NameIndependencia
NamesakeIndependencia
Acquired2002
HomeportNoel Rodriguez
Identification
StatusActive
General characteristics
Class and typeMesquite-class buoy tender
Displacement935 t (920 long tons)
Length180 ft (55 m)
Beam37 ft (11 m)
Draft12 feet (3.7 m)
Propulsion2 × Cooper-Bessemer GN8 diesel engines
Speed13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Range8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement6 officers and 74 enlisted
Armament

Construction and career

Sweetgum was laid down by the Marine Iron and Shipbuilding Corp., in Duluth, Minnesota on 21 February 1943. She was launched on 15 April 1943 and later commissioned on 20 November 1943. She was then assigned to Seventh District Miami, Florida.[2]

Service in the United States Coast Guard

During World War II, she operated around the Panama Canal Zone.[3] On 22 September 1944, she hoisted a US Navy Martin PBM Mariner onto the ship, from the which grounded on a coral reef of Carti Village, Gulf of San Blas, Panama.[4] The ship was reassigned to Mayport, Florida in September 1946.[2]

In September 1955, the ship evacuated the population of Florida after 1955 Atlantic hurricane season. She transported 43 tons of marijuana that had been seized in the Bahamas to Miami.[2]

In 1965, she was re-designated to WLB-309. In August and September 1967, she was part of a research effort to determine the pollution hazard posed by the almost one hundred oil tankers sunk near the U.S. coast during World War II.[5]

Sweetgum took part in the salvaging of the remains of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that were scattered in the sea after shuttle exploded 75 seconds after liftoff on 28 January 1986. The ship features a long-reach mechanical arm that allows it to pick up and place objects from the ship's deck out to sea. That was the reason why they used it in the work of the Challenger.[6]

The Sweetgum was decommissioned on 2 February 1990 but was recommissioned again on 10 January 1992 and deployed to Mobile, Alabama.

Service in the Panamanian National Navy

On 15 February 2002, Sweetgum was put out of service and sold to Panama as SMN Independencia (A-401).[7][1] She is home-ported at Noel Rodriguez Naval Base.[6] On 18 March 2007, it was reported that the ship would undergo repairs that costs more than $100,000, at a shipyard in Colombia.[6]

Awards

References
  1. Record, Historic American Engineering. "U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SWEETGUM, Mobile, Mobile County, AL". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  2. U.S. COAST GUARD CUTTER SWEETGUM (PDF). p. 3. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. Sweetgum Fought Battle of Coco Solo. U.S. Coast Guard Magazine. July 1956. p. 34.
  4. "UA 46.01 US Coast Guard Collection". public1.nhhcaws.local. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  5. Coast Guard Begins Search for Sunken Oil Tanker. Vol. 64. Commander's Digest. 1967. p. 4.
  6. "Barco Independencia será renovado | La Prensa Panamá". www.prensa.com (in Spanish). 18 March 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  7. Jeff Beach, interview by author, 10 February 2002, Washington, D.C.
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