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USCGCSedgein a fire-fighting drill
History
United States
NameUSCGCSedge
BuilderMarine Iron and Shipbuilding Company, Duluth, Minnesota
Cost$865,411
Laid downOctober 6, 1943
LaunchedNovember 27, 1943
CommissionedJuly 5, 1944
DecommissionedNovember 15, 2002
IdentificationSignal letters NODU
FateTransferred to Nigerian Navy
Nigeria
NameNNSKyanwa
Identification
  • MMSI 657708000
  • Callsign A501
StatusActive
General characteristics as built in 1943
Class and typeIris-class buoy tender
Displacement935 tons
Length180 ft (55 m)
Beam37 ft (11 m)
Draft12 feet (3.7 m)
Propulsion2 × Cooper-Bessemer GND-8 Diesel engines
Speed14knots(26 km/h; 16 mph) maximum
Range8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement6 officers, 74 enlisted men
Armament

USCGCSedge(WAGL-402/WLB-402)was an Iris-class180-foot seagoing buoy tenderoperated by theUnited States Coast Guard.She served in the Pacific duringWorld War IIand inAlaskaduring the rest of her Coast Guard career.Sedgewas decommissioned in 2002 and transferred to theNigerian Navywhere she is still active as NNSKyanwa.

Construction and characteristics

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Sedgewas built at theMarine Iron and Shipbuilding CompanyinDuluth, Minnesotafor theUnited States Coast Guard.Herkeelwaslaid downon October 6, 1943, she waslaunchedon November 27, 1943, andcommissionedon July 5, 1944. Her original cost was $865,411.[1]She was the thirty-fifth of the 39180-footbuoy tendersbuilt duringWorld War II.[2]

Her hull was constructed of welded steel plates framed with steelI-beams.As originally built,Sedgewas 180 feet (55 m) long, with abeamof 37 feet (11 m), and adraftof 12 feet (3.7 m). Herdisplacementwas 935 tons. While her overall dimensions remained the same over her career, the addition of new equipment raised her displacement to 1,025 tons by the end of her Coast Guard service.[1]

She was designed to perform light ice-breaking. Her hull was reinforced with an "ice belt" of thicker steel around herwaterlineto protect it from punctures. Similarly, her bow was reinforced and shaped to ride over ice in order to crush it with the weight of the ship.

Sedgehad a single 5-blade propeller 8.5 feet (2.6 m) in diameter. It was driven by adiesel-electricpropulsion system. TwoCooper-BessemerGND-8 4-cycle 8-cylinderdiesel enginesproduced 600horsepower(450kW) each.[3]They provided power to twoWestinghousegenerators. The electricity from the generators ran an electric motor which turned the propeller.

She had a single cargo boom which had the ability to lift 20 tons onto her buoy deck.[1]

The ship's fuel tanks had a capacity of approximately 28,875 US gallons (109,300 L).Sedge's unrefueled range was 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) at 13knots(24 km/h; 15 mph), 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), and 17,000 nautical miles (31,000 km) at 8.3 knots (15.4 km/h; 9.6 mph). Her potable water tanks had a capacity of 30,499 US gallons (115,450 L). Considering dry storage capacity and other factors, her at-sea endurance was 21 days.[1]

Her wartime complement was 6 officers and 74 enlisted men. By 1964 this was reduced to 5 officers, 2 warrant officers, and 48 enlisted personnel.[1][4]

Sedgewas initially armed with a3-inch (76 mm)/50 calibergun mounted behind thepilot house.She also had two 20 mm (0.79 in) guns, one mounted on top of the wheelhouse and one on the aft deck. Two racks ofdepth chargeswere also mounted on the aft deck. All of her on-deck armament was removed in 1966, leaving only small arms for law enforcement actions.[1]

At the time of construction,Sedgewas designated WAGL, an auxiliary vessel, lighthouse tender. The designation system was changed in 1965, and she was re-dsignated WLB, an oceangoing buoy tender.[1]

The ship's namesake was thesedge,a family of grass-like flowering plants.

U.S. Coast Guard service

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After commissioning,Sedgewas assigned toHonolulu, Hawaii,but she served across the Pacific during World War II tending buoys and fleet moorings inGuam,Okinawa,Anguar,Midway,Pearl Harbor,andShanghai.[2]

The end of World War II in 1945 created intense pressure fromconscriptedmembers of the armed forces and their families for rapiddemobilization.The Coast Guard lost so many sailors that it was forced to decommission several ships for lack of crews to sail them.Sedgewasdecommissionedon February 26, 1947, for lack of personnel.[5]The ship was recommissioned atSeattleon April 14, 1950, and assigned toKodiak, Alaska,replacingUSCGCCedarwhich was decommissioned.[6]In addition to her duties maintaining aids to navigation,Sedgewas active on rescue missions. She searched for marooned sailors, plane crashes, and disabled vessels in the area around Kodiak.[7][8][9]

In the summer of 1956Sedgewas dispatched toBarrow, Alaskafor icebreaking duties to allow cargo ships to reach the Arctic coast. At one point she was locked in the sea ice for three days. The cargo shipmentsSedgeenabled were related to the construction of theDistant Early Warning Linesites in Barrow and surrounding areas.Sedgeearned theArctic Service Medalfor her deployment to Barrow.[2][10]

On July 15, 1957Sedgewas transferred toCordova, Alaska.[11]Her work of maintaining aids to navigation, and search and rescue remained unchanged. In October 1962 she rescued the six-man crew of the capsizedAlaska Roustaboutin theGulf of Alaska.They had been floating on a life raft for five days.[12]

The1964 Alaska earthquakewas generated a series oftsunamisinPrince William Sound.At 8:20 pm on March 27, 1964Sedgegrounded in Orca Inlet near Cordova when the water dropped 27 feet (8.2 m) between waves. She refloated when the water came back in.[13]In the aftermath of the earthquake,Sedgeevacuated people who were stranded by the destruction.

In April 1973Sedgesailed for theCoast Guard YardinCurtis Bay, Marylandfor a major renovation. She was replaced in Cordova byUSCGCSorrel.[14]Sedgereceived the more extensive of the two mid-life renovations given to the 180-foot buoy tenders. Corroded hull plates were replaced with fresh steel. New electrical wiring and switchboards were installed. Fresh water and sewage pipes were replaced. The main electrical motor and its control systems were overhauled. Abow thrusterwas installed to improve maneuverability. Crew quarters were increased in size and modernized. When her yard visit was complete in June 1974, she sailed to her new homeport,Homer, Alaska,where she arrived on November 8, 1974.[2]

During her time in Homer,Sedgecontinued to be responsible for maintenance of aids to navigation, and search and rescue missions, In addition, enforcing fisheries laws, particularly against foreign fleets grew in importance as did oil spill response. In February 1976,Sedgeseized the Korean fishing vesselDong Won 70945 miles (72 km) north ofSitkafor fishing inside U.S. waters.[15]

On July 2, 1987, the tankerGlacier Baystruck a submerged object in Montague Strait and spilled 125,000 gallons of oil. The ship was en route to a refinery inCook InletfromValdez, Alaska,when the incident occurred.Sedgewas dispatched as the floating command center for the 21 vessels trying to recover the oil.[16]On March 24, 1989, another tanker out of Valdez met a worse fate.Exxon Valdezran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound spilling 10,800,000 US gallons (41,000 m3) of crude oil.Sedgewas the first Coast Guard cutter to respond to the scene. An Open Water Oil Containment and Recovery System was embarked andSedgeskimmed more than 8,900 barrels of oil from the sea.[17]At various points during the spill response she also conducted shoreline surveys and air traffic control duties. In 1990Sedge's crew constructed the lighted beacon that now marks Bligh Reef.[18]

Other oil spill responses included fire fighting in Cook Inlet when the Steelhead platform owned byMarathon Oilhad ablow-outin December 1988.[19]In January 1989, a 280-foot (85 m)bargeloaded with 2 million gallons of diesel fuel began sinking in high seas and stormy weather. Attempts to regain control of the barge proved unsuccessful in the bad weather. She leaked half her cargo while drifting for 17 days. At this point the Coast Guard decided that it was less risky to sink her far from shore than to chance another large oil spill on the coast while trying to save what was left of the barge.Sedgesank her with 1,500 rounds of 20 mm gunfire 12 miles (19 km) off theSemidi Islands.[20]

Sedgeunderwent a major renovation in aBellingham, Washingtonshipyard from October 1989 to April 1990. Two new EMD 8-645 main engines were installed. Her generators, refrigeration, and propeller shaft seals were replaced. Her crew quarters were modernized and asbestos was removed. This renovation cost approximately $2 million.[5]

The Coast Guard planned for an orderly replacement of its World War II-vintage buoy tenders, retiring the older vessels as new ships were launched.[21]Sedgewas decommissioned as part of this process at a ceremony in Homer, Alaska on November 15, 2002.[22]Sedgeearned several awards during her Coast Guard service including theWorld War II Victory medal,Navy Occupation Service medal,threeCoast Guard Unit Commendations,twoMeritorious Unit Commendations,Special Operations Service ribbon,Arctic Service medal, and sixE-ribbons.[10][23][2]

Nigerian service

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Theft of crude oil in theNiger Deltaregion ofNigeriawas significant in the early 2000s.ChevronTexacoreported that it lost $500 million to civil disturbances in Nigeria between 2002 and 2003. To combat the shipment of stolen oil, the U.S. Security Assistance Program arranged to transfer four 180-foot buoy-tenders to theNigerian Navy.Sedgewas the first of these.[24]She was commissioned in the Nigerian Navy on December 21, 2002. The ship was renamed NNSKyanwaand given a new pennant number, A501.

Kyanwahas been used to suppress shipments of stolen oil, and more recently to suppress pirate attacks on legitimate shipping.Kyanwawas part of Operation Tsare Teku, a Nigerian naval response to growingpiracy,when it was launched in April 2016.[25]She has been less effective than more modern ships because the small pirate vessels are considerably faster than the former buoy tender. She was dropped from later phases of Tsare Teku.[26]The ship participated in the multinational "Exercise Grand Africa Nemo" in 2020.[27]

References

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  1. ^abcdefgPorter, Marc.U.S. Coast Guard Buoy Tenders, 180' Class(PDF).Washington, D.C.: National Park Service.
  2. ^abcde"Congressional Record, Volume 148 Issue 132 (Wednesday, October 9, 2002)".govinfo.gov.Retrieved2020-07-28.
  3. ^"Recommended Revisions to Gaseous Emission Factors From Several Classes of Off-Highway Mobile Services".nepis.epa.gov.March 1985. p. 45.Retrieved2020-05-18.
  4. ^United States Congress House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries.Washington, D.C. 1964. p. 74.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^abPorter, Marc (2002).U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sedge(PDF).Washington, D.C.: National Park Service.
  6. ^"Alaska Briefs".Daily Sitka Sentinel.June 20, 1950.
  7. ^"Alaska Briefs".Daily Sitka Sentinel.December 21, 1950.
  8. ^"City Fishing Boat Towed to Port".Vancouver Sun.June 14, 1955.
  9. ^"Recover bodies of two killed in crashed plane".Daily Sitka Sentinel.June 10, 1955.
  10. ^abCoast Guard Military Medals and Awards Manual(PDF).Washington, D.C.: U.S. Coast Guard. 2016.
  11. ^"Coast Guard Cutters Are Making Move".Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.May 13, 1957.
  12. ^"Six Seamen Found Alive".Fairbanks News-Miner.October 2, 1962.
  13. ^Grantz, Arthur; Plafker, George; Kachadoorian, Reuben (1964).Alaska's Good Friday Earthquake March 27, 1964(PDF).Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey. p. 11.
  14. ^"Replace Sedge".Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.May 15, 1973.
  15. ^"South Korea Vessel Seized By The U.S."Bridgeport Post.February 20, 1976.
  16. ^"Fishermen Held Back By Cook Inlet Oil Spill".Daily Sitka Sentinel.July 13, 1987.
  17. ^Skinner, Samuel; Reilly, William (1989).The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill(PDF).The National Response Team.
  18. ^"Coast Guard Installs Light To Make Bligh Reef Well-Seen".Daily Sitka Sentinel.October 9, 1990.
  19. ^"Oil Rig Platform Catches Fire".Daily Sitka Sentinel.December 21, 1987.
  20. ^"Coast Guard Sinks Barge".Daily Sitka Sentinel.January 16, 1989.
  21. ^Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations for 2003: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, Second Session.U.S. Government Printing Office. 2002. p. 352.
  22. ^Perry, Kim (November 17, 2002)."Well-deserved retirement for vessel".Fairbanks Daily News Miner.
  23. ^"HyperWar: Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual--1953, Part IV, Sections 17 through 21".ibiblio.org.Retrieved2020-07-26.
  24. ^Minerals Yearbook.Bureau of Mines. 2006.
  25. ^"Nigerian Navy - Anti-Piracy Operations".Global Security.org.
  26. ^admin (2017-07-20)."Piracy: Navy Extends Duration of Operation Tsare Teku".businessandmaritimewestafrica.Retrieved2020-07-30.
  27. ^"Nigeria, others begin joint military operation in Gulf of Guinea".Ships and Ports.October 8, 2020.
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