USCGC Swivel (WYTL-65603)

The steel-hulled United Stated Coast Guard harbor tug, USCGC "Swivel" was one of fifteen 65-foot harbor tugs that entered service in the 1960s. Each was built to replace the 64-foot wooden-hulled harbor tugs built during the 1940s. The USCGC "Swivel" was built by the Gibbs Corporation of Jacksonville, Florida at a cost of $158 thousand dollars. She was commissioned on 27 October 1961. The 65-footers remained unnamed until the mid-1960s. "Swivel" was assigned to the First Coast Guard District and was based in Rockland, Maine. Her crew consisted of Officer in Charge (OINC) a Chief Boatswain Mate (E-7), Executive Petty Officer (XPO) a First Class Boatswain Mate (E-6), Engineering Petty Officer (EPO) a First Class Machinist Mate (E-6), a Second Class Machinist Mate (E-5), and three non-rated crew (E-3) or (E-2).

"Swivel's" area of operation was mainly Penobscot Bay and extended westward to Whitehead Lighthouse, easterly to Saddleback Ledge and northward through East Penobscot Bay, Castine and up the Penobscot River to the city of Bangor, Maine. The USCCG "Swivels" operations throughout the year included domestic icebreaking, aids to navigation, search and rescue, marine environmental protection, maritime law enforcement and commercial fishing vessel safety.

"Swivel's" main mission in the summer months was to maintain more than 50 fixed (non-floating) Coast Guard aids to navigation including 5 lighthouses. During the winter months the "Swivel" kept local harbors free of ice and spent a week in rotation with two other cutters keeping the Penobscot River open to navigation for fuel barges that transported home heating fuel, gasoline and aviation fuel to Bangor and the surrounding communities.

The CGC "Swivel" received a Coast Guard unit commendation and two meritorious unit commendations for her missions, along with the Coast Guard unit commendation presented to all first coast guard district units involved with the 1994 ice season.

The CGC "Swivel" was decommissioned at a ceremony held at the pier in Rockland, Maine on 14 April 1995.