USCGC Bittersweet (WLB-389)

The USCGC "Bittersweet" (WLB 389) was a "C" Class (Iris) buoy tender in service with the United States Coast Guard. She was built by the Zenith Dredge Company in Duluth, Minnesota. She was launched on November 11, 1943 and entered commissioned service on May 11, 1944. Until 1976 she was stationed in Alaskan waters, serving out of both Kodiak and Ketchikan. She measured 180 feet (55 m) long.

She underwent a major renovation in 1976 and was then sent to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, which remained her home port until she was decommissioned on August 18, 1997, given to Estonia and renamed "Valvas". [http://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valvas%2C_piirivalvelaev]

Accomplishments

She participated in countless search and rescue cases, fought fires, enforced fishing laws, and serviced aids to navigation. She assisted following the grounding of the tanker SS "Argo Merchant" in December 1976; recovered marijuana as evidence from the "Traveller III" off Maine in 1978; assisted in cleanup operations off Maine following the grounding of the "Christian Rienauer" in November, 1981; and participated in the International Ice Patrol in May 1987, during which she collected hydrographic and drift buoy data off the Grand Banks using a mobile laboratory.

References

*cite web|publisher=US Coast Guard|url=http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/webcutters/Bittersweet1944.html|title=Bittersweet
*cite web|publisher=National Park Service|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/NPS_180_HAER_Report.pdf|format=pdf|title=U.S. Coast Guard 180-Foot Buoy Tenders