USCGC Winnebago (WHEC-40)

USCG "Winnebago" (WHEC-40) was an "Owasco" class high endurance cutter which served with the US Coast Guard from 1945 to 1973. Originally intended for World War II service, she was commissioned only weeks before the end of the war and consequently did not see combat until her deployment in the Vietnam War more than 20 years later.

"Winnebago" was built by Western Pipe & Steel at the company's San Pedro shipyard. Named after Winnebago Lake, Wisconsin, she was commissioned as a patrol gunboat with ID number WPG-40 on 21 June 1945. In the postwar period, her ID was changed to WHEC-40 (HEC for "High Endurance Cutter" - the "W" signifies a Coast Guard vessel).

Peacetime service

"Winnebago" was home ported in Miami, Florida, from 1945 to April 1946 and used for law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue operations. From April 1946 to February 1948 she was performing similar duties from her new base at Boston, Massachusetts. She was subsequently laid up at the Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland, until September 1948. She was then stationed at Honolulu, Hawaii, from November 1949 to March 1972. She was again used for law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue operations. While on ocean station duty, the cutter's crew took hourly weather observations, provided communications, air navigation and meteorological information to commercial and military aircraft and merchant ships. She stood ready to respond to any requests for assistance from aircraft or ships in distress. Ocean Station Victor, her primary station, was located about half-way between Midway Island and Japan and covered 210-square miles. Typically Ocean Station patrols lasted 72 days. Three cutters alternated duty on the station. It took seven days to reach the station from Honolulu. After a 21-day patrol the cutter was relieved and then steamed to Yokosuka, Japan, for two weeks of rest and replenishment. She then returned to the ocean station for another 21-day patrol before returning to Honolulu.

"Run aground at Pearl Harbor"

On 26 March 1962 while making the entrance to Pearl Harbor "Winnebago" ran aground and became stranded on Tripod Reef. The cutter was extricated within a few days by Navy tugboats.

"Rescue operations"

In November 1963, while serving on Ocean Station Victor, "Winnebago" steamed to the assistance of the disabled M/V "Green Mountain State". The cutter rendezvoused with the flooding merchantman and removed her crew. "Winnebago"'s crew managed to stop the flooding and got the merchantman under tow. The cutter then towed the merchantman 810 miles to Midway Island. For this rescue the crew was awarded the Coast Guard Unit Commendation Ribbon. On 26 December 1964 the British M/V "Southbank" was tossed by a 40-foot wave onto a reef 400 yards off Washington Island in the South Pacific. On board were two women, 57 crewmen, and 49 Gilbertese laborers bound for Fanning Island, 60 miles distant. Using lifeboats the shipwrecked women and men escaped safely to the beach where the Washington Island natives cared for them until they were rescued by "Winnebago".

"Medical procedures"

On 27 May 1965, "Winnebago" medevaced a disabled seaman from the Japanese F/V "Tsuru Maru No. 8" 650 miles south of Honolulu. In May 1966, her medical officer, a U.S. Public Health Service officer, performed an appendectomy on a "Winnebago" crewmen. "Winnebago" then rendezvoused with the USS|Navasota|AO-106|6 where "Winnebago"'s medical officer performed another appendectomy on a "Navasota" crewman. Later in the same month, "Winnebago" rendezvoused with the Japanese M/V "Shoei Maru" where the doctor amputated the foot of a 17-year old seaman. In May 1967, she medevaced an injured crewman from the "Shoeu Maru" and transferred him to the "Texas Maru".

Vietnam War

"Winnebago" was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three, Vietnam, from 20 September 1968 to 19 July 1969 as part of Operation Market Time. Her commanding officer during the deployment was CDR Bruce W. Dewing.

While serving in Vietnamese waters, "Winnebago"'s gun crews destroyed or damaged 42 enemy bunkers, two observation towers, and a large base and several staging areas. In addition, her gunners hit an enemy "infiltration trail and a complex of enemy tunneling that connected underground storage facilities", that also caused heavy secondary explosions and fires. The cutter "investigated more than 1,500 vessels for infiltrators and enemy arms shipments". Her medical staff also treated over 50 South Vietnamese "for a variety of ailments". She participated in four search-and-rescue operations as well, including rescuing "eight Vietnamese, 17 Greeks, and 35 Filipinos" who were rescued from their "sinking ships" during the cutter's deployment.

Return to peacetime operations

On 25 February 1970, "Winnebago" transferred a medical team to assist MV "Sylvia Lykes" near Midway Island. Eventually, "Winnebago" was stationed at Wilmington, North Carolina, from March 1972 to 27 February 1973 and used for law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue. She visited Curaçao from 6 to 8 March 1972 "for the purpose of goodwill and rest and recreation" while she was shifting her home ports.

Decommissioning

"Winnebago" was decommissioned on 27 February 1973 and sold for scrap the following year.

References

* [http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Winnebago_1945.html "Winnebago" WHEC-40] , United States' Coast Guard website.
*Scheina, Robert L.: "U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II" Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1981, pp. 1-3.
*Scheina, Robert L.: "U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990" Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1990, pp. 18-26.