USCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-83)

For other ships with the same name, see USCGC Mackinaw and USCGC Mackinac.

USCGC Mackinaw
USCGC Mackinaw
History
United States
NameUSCGC Mackinaw
NamesakeMackinaw City, Michigan
BuilderToledo Shipbuilding Company, American Ship Building Company
Laid downMarch 20, 1943
LaunchedMarch 4, 1944
CommissionedDecember 20, 1944[1][2]
DecommissionedJune 10, 2006
Identification
StatusMuseum ship
General characteristics
Displacement5,252 long tons (5,336 t)
Length290 ft (88 m)
Beam74.3 ft (22.6 m)
Draft19.5 ft (5.9 m)
Propulsion
Speed15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Capacity
  • Diesel fuel: 276,000 U.S. gal (1,040,000 L)
  • Lubrication oil: 7,000 U.S. gal (26,000 L)
  • Potable water: 40,200 U.S. gal (152,000 L)
  • Ballast water: 121,631 U.S. gal (460,420 L)
  • Heel and trim ballast water: 345,828 U.S. gal (1,309,100 L)
Complement
  • 10 officers, 2 warrants, 132 enlisted (1945)[3]
  • 11 officers, 2 warrants, 122 enlisted (1965)[4]
  • 11 officers, 2 warrants, 64 enlisted (2005)[5]
The USCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-83) as seen from her permanent berth at the SS Chief Wawatam dock at Mackinaw City, Michigan, 2019

USCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-83) is a decommissioned United States Coast Guard icebreaker which operated on the Great Lakes for 62 years. A state-of-the-art icebreaker when she was launched in 1944, Mackinaw was built to extend the shipping season on the Great Lakes into the winter months and thereby strengthen the wartime economy of the United States during World War II. Unlike the U.S. Coast Guard's large icebreakers before and since, Mackinaw was designed specifically for use in the shallow, freshwater Great Lakes.

Mackinaw was homeported in Cheboygan, Michigan for her entire Coast Guard career, travelling as needed into Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan and Erie during icebreaking season to keep shipping lanes and harbors open. After her decommissioning in 2006 in the face of high operating costs, she sailed to a permanent berth in Mackinaw City, Michigan to become the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum.

The decommissioned Mackinaw was immediately replaced by a smaller multipurpose Coast Guard cutter, also named Mackinaw (USCGC Mackinaw (WLBB-30)) and also homeported in Cheboygan.

  1. ^ "USCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-837)". Historic Naval Ships Association. May 14, 2014. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  2. ^ "USCGC Mackinaw - Cutter History". United States Coast Guard. February 9, 2015. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  3. ^ Scheina, Robert L. (1982). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute. p. 50. ISBN 0-87021-717-8.
  4. ^ Scheina, Robert L. (1990). U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. p. 98. ISBN 0-87021-719-4.
  5. ^ Fornes, Mike (2005). USCGC Mackinaw: An Illustrated History of a Great Lakes Queen. Cheboygan: Cheboygan Tribune Publishing Company. p. 110. ISBN 1599710803.