USCGC Mendota (WHEC-69)

USCGC Mendota (WHEC-69), in Montego Bay, Jamaica, 1966
History
United States
Name	Mendota
Namesake	Lake Mendota, Wisconsin
Operator	United States Coast Guard
Builder	Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland
Launched	29 February 1944
Commissioned	2 June 1945
Decommissioned	1 November 1973
Fate	Scrapped, 1974[1]
General characteristics
Type	Owasco-class cutter
Displacement	1,978 full (1966) 1,342 light (1966)
Length	254 ft (77.4 m) oa. 245 ft (74.7 m) pp.
Beam	43 ft 1 in (13.1 m)
Draft	17 ft 3 in (5.3 m) (1966)
Installed power	4,000 shp (3,000 kW) (1945)
Propulsion	1 × Westinghouse electric motor driven by a turbine, (1945)
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph).
Range	6,157 mi (9,909 km) at 17 knots 10,376 mi (16,699 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) (1966)
Complement	10 officers, 3 warrants, 130 enlisted (1966)
Sensors and processing systems	Detection Radar: SPS-23, SPS-29, Mk 26, Mk 27 (1966) Sonar: SQS-1 (1966)
Armament	1945: 2 × twin 5 in/38 cal. dual-purpose gun mounts 2 × quad 40 mm AA gun mounts 2 × depth charge tracks 6 × "K" gun depth charge projectors 1 × Hedgehog projector. 1966: 1 × 5 in/38 cal. dual-purpose gun mount 1 × Hedgehog projector
Notes	Fuel capacity: 141,755 gal (Oil, 95%).

USCGC Mendota (WHEC-69) was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. The ship was commissioned three months before the end of the war and did not see combat action until the Vietnam War.

Mendota was built by the Coast Guard yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland, one of only two Owasco class vessels not to be built by Western Pipe & Steel. Named after Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, the ship was commissioned as a patrol gunboat with ID number WPG-69 on 2 June 1945. Her ID was later changed to WHEC-69 (HEC for "High Endurance Cutter" - the "W" signifies a Coast Guard vessel).^[2][3]