 USCGC Red Birch
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Red Birch |
| Operator | US Coast Guard |
| Builder | US Coast Guard Yard |
| Launched | 19 February 1965 |
| Commissioned | 17 September 1965 |
| Decommissioned | 12 June 1998 |
| Identification | Callsign: NGFH |
| Fate | Transferred to Argentia in 1999 |
 Argentina | |
| Name | Punta Alta |
| Operator | Argentine Navy |
| Commissioned | 30 May 2000 |
| Identification |
|
| Status | Active |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Red-class buoy tender |
| Displacement | 572 long tons (581 t) full load |
| Length | 157 ft (47.9 m) |
| Beam | 33 ft (10.1 m) |
| Draft | 7 ft (2.1 m) |
| Installed power | 1,800 hp (1,300 kW) |
| Propulsion | 2 × Caterpillar 398A diesel engines |
| Speed | 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph) |
| Range | 2,450 nmi (4,540 km; 2,820 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Crew | 37 (6 officers, 31 enlisted) |
USCGC Red Birch (WLM-687) is a Red-class coastal buoy tender that was designed, built, owned, and operated by the United States Coast Guard. She was launched in 1965 and initially homeported at San Francisco. Her primary mission was maintaining 160 aids to navigation in San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bays, and in the San Joaquin River. Red Birch also brought supplies to the Farallon Island lighthouse.[1] In 1976 the Coast Guard reassigned her to Baltimore, Maryland, where she spent the rest of her career. There she maintained over 300 aids to navigation including several lighthouses.[2] Her secondary missions included search and rescue, light icebreaking, law enforcement, and marine environmental protection.
At the end of her Coast Guard career she was transferred to the Argentine Navy, which renamed her ARA Punta Alta. She remains in active service as a buoy tender in Bahia Blanca.
- ^ Kusserow, H. W. (29 June 1969). "Automation to Replace Farallone [sic] Light Crew". San Francisco Examiner. p. 36.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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