USCGC Henry Blake works a Canadian buoy during exercise Pacific Unity 2009
History
United States
NameUSCGC Henry Blake (WLM-563)
NamesakeHenry Blake
BuilderMarinette Marine
Launched20 November 1999
Commissioned27 October 2000
HomeportEverett, Washington
Identification
Motto“Keeper of the Tradition”
StatusActive in service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeKeeper-class cutter
Displacement850 Long Tons
Length175 ft (53 m)
Beam36 ft (11 m)
Draft8 ft (2.4 m)
Propulsion2 × Caterpillar 3508 DITA Diesel engines; bow thruster, 500 hp (373 kW)
Speed12 knots
Range2000 nautical miles at 10 knots
Crew22 enlisted, 2 officers

USCGC Henry Blake (WLM-563) is a United States Coast Guard Keeper-class cutter based at Naval Station Everett in Everett, WA. Henry Blake's primary mission is the maintenance of 80 lighted, 39 unlighted, and 65 shore-based aids to navigation in the Puget Sound area and along the coast of Washington. Secondary missions include marine environmental protection, search and rescue, and homeland security. Henry Blake is assigned to the Thirteenth Coast Guard District.[1]

Construction and characteristics

On 22 June 1993 the Coast Guard awarded the contract for the Keeper-class vessels in the form of a firm contract for the lead ship and options for thirteen more.[2] The Coast Guard exercised options for the final four, including Henry Blake, in September of 1997.[3] She was built by Marinette Marine Corporation at its shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin. Construction began in 1998 and she was launched on 20 November 1999.[4] She is the thirteenth of the fourteen Keeper-class vessels completed.

The Coast Guard accepted the ship and she was placed in "in commission, special" status on 18 May 2000. She sailed from Marinette to her base in Everett, stopping in four countries and eleven states, finally reaching her new home on 14 September 2000.[1] The ship was placed in "in commission, full" status at a ceremony at Naval Station Everett on 27 October 2000.[5]

Her hull was built of welded steel plates. She is 175 feet (53 m) long, with a beam of 36 feet (11 m), and a full-load draft of 8 feet (2.4 m).[6] Henry Blake displaces 850 long tons fully loaded.[7] Her gross register tonnage is 904, and her net register tonnage is 271.[8] The top of the mast is 58.75 feet (17.91 m) above the waterline.[9]

Rather than building the ship from the keel up as a single unit, Marinette Marine used a modular fabrication approach. Eight large modules, or "hull blocks" were built separately and then welded together.[6]

Z-drives on a Keeper-class ship

The ship has two Caterpillar 3508 DITA (direct-injection, turbocharged, aftercooled) 8-cylinder Diesel engines which produce 1000 horsepower each. These drive two Ulstein Z-drives. Keeper-class ships were the first Coast Guard cutters equipped with Z-drives, which markedly improved their maneuverability.[10] The Z-drives have four-bladed propellers which are 57.1 inches (145 cm) in diameter[9] and are equipped with Kort nozzles. They can be operated in "tiller mode" where the Z-drives turn in the same direction to steer the ship, or in "Z-conn mode" where the two Z-drives can turn in different directions to achieve specific maneuvering objectives. An implication of the Z-drives is that there is no reverse gear or rudder aboard Henry Blake. In order to back the ship, the Z-drives are turned 180 degrees, which drives the ship stern-first even though the propellers are spinning in the same direction as they do when the ship is moving forward.[11] Her maximum speed is 12 knots.[10] Her tanks can hold 16,385 gallons of diesel fuel[9] which gives her an unrefueled range of 2,000 nautical miles at 10 knots.[12]

She has a 500 horsepower bow thruster. The Z-drives and bow thruster can be linked in a Dynamic Positioning System. This gives Henry Blake the ability to hold position in the water even in heavy currents, winds, and swells. This advanced capability is useful in bringing buoys aboard that can weigh more than 16,000 lbs.[7]

Electrical power aboard is provided by three Caterpillar 3406 DITA generators which produce 285 Kw each.[7] She also has a 210 Kw emergency generator, which is a Caterpillar 3406 DIT.[9]

The buoy deck has 1,335 square feet (124.0 m2) of working area. A crane with a boom 42 feet (13 m) long lifts buoys and their mooring anchors onto the deck. The crane can lift up to 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg).[7]

The ships' fresh water tanks can hold 7,339 gallons.[9] She also has three ballast tanks that can be filled to maintain trim, and tanks for oily waste water, sewage, gray water, new lubrication oil, and waste oil.[9]

Accommodations were designed for mixed gender crews from the start. Crew size and composition has varied over the years. In 2000,  Henry Blake had a crew of 2 officers and 18 enlisted people. In addition, there were 8 land-based personnel in a cutter support team who augmented the sea-going portion of the crew. The payroll for the 28 active-duty personnel assigned to the ship was $840,000.[13]

Henry Blake, as all Keeper-class ships, has a strengthened "ice belt" along the waterline so that she can work on aids to navigation in ice-infested waters. Not only is the hull plating in the ice belt thicker than the rest of the hull, but framing members are closer together in areas that experience greater loads when working in ice. Higher grades of steel were used for hull plating in the ice belt to prevent cracking in cold temperatures. Her bow is sloped so that rather than smashing into ice, she ride up over it and break it with the weight of the ship. Henry Blake is capable of breaking flat, 9-inch thick ice at 3 knots.[11]

The ship carries a cutter boat on davits. She was originally equipped with a CB-M boat which was replaced in the mid-2010s with a CB-ATON-M boat. This was built by Metal Shark Aluminum Boats and was estimated to cost $210,000.[14] The boat is 18 feet (5.5 m) long and are equipped with a Mercury Marine inboard/outboard diesel engine.[15]

All 14 Keeper-class cutters are named after lighthouse keepers. Henry Blake's namesake is Henry Blake, the first keeper of the New Dungeness Lighthouse near Port Angeles, Washington. As she tends aids to navigation in her namesake's former area of responsibility, Henry Blake's motto is "Keeper of the Tradition."

Henry Blake replaced USCGC Mariposa, which was decommissioned on 31 October 2000.[11][16]

Service history

Henry Blake before the New Dungeness Lighthouse where her namesake was keeper

Henry Blake's buoy tending involves lifting them onto her deck where marine growth is scraped and pressure washed off, inspecting the buoy itself, and replacing lights, solar cells, and radar transponders. The mooring chain or synthetic cable is inspected and replaced as needed. The concrete block mooring anchor is also inspected.[17] Despite the routine maintenance, buoys occasionally part their mooring lines and float away. Henry Blake recovers these and replaces them where they belong.[18]

The bulk of Henry Blake's year is spent at sea tending its buoys, or in port maintaining the ship. She has been asked to perform other missions, as described below.

Henry Blake servicing a buoy in Puget Sound

Search and rescue operations

In June 2012 a yacht with four people aboard was reported on fire 20 miles northwest of Grays Harbor, Washington. Henry Blake, another Coast Guard vessel, and a helicopter were dispatched to render assistance. The yacht sank, but the three people aboard were rescued by a nearby fishing vessel.[19]

On 26 January 2015, a small plane crashed in Hood Canal, Washington. The Coast Guard dispatched two ships, one of which was Henry Blake, and a helicopter to search for survivors. None were found.[20][21]

On the morning of 30 September 2016 a Kenmore Air floatplane crashed into the sea near the south end of Lopez Island, Washington. Henry Blake was dispatched to the scene. The four people aboard the plane were rescued by another vessel.[22]

Environmental protection

In August 2009, the ship participated in the clean-up of the Tatoosh Island lighthouse, which had been automated in 1977. Old generators, a fuel tank, and nine pallets of miscellaneous gear were lifted off the island by an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and set down on Henry Blake's buoy deck so they could be hauled away.[23]

In August 2022, Henry Blake was dispatched to the west side of San Juan Island where the fishing boat Aleutian Isle had recently sunk. The wreck was resting on the bottom below 200 feet (61 m) deep. Nets from the vessel floated around the wreck, a hazard to both wildlife and the salvage operations which attempted to prevent a fuel spill. Using her crane, Henry Blake was able to recover over 1,400 feet (430 m) of nets from the wreck site.[24]

Biofuel experiment

In 2012, Henry Blake became the first Coast Guard vessel to operate on a biofuel mix. The ship was loaded with a 50/50 mix of conventional F-76 military diesel fuel and hydro-processed renewable diesel, an algae-derived fuel oil. Every tank on the ship was filled with the blend, and its test lasted the entire summer.[25] The biofuel was obtained from the U.S. Navy which was also testing it on its own ships as part of its Great Green Fleet initiative.[26][27]

Public engagement

The Coast Guard has offered public tours of Henry Blake on several occasions. These include:

References

  1. 1 2 "USCGC Henry Blake (WLM 563)". www.pacificarea.uscg.mil. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  2. ↑ Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1995: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 4556, an Act Making Appropriations for the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 1995, and for Other Purposes. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1995. ISBN 978-0-16-046724-0.
  3. ↑ "Coast Guard Orders four more cutters from Marinette Marine". Green Bay Press-Gazette. 6 September 1997. p. 7.
  4. ↑ "Buoy tender launch scheduled Saturday". Green Bay Press-Gazette. 18 November 1999. p. 11.
  5. ↑ "Waiting For Duties". Columbian. 28 October 2000. p. 18.
  6. 1 2 O'Brien, Christina T.; Thornton, Lt. Chris (January 1996). "New Life". Commandant's Journal: 2–5.
  7. 1 2 3 4 DiNicola, Commander Peter J. (1997). "The New Keeper Class WLM". Proceedings of the Marine Safety Council. 54 (3): 12–19.
  8. ↑ "USCG Maritime Information Exchange". cgmix.uscg.mil. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 USCGC HARRY CLAIBORNE (WLM 561) SPECIFICATION FOR DRYDOCK REPAIRS (PDF). Surface Forces Logistics Center, United States Coast Guard. 2021.
  10. 1 2 O'Brien, Christina T.; Thornton, Lt. Chris (January 1996). "New Life". Commandant's Bulletin: 3–5.
  11. 1 2 3 "USCGC Henry Blake (WLM 563)" (PDF).
  12. ↑ Polmar, Norman (1997). Ships and Aircraft of the United States Fleet (16th ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 521. ISBN 1-55750-686-8.
  13. ↑ "USCGC Henry Blake (WLM 563)" (PDF).
  14. ↑ Boat Expenditure Plan (PDF). US Coast Guard. 12 June 2015.
  15. ↑ "Mercury Diesel Engines for 16 New USCG Boats". MarineLink. 2015-05-27. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  16. ↑ Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2002: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, First Session, on H.R. 2299/S. 1178, an Act Making Appropriations for the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2002, and for Other Purposes. U.S. Government Printing Office. 2002. ISBN 978-0-16-068440-1.
  17. ↑ Guiding mariners home, Coast Guard Cutter Henry Blake maintains aids to navigation in Puget Sound, retrieved 2023-08-07
  18. ↑ "U.S. Coast Guard picks up lost buoy on Central Saanich beach". CHEK. 2018-03-03. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  19. ↑ "Coast Guard responds to boat fire 20 miles NW of Grays Harbor, Wash. - Coast Guard News | Coast Guard News". coastguardnews.com. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  20. ↑ "Plane crash reported in Hood Canal". Kitsap Sun. 27 January 2015. p. 1.
  21. ↑ "Coast Guard searching for survivors of a plane crash near Seabeck, Wash. - Coast Guard News | Coast Guard News". coastguardnews.com. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  22. ↑ "Good Samaritan boaters rescue 4 from plane crash in San Juan Islands - Coast Guard News | Coast Guard News". coastguardnews.com. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  23. ↑ Patrzalek, SN Mark; Dolan, MK3 Sean (2009). "House Cleaning after 152 Years of Service". The Aids to Navigation Bulletin. 37 (1).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ↑ "Response to pollution incident off San Juan Island continues - Coast Guard News | Coast Guard News". coastguardnews.com. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
  25. ↑ "Everett-based Coast Guard ship tests new algae-based biofuel". Kitsap Sun. 22 June 2012. p. 3.
  26. ↑ Esser, Douglas (22 June 2012). "Coast Guard tests biofuel". Longview Daily News. p. 3.
  27. ↑ Hudson, Lee (2012). "Testing in the fall: Navy: SM-6 Full-Rate Production Decision Delayed A Year Due To Fixes". Inside the Navy. 25 (25): 1–12. ISSN 2164-8190. JSTOR 24849654.
  28. ↑ "Tours offered on new Coast Guard cutter". Post-Crescent. 2 June 2000. p. 18.
  29. ↑ "Coast Guard Cutter Henry Blake Participates in Seattle Parade of Ships 2022". DVIDS. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  30. ↑ "MEDIA ADVISORY: Coast Guard to host free, public tours of Cutters". United States Coast Guard News. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  31. ↑ "Seattle Maritime Festival". seattlepi.com. 2011-05-14. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
  32. ↑ "First Rose ships to sail up the Columbia on Wednesday". Longview Daily News. 7 June 2005. p. 1.
  33. ↑ "Rose Fleet sets sail this week". Longview Daily News. 6 June 2006. p. 1.
  34. ↑ "Rose Fleet passing today and Thursday". Longview Daily News. 4 June 2008. p. 3.
  35. ↑ "Rose Fleet Sailing into area today". Longview Daily News. 4 June 2009. p. 3.
  36. ↑ "Tour Navy and Coast Guard ships Sunday". Longview Daily News. 10 June 2011. p. 3.
  37. ↑ "Coast Guard fleet to arrive in Portland on Wednesday for Rosefest - Coast Guard News | Coast Guard News". coastguardnews.com. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  38. ↑ "Naval Station Everett holds open house". Marysville Globe. 2009-07-09. Retrieved 2023-08-06.
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