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Lighthouse Tender Photo Archive

USCGC Violet (WLM 250)

ex-USCGC Violet (WAGL 250)



Call sign:
Nan - Roger - William - Victor

ex-USLHT Violet

Violet Class Lighthouse Tender:

  • The second Violet was built in 1930 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
  • Commissioned USLHT Violet 21 August 1930
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard in 1940 and commissioned USCGC Violet (WAGL 250)
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Buoy Tender WLM-250
  • Decommissioned 2 January 1962
  • Sold 8 March 1963.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,012 t.
  • Length 173' 4"
  • Beam 32'
  • Draft 10' 6"
  • Complement 38 in 1961
  • Speed 11.5 kts.
  • Armament: None as a Lighthouse Tender
    1945 - One 3"/50 dual purpose mount, two 20mm mounts and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two Babcock and Wilcox oil-fired watertube boilers, two 400hp vertical inverted triple-expansion steam engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Violet 59k Photo from Historical Collections of the Great Lakes John Spivey
    Violet 53k U.S. Lighthouse Service photo John Spivey
    Photo added 31 July 2021
    Coast Guard History:

    Violet was one of three coast-wise Violet-Class tenders built in the 1930s, the others being the Lilac and Mistletoe. Violet was the lead ship of her class and was commissioned on 21 August 1930. She was assigned to the 5th Lighthouse District and was based out of Baltimore, where she tended aids to navigation throughout the Chesapeake Bay.

    During World War II she was assigned to the 5th Naval District and was based out of Norfolk, Virginia for the duration. She returned to duty out of Baltimore where she served until the end of her
    government career.

    She was decommissioned on 2 January 1962 and was sold on 8 March 1963.

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