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USCGC Alex Haley

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USCGC Alex Haley
History
United States
NameEdenton
Laid down28 March 1967
Launched15 May 1968
Commissioned23 March 1971
Decommissioned29 March 1996
Stricken29 December 1997
Identification
FateTransferred to USCG
United States
NameAlex Haley
NamesakeAlex Haley
Acquired10 July 1999
HomeportKodiak, Alaska
IdentificationHull number: WMEC-39
MottoFind the good and praise it.
Nickname(s)"The Bulldog of the Bering"[1]
Statusin active service
General characteristics
Class and typeEdenton-class salvage and rescue ship
Displacement
  • 2,592 tons (lt)
  • 3,484 tons (fl)
Length282.67 ft (86.16 m)[2]
Beam59 ft (18 m)
Draft17 ft (5.2 m), 18 ft (5.5 m)max
Propulsion
  • 4 Caterpillar diesel engines,
  • twin screws,
  • 6,800 shp (5,100 kW)
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range10,000 miles
Complement
  • 10 officers
  • 90 enlisted
  • 4 aircrew
Armament

USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39) is a United States Coast Guard Cutter and former United States Navy vessel that was recommissioned for Coast Guard duty on 10 July 1999. It first entered service as USS Edenton (ATS-1), an Edenton-class salvage and rescue ship on 23 January 1971. In 1995, Edenton won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.

The conversion from a salvage ship to a Coast Guard cutter involved the removal of the stern towing machine, forward crane, and A-frame, and the installation of a flight deck, retractable hangar, and air-search radar. Additionally, her four aging Paxman diesel engines were replaced with four 16-cylinder Caterpillar diesels.

The cutter was named after author and journalist Alex Haley, the first chief journalist of the Coast Guard, the first African-American to reach the rank of chief petty officer, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Haley served in the Coast Guard for 20 years.

The vessel's current home port is Kodiak, Alaska at the Coast Guard Base Kodiak from where she carries out her Fishery Law Enforcement and Search and Rescue primary missions.

In fiction

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In the 2007 novel Robert Ludlum's The Arctic Event by James H. Cobb, Alex Haley is the ship that takes the heroes out to the island where a Tu-4 laden with anthrax crashed during the Cold War.[3]

In the 2016 novel Goliath by Shawn Corridan & Gary Waid, Alex Haley and USCGC Dauntless are the two Coast Guard cutters that respond to the fire aboard and subsequent stranding of a Russian ULCC.[4]

Photos

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  • USS Edenton before becoming Alex Haley
    USS Edenton before becoming Alex Haley
  • USCGC Alex Haley in Sea of Japan
    USCGC Alex Haley in Sea of Japan
  • USCGC Alex Haley on Patrol in Cook Inlet, Alaska
    USCGC Alex Haley on Patrol in Cook Inlet, Alaska

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ "USCGC Alex Haley". U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area. U.S. Coast Guard. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  2. ^ Tate, Sr., Charles W. USS Edenton (ATS-1) Tactical and Maneuvering Trial Results, p. 3
  3. ^ Cobb, James H. (2007). Robert Ludlum's The Arctic Event. Orion Books. ISBN 978-0-7528-7641-2.
  4. ^ Corridan, Shawn; Waid, Gary (2016). Goliath. Longboat Key, Florida: Oceanview Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60809-215-4.

Sources

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