View source for USCGC Cape Cross

{{use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
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|Ship country=[[United States]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|coast guard}}
|Ship name=''Cape Cross''
|Ship namesake=Cape Cross, [[Hoonah–Angoon Census Area, Alaska|Hoonah–Angoon, Alaska]]
|Ship owner=U.S. Coast Guard
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|Ship builder=[[United States Coast Guard Yard]], [[Baltimore, Maryland]]
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|Ship commissioned=20 August 1958
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|Ship decommissioned=2 March 1990
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|Ship fate=Transferred to Micronesia, 28 September 1989
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|Ship country=[[Micronesia]]
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|Ship name=''Paluwlap''
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|Ship class=[[Cape-class cutter#Design|Type "C"]] {{sclass2|Cape|cutter||United States Coast Guard Cutter}}
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|Ship displacement=98 tons
|Ship length={{convert|95|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship propulsion=*4 × Cummins VT-600 diesels (1958–1982)<ref name=Scheina80 />
*2 Detroit 16V149 diesels (1982–1989)
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|Ship speed={{convert|26|kn|km/h|abbr=on}}
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|Ship complement=15 (1961)
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*2 × [[M60 machine gun]]s
*2 ×  40mm Mk 64 grenade launchers (1987)
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'''USCGC ''Cape Cross''''' was a {{convert|95|ft|m|adj=on}} [[Cape-class cutter#Design|type "C"]] {{sclass2|Cape|cutter||United States Coast Guard Cutter}} constructed at the [[United States Coast Guard Yard|Coast Guard Yard]] at [[Curtis Bay, Maryland]] in 1958 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.<ref name=Scheina79>Scheina, p 79</ref>

==Design==
The Cape-class cutter was designed originally for use as a shallow-draft [[anti-submarine warfare]] (ASW) craft and was needed because of the increased tension brought about by the [[Cold War]]. ''Cape Cross'' was a type "C" Cape-class cutter and was never fitted with ASW gear because the Coast Guard's mission emphasis had shifted away from ASW to search and rescue by the time she was built. The hull was constructed of steel and the superstructure was aluminum.<ref name=USCG01>"Cape Cross, 1958 (WPB-95328)", Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office</ref> She was powered originally by four Cummins VT-600 diesel engines; however during 1980&ndash;1982 she was refit with two 16V149 Detroit Diesel main engines.<ref name="Scheina80">Scheina, p 80</ref>

==History==
The Cape class was originally developed as an ASW boat and as a replacement for the aging, [[World War II]] vintage, wooden {{convert|83|ft|m|adj=on}} patrol boats that were used mostly for [[search and rescue]] duties.<ref name=Scheina80>Scheina, p 80</ref> With the outbreak of the [[Korean War]] and the requirement tasked to the Coast Guard to secure and patrol port facilities in the United States under the [[Magnuson Act#Maritime laws also known as "Magnuson Act"|Magnuson Act of 1950]], the complete replacement of the 83-foot boat was deferred and the 95-foot boat was used for harbor patrols.<ref name=USCG01 /><ref name=Green>Green, D.L.; "The 82-foot Class Patrol Boat", ''The Engineer's Digest'', March–April 1962, Number 133, pp 2–5, U.S. Coast Guard</ref><ref name=Johnson283>Johnson, p 283</ref> The first 95-foot hulls were laid down at the Coast Guard Yard in 1952 and were officially described as "seagoing patrol cutters". Because Coast Guard policy did not provide for naming cutters under {{convert|100|feet|m|}} at the time of their construction they were referred to by their hull number only and gained the Cape class names in 1964 when the service changed the naming criteria to {{convert|65|feet|m|}}. The class was named for North American geographic [[Cape (geography)|cape]]s.<ref name=Johnson284>Johnson, p 284</ref>

The Cape class was replaced by the {{convert|110|ft|m|adj=on}} {{sclass2|Island|cutter|4}} beginning in the late 1980s and many of the decommissioned cutters were transferred to nations of the [[Caribbean]] and [[South America]] by the Coast Guard.<ref name=Scheina63>Scheina, p 63</ref><ref name=Colton>Colton, "U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Craft Built Since WWII (WPB, WPC, WSES)"{{bsn|date=April 2022}}</ref>

''Cape Cross'' was [[Home port|homeported]] at [[New Castle, New Hampshire]] from 1959 to 1968 where she was used for law enforcement and search and rescue (SAR). In June 1965, she assisted in the unsuccessful search of a ditched [[U.S. Air Force]] [[C-121]] aircraft east of [[Nantucket, Massachusetts]]. On 28 May 1967, she [[Medical evacuation|medevaced]] a crewman from the fishing vessel ''Phillip J''. Two [[Poland|Polish]] motor vessels were escorted from U.S. waters on 11 June. On 26 September, she escorted a lost fishing vessel {{convert|45|nmi|km|abbr=on}} east-southeast of [[Boston, Massachusetts]] back to Boston. On 2 May 1968, she responded to a distress call with {{USCGC|Cape Horn|WPB-95322|6}} from the fishing vessel ''Stella Maris'' {{convert|110|nmi|km|abbr=on}} east of Nantucket and both cutters escorted her to Newport.<ref name=USCG01 /><ref name=USCG02>"Cape Horn, 1958 (WPB-95322)", Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office</ref><ref name=Scheina80 />

In 1969, her homeport was transferred to [[Gloucester, Massachusetts]] where she was used for law enforcement and SAR missions. On 10 January 1977, two crewmen from the fishing vessel ''Chester A. Poling'' off [[Cape Ann, Massachusetts]].<ref name=USCG01 />

In 1982, ''Cape Cross'' underwent a major renovation which included removing the four [[Cummins]] main drive engines and replacing them with two [[Detroit Diesel]] units. After this modification, she was stationed at [[Crescent City, California]] for law enforcement and SAR. After 15 April 1987, she was homeported at [[Hilo, Hawaii]].<ref name=USCG01 />

==Disposition==
After decommissioning in 1990, ''Cape Cross'' was transferred to the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] and recommissioned as ''Paluwlap'' (FSM 03).<ref name=Colton />

==Citations==
{{reflist|}}

==References==
* {{cite web|title=Cape Cross, 1958 (WPB-95321)|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/CapeCross1958.asp|website=Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=26 April 2015}}
* {{cite web|title=Cape Horn, 1958 (WPB-95322)|url=http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/CapeHorn1958.asp|website=Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office|access-date=27 April 2015}}
* {{cite web|last1=Colton|first1=Tim|title=U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Craft Built Since WWII (WPB, WPC, WSES)|url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/smallships/wpc3.htm|website=Shipbuildinghistory.com|publisher=Shipbuilding History|access-date=21 April 2022}}
* {{cite journal|last=Green|first=D.L.|title=The 82-foot Class Patrol Boat|journal=The Engineer's Digest|date=March–April 1962|number= 133|pages=2&ndash;5|publisher=U.S. Coast Guard}}
* {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Robert Irwin|year=1987|title=Guardians of the Sea, History of the United States Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present|publisher=Naval Institute Press, Annapolis|isbn=978-0-87021-720-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/guardiansofseahi00john}}
* {{cite book|last=Scheina|first=Robert L.|title=U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946–1990|year=1990|publisher=Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-0-87021-719-7}}

{{Cape class cutter}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Cross}}
[[Category:1958 ships]]
[[Category:Cape-class cutters|Cross]]
[[Category:Ships built by the United States Coast Guard Yard]]