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Lighthouse Tender Photo Archive

USCGC Aspen (WAGL 204)



Call sign:
Nan - Romeo - Xray - Xray

ex-USS Aspen
ex-USLHT Aspen



Call sign:
Nan - Romeo - Zulu - Delta


Aspen served the U.S. Lighthouse Service, U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard

Lighthouse Tender:

  • The first Aspen was built in 1905 by the Craig Shipbuilding Company, Toledo, OH
  • Launched in November 1905
  • Delivered in May 1906
  • Commissioned USLHT Aspen, 8 May 1906
  • Transferred to the Navy 11 April 1917 and commissioned USS Aspen
  • Returned to the Lighthouse Service 1 July 1919
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard in 1939 and commissioned USCGC Aspen (WAGL 204)
  • Decommissioned 25 January 1947
  • Laid up in 1948 at Ferrysburg, MI
  • Sold 26 January 1948
  • Scrapped in November 1999 by Purvis Marine, Ltd. of Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 415 t.
  • Length 125' 9"
    1912 - 118'
    1932 - 126'
  • Beam 25'
  • Draft 11' 10"
    1912 - 12'
  • Complement 12
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Propulsion: One single ended Scotch type boiler, one 400hp reciprocating compound steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Aspen 70k Photo from Historical Collections of the Great Lakes John Spivey
    Coast Guard History: The lighthouse tender Aspen, a bay and sound tender, was built at Toledo, Ohio for a cost of $70,572.50 by the Craig Shipbuilding Company. The company launched the tender in November 1905 and she was accepted into service and commissioned on 8 May 1906.

    The Lighthouse Service assigned her to Detroit. She was transferred from the Lighthouse Service to the United States Navy on 16 April 1917, by executive order, soon after the United States entered World War I. Assigned to the 9th Naval District, headquartered at Great Lakes, Ill., Aspen operated out of that port under the auspices of the commandant of that district until her return to the Lighthouse Service on 1 July 1919.

    During World War II she was assigned a hull number, WAGL-204. She served out of Sault Ste. Marie until she was decommissioned in 1947.

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