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Lighthouse Tender Photo Archive

USCGC Hydrangea (WAGL 236)



Call sign:
Nan - Roger - William - Sugar

ex-USCGC Mayflower (WAGL 236)
ex-USS Suwanee
ex-USLHS Mayflower



Call sign (1919):
George - Vice - Nan - Watch

Call sign (1919):
Nan - Zed - Quack

Mayflower served the Lighthouse Service, the U. S. Navy and the Coast Guard
Lighthouse Tender:

  • The third Mayflower was built in 1897 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, ME
  • Commissioned USLHS Mayflower in November 1897
  • Transferred to the Navy 27 April 1898 and renamed Suwanee to avoid confusion with the converted yacht USS Mayflower (later the Presidential yacht)
  • Returned to the Lighthouse Service in December 1898 and renamed Mayflower
  • Transferred to the Navy and commissioned USS Mayflower 10 May 1917
  • Returned to the Lighthouse Service 1 July 1919 and renamed Mayflower
  • Decommissioned in December 1939 and transferred to the Maritime Training Service in Boston, MA
  • Transferred to the Coast Guard in July 1940 and recommissioned as USCGC Mayflower (WAGL 236)
  • Renamed Hydrangea 15 August 1943 to again avoid a naming conflict with USS Mayflower (PY 1) (also back in the Navy again as a patrol craft)
  • Decommissioned 8 October 1945, transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal and was sold
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 650 t.
    1919 - 572 t.
    1945 - 821 t.
  • Length 164'
  • Length between perpendiculars 155'
  • Beam 30'
  • Draft 8' 1"
    1919 - 12'
    1945 - 9'
  • Speed 9.5 kts.
  • Complement 29
    1909 - 23
    1919 - 29
    1945 - 40
  • Armament: Two 20mm mounts and two depth charge tracks (1945)
  • Propulsion: Two Almy watertube coal fired boilers, two 325shp Steeple compound inverted reciprocating steam engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USLHS Mayflower
    Mayflower 59k
    Namesakes:

    Mayflower - A species of shrubs and trees of the arbutus genus with white or pink flowers and scarlet berries. A ship named Mayflower brought the first pilgrims to New England in 1620
    Mayflower shrub and Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Mayflower 211k
    Mayflower 65k Photo and text from "U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft of World War II" by Robert L. Scheina Robert Hurst
    Mayflower 153k John Spivey
    Photo added 8 March 2021
    USS Suwanee
    Mayflower 115k Halftone photograph, published in the book War in Cuba, 1898, showing Suwanee underway off Siboney, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War. Ships in the background include USS St. Louis (left) and USS Vixen (right)
    Courtesy of Alfred Cellier, 1977
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 85649    		 Robert Hurst
    View the Mayflower
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
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