USCGC Red Wood

USCGC Hawthorne was built in 1921 for the United States Lighthouse Service. Come the 1960s, she was one of the last United States Coast Guard buoy tenders propelled by a steam engine. Maintaining steam-powered buoy tenders like Hawthorne had become costly and problematic, as spare parts for their engines were no longer available and had to be fabricated. Congress funded Red Wood as a replacement. Hawthorne was the oldest ship in the Coast Guard fleet when she was retired. == Construction and characteristics ==

Red Wood was built at the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland. Her keel was laid down on 1 July 1963. She was launched on 4 April 1964. She was christened by Ruth B. Garmatz, wife of U.S. Representative Edward A. Garmatz. The ship had two Caterpillar D398A 12-cylinder diesel engines rated at each. These drove two four-bladed controllable-pitch propellers which were in diameter. Red-class ships had a maximum speed of . She had a bow thruster for increased maneuverability. This was driven by a power take-off from the starboard propulsion engine. Red Woods tanks held of diesel fuel. This gave her a range of at , or at full speed. Her buoy deck featured a crane with the ability to lift 10 tons, which could be controlled from two different stations just below the bridge deck. The ship had a crew of 4 officers and 28 enlisted sailors. Her commanding officer was a lieutenant, her executive officer was a lieutenant (j.g.), and her 1st lieutenant and engineering officers both held the rank of warrant officer. Crew quarters were air-conditioned, a notable improvement in comfort at the time. == U.S. Coast Guard service ==

by pumping diesel oil ashore from her own tanks Red Wood was commissioned at a ceremony at the Coast Guard Yard on 4 August 1964. Representative Garmatz spoke at the event. Also attending was Admiral Edwin J. Roland, Commandant of the Coast Guard. Red Wood reached her new homeport of New London on 21 September 1964. She replaced USCGC Hawthorne there, but much of the old ship's crew transferred to Red Wood. The bulk of her time was spent at sea tending her buoy fleet and a number of lighthouses, or moored, maintaining the ship and training the crew. Maintaining her buoys included verifying that they were in their charted positions, replacing lights and batteries, cleaning off marine growth and bird guano, and inspecting and replacing their mooring chains and sinkers. On occasion, she was assigned a variety of other missions, as described below. Search and rescue In August 1965, Red Wood stood by to assist after she grounded on Little Goshen Reef in Long Island Sound. Owasco was able to pull off the reef under her own power after the tide rose. In November 1968, Red Wood recovered a body and parts of a Cessna 411 aircraft that crashed in Fisher's Island Sound. A Bell Jet Ranger helicopter crashed into Long Island Sound off Milford, Connecticut on 1 February 1975. Red Wood was dispatched to the scene and lifted the wreck onto her deck. The pilot was found dead, pinned inside the wreckage. Winter operations Red Wood was used for light icebreaking in the Connecticut, This was an important mission in that a number of communities relied on heating oil, gasoline, and fuel oil for power plants delivered by barges on these waterways. Her icebreaking was sometimes used to free ships that had been frozen in. Large buoys in freshwater rivers where ice conditions are difficult can be damaged, sunk, or dragged off-station by the movement of the ice. In the fall, Red Wood replaced 18 such buoys with smaller seasonal buoys which were less susceptible to ice damage. • Norwich Rose-Arts Festival in July 1965 • Armed Forces Day celebration in New London in May 1967 • Barnum Festival in Bridgeport in July 1974 • July 4 celebration in New London in 1975 • Shoreline Festival in New London in September 1990 • At Penn's Landing in Philadelphia in July 1998 Awards and honors Red Wood earned a Coast Guard Unit Commendation in July 1986 for her participation in the Statue of Liberty centennial celebration. Other awards include two Meritorious Unit Commendations, the Coast Guard Bicentennial Unit Commendation, two National Defense Service Medals, the Humanitarian Service Medal, and two Coast Guard Special Operations ribbons. On 13 March 1978 fire broke out in Red Woods engine room. Chief Petty Officer William C. Marshall and Petty Officer 3rd Class James O. Dolloff crawled through intense heat and black smoke to activate the fire pump. With the fire hydrants charged, Red Woods crew were quickly able to extinguish the fire, which otherwise might have been catastrophic. The two men were awarded the Coast Guard Medal for their heroism. Decommissioning and transfer Red Wood was decommissioned on 30 June 1999. She was replaced in Philadelphia by the . Under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, surplus military equipment could be transferred to other countries through the Excess Defense Articles program to support U.S. foreign policy objectives. Red Wood was transferred to the Argentine Navy through this program after her decommissioning by the U.S. Coast Guard. This transfer was part of a comprehensive program to improve the Argentine Navy's ability to interdict illicit drugs and their precursor chemicals. == Argentine Navy service ==

On 14 November 1999 the ship was reflagged and became ARA Ciudad de Rosario (Q62). On 30 May 2000 she commenced active duty with the Argentine Navy. Ciudad de Rosario is assigned to the Escuadrilla de Ríos ("Rivers Squadron") based at the Zárate Naval Base near Buenos Aires. Her shallow draft and high maneuverability has helped her succeed in river operations. Ciudad de Rosario is classed as a "multipurpose ship." She patrols rivers, and is used as a training platform for naval personnel. She has transported medical teams to hard to reach towns along the Paraná and Paraguay Rivers in social health campaigns. She has fought wildfires on islands in the Paraná. The ship transports a Marine Infantry Battalion on the river as needed. Ciudad de Rosario has been opened for public tours from time to time. In 2018 the ship returned to her original use when she tended buoys in the Uruguay River under an agreement with Uruguay. The ship has conducted medical mission to remote river towns in multiple years, including 2015, 2018, During the COVID-19 pandemic Ciudad de Rosario carried vaccines, food, clothing, and other supplies to remote riverside communities. The ship underwent a major overhaul at the Tandanor shipyard in 2022. Ciudad de Rosario was dispatched in 2014 and again in 2023 to collect hydrographic data for the "Canal Magdalena", a new route from the Atlantic to Buenos Aires through the River Plate estuary. == References ==