USCGC Marion (WSC-145)

History
United States
Name:	USCGC Marion
Namesake:	Francis Marion, American Revolutionary War general
Operator:	U.S. Coast Guard
Builder:	American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation, Camden, New Jersey
Cost:	$63,163 USD
Launched:	15 March 1927
Commissioned:	6 April 1927
Decommissioned:	15 February 1962
Fate:	sold 8 March 1963 to Robert F. Solomon of Norfolk, Virginia and renamed Top Cat
General characteristics
Class and type:	Active-class patrol boat
Displacement:	232 tons (trial)
Length:	125 ft (38 m)
Beam:	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Draft:	7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Installed power:	After 1938 re-engining: 1,200 brake horsepower (0.9 megawatt)
Propulsion:	As built: Two 6-cylinder 300 brake horsepower diesel engines After 1938 re-engining: Two Cooper-Bessemer EN-8 600 brake horsepower diesel engines
Speed:	As built: 10 knots In 1945: 12 knots (maximum); 7 knots (economical)
Range:	In 1945: 2,900 nautical miles (5,370 kilometers) at 10 knots; 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 kilometers) at 7 knots
Complement:	20 (3 officers, 17 enlisted men) (1930) 46 (5 officers, 41 men) (1945)
Sensors and processing systems:	Sonar (1945) QCO-1 Detection radar (1960) SPS-23
Armament:	In 1927: 1 x 3-inch (76.2-millimeter) 23-caliber gun In 1941: 1 x 3-inch (76.2-mm) 23-caliber gun, 2 x depth charge tracks In 1945: 1 x 3-inch (76.2-mm) 23-caliber gun , 2 x single 20-mm 80-caliber gun mounts, 2 x depth charge tracks, 2 x Mousetraps1 x 3-inch (76.2-mm) 23-caliber gun1 x 3-inch (76.2-mm) 23-caliber gun In 1960: 1 x single 40-mm 60-caliber antiaircraft gun mount
Notes:	Sold 8 March 1963

USCGC Marion (WSC-145), was a 125 ft (38 m) United States Coast Guard Active-class patrol boat in commission from 1927 to 1962. She was named for Francis Marion, an American Revolutionary War general who was known for his unconventional warfare tactics. Marion served during the Rum Patrol and World War II performing defense, law enforcement, ice patrol, and search and rescue missions. Most notably, Marion served as the platform for the first intensive oceanographic studies made by the Coast Guard.

Marion was built by American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation at Camden, New Jersey. She was commissioned as USCGC Marion (WSC-145) on 6 April 1927. She was the eleventh of the Active-class patrol boats to be commissioned, which were designed for trailing the "mother ships" that supported the smuggling boats of "rum-runners" during Prohibition. The Active-class ships were also referred to unofficially as the "Buck & a Quarter" class in reference to their 125-foot length.

Marion was initially assigned Rum Patrol duties with a home-port of New London, Connecticut, however, Lieutenant Commander Edward H. Smith had been directed by Coast Guard Commandant Frederick C. Billard to outfit her as an oceanographic research vessel for an expedition to Arctic waters off the coast of Greenland. The purpose of the expedition was to attempt to find information about the formation of icebergs and their movements. Marion was loaded with supplies and provisions for 70 days of cruising and spare parts for every piece of machinery on board. The complement was increased to two officers, two warrant officers and 23 men; six more than her normal complement. Marion departed Boston, Massachusetts, on 11 July 1928, stopped briefly at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and arrived at Sydney, Nova Scotia, where fuel and water supplies were topped off and 78 drums of fuel were stowed on deck. While at both Halifax and Sydney, Smith consulted local mariners familiar with the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait and updated the ship's charts with information from the mariner's charts.

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