USCGC Tallapoosa (WPG-52)

USCGC Tallapoosa (WPG-52)

USCGC Tallapoosa (WPG-52) in 1920.
History
United States
Class and type:	Tallapoosa class cutter
Name:	Tallapoosa
Namesake:	Tallapoosa River, Georgia
Operator:	United States Coast Guard
Builder:	Newport News Shipbuilding
Cost:	$225,000 USD
Launched:	1 May 1915
Commissioned:	12 August 1915
Decommissioned:	8 November 1945
Fate:	Sold, 22 July 1946
General characteristics
Displacement:	912 tons
Length:	165 ft 10 in
Beam:	32 ft
Draft:	11 ft 9 in
Propulsion:	Triple-expansion steam, 17", 27", and 44" diameter x 30" stroke, 2 x Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 1,000 shaft horsepower
Speed:	12 knots
Complement:	9 officers, 63 enlisted
Armament:	4 x 6-pounders (1915); 2 x 6-pdrs; 2 x 3" 50-cal (single-mounts) (as of 1930); 2 x 3"/50 (single-mounts); 1 x 3"/23; 2 x depth charge tracks (as of 1941); 2 x 3"/50 (single-mounts); 2 x 20mm/80 (single-mounts); 2 x Mousetraps; 4 x K-guns; 2 x depth charge tracks (as of 1945).

USCGC Tallapoosa (WPG-52) was a United States Coast Guard cutter of the Tallapoosa-class and was designed to replace the revenue cutter Winona. Her hull was reinforced for light icebreaking. She was initially stationed at Mobile, Alabama, with cruising grounds to Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana and Fowey Rocks, Florida. During World War I she escorted convoys out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After the war she served with the Bering Sea Patrol before returning to Savannah, Georgia before World War II. During the war Tallapoosa assisted with convoy escort duty and anti-submarine patrols.

Tallapoosa left Newport News, Virginia towed by USGCC Apache on 16 July 1915 and arrived at the Coast Guard Depot at Curtis Bay, Maryland the following day. The officers and crew of Winona were transferred to her on 18 July and she was placed in commission at the depot 12 August 1915. She was assigned her first homeport at Mobile, Alabama on 17 August 1915. During this period she made search and rescue patrols between Port Eads, Louisiana, and Tampa, Florida. On 18 November 1915 she transported the National Currency Association of Alabama on a tour and inspection of the harbor of Mobile. On 19 January 1916 she participated in the celebration of the completion of the Gulf, Florida and Alabama Railroad held at Pensacola, Florida. On 6–7 March 1916 and on 19–20 February 1917, she participated in the Mardi Gras celebration at Mobile, Alabama.