Sycamore Class Buoy Tender

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• Displacement: 230 tons

• Length: 113'9"

• Beam: 26'

• Draft: 5'

• Speed: 10 knots

• Armament: None

• Complement: 1 officer, 23 enlisted

• Diesel engines, twin screws, 400 hp


No. Name Commissioned Decommissioned
WAGL-259 Dogwood 17 Sep 1941
WAGL-63 Forsythia 15 Feb 1943 1977
WAGL-268 Sycamore 9 Sep 1941


Image:Tender 28.jpg
CGC Dogwood

USCGC Dogwood [WAGL-259; WLR-259]; No caption/photo number; date/photographer unknown. Dogwood, a 114-foot river tender, was constructed by the Dubuque Boat & Boiler Works Company in Dubuque, IA. She was commissioned in 1941 and served until 1989. She was stationed at Vicksburg, MI and later Pine Bluff, AR. She had an active career, from tending ATON to escorting the NASA rocket barge Palaemon on three occasions and assisting in the cleanup operation along the gulf coast in the aftermath of hurricane Betsey.


CGC Forsythia
CGC Forsythia

USCGC Forsythia [WAGL-63; WLR-63]; "CGC-FORSYTHIA, 113' River Tender, starboard view; Built by Avondale Marine Ways, New Orleans, La., February 16, 1943."; no photo number; photo by F. A. McDaniels, New Orleans, LA.

Forsythia, a 114-foot, 230 ton tender, was one of three such vessels (her sisters were the Dogwood [WAGL-259] and Sycamore [WAGL-268]) built to replace the stern paddlewheel steamers that the Coast Guard decided were too expensive to maintain. She was built by Avondale Marine Ways of Westwego, LA, and entered service in 1943. She was stationed at Sewickley, PA until 1963 and then Memphis, TN, until she was decommissioned in 1977.