USCGC Spar [WLB-206]

USCGC Spar [WLB-206]

2001-Present

Buoy Tender / Icebreaker

Duluth, MN

Specs

Build Information

Year Built: 2001

Builder: Marinette Marine Corp., Marinette, WI

Hull #106

Registry: US —

IMO #9271145

Laid Down: December 15, 1999

Launch Date: August 12, 2000

Delivered: March 9, 2001

Commissioned: August 3, 2001

Construction

USCGC Spar was constructed in 2001 by Marinette Marine Corp. of Marinette, Wisconsin, for the United States Coast Guard. The Spar is a Juniper class seagoing buoy tender and icebreaker, and was the 6th vessel constructed as part of the Juniper class program.

She is equipped with an Integrated Ship Control System and Dynamic Positioning System to assist in operations and coordinate between her navigation systems and control systems. Alder features a single controllable pitch propeller with both bow and stern thrusters, and a strengthened hull for ice breaking. Buoy tending operations are conducted on the buoy deck forward of midship, with a forward mounted 40,000 lb. Appleton crane, with an extendable arm from 40′-60′. She is capable of breaking through 14” of ice at continuous speed and 36” of packed ice while backing and ramming.

Modifications

Midlife Maintenance Availability, U.S. Coast Guard shipyard, Baltimore, MD, 2021-2022.

General Stats

Length Overall: 225’09”

Breadth: 46′

Depth: 19’08”

Vessel Type: Buoy Tender / Icebreaker / Multi-Mission Platform

Crane: 40′-60′-Extendable Appleton Crane, 40,000 Lb capacity

Ice Capability: 14” freshwater ice at continuous speed, 36” packed freshwater ice backing and ramming

Propellers: 1 Controllable Pitch Propeller

Rudders: 1

Crew Compliment: 50 [8 officers/42 enlisted]

Engineering Equipment

Original

Engine

Engine Type: Diesel Engine

Engine Manufacturer: Caterpillar, Deerfield, IL

Engine Model: 3608TA

Number of Engines: 2

Rated HP: 3100 BHP

History

Lineage

USCGC Spar [WLB-206] – 2001-2021

Owner: United States Coast Guard, Washington D.C.

Operator: United States Coast Guard, 17th District, Juneau, AK

Flag: United States

Home Port: Kodiak, AK

USCGC Spar [WLB-206] – 2022-Present

Owner: United States Coast Guard, Washington D.C.

Operator: United States Coast Guard, 9th District, Cleveland, OH

Flag: United States

Home Port: Duluth, MN

Station History

  • Kodiak, AK – 2001-2021
  • Duluth, Minnesota – 2022-Present

Her Story

USCGC Spar was constructed in 2001 by Marinette Marine Corp. of Marinette, WI, for the United States Coast Guard. The Spar is a Juniper class seagoing buoy tender and icebreaker, and was the 6th vessel constructed as part of the Juniper class program. She is named after the U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserves created during World War II. The program name was an acronym after the U.S. Coast Guard motto, Semper Paratus, Always Ready. She is the second cutter to be named after the SPARs, the first being the 180′ Balsam Class buoy tender USCGC Spar [WLB-403], constructed in 1944. USCGC Spar was commissioned on August 3, 2001.

Spar was originally stationed in Kodiak, AK, following commissioning. She replaced the Balsam Class cutters USCGC Ironwind [WLB-297] and USCGC Firebush [WLB-393], handling buoy-tending and icebreaking duties throughout the Aleutian Island Chain in Alaska.

Spar departed the Aleutians for possibly the last time in early 2021 for the Coast Guard shipyard in Curtis Bay, MD, for her Midlife Maintenance Availability refit. Her station was replaced by her sister, USCGC Cypress WLB-210. USCGC Spar took up her new station at Duluth, MN, in March 2022, taking on icebreaking and buoy tending duties in Lake Superior at the upper Great Lakes.

Compiled By Brendan Falkowski

Updated on March 20, 2023

Gallery

Coming Soon!

Sources

“CGC Spar”. United States Coast Guard, N.d. Accessed 20 March 2023. https://www.atlanticarea.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/District-9/Ninth-District-Staff/Prevention-Division/Cutters/SPAR/

LeLievre, Roger. Know Your Ships 2020. Marine Publishing Co., 2020. Pp. 84.

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