USCGC ALDER (WLB 216)

"Ruler of the Sea"

History

USCGC ALDER (WLB-216) and her descendent are named for a tree of the genus Alnus, native chiefly to northern temperate regions and having alternate simple toothed leaves and tiny fruits in woody, cone-like catkins. Her roots are known to stabilize riverbanks and lakesides. The wood from these trees do not rot when waterlogged, instead turning harder and stronger.  
 
The original USCGC ALDER (WAGL-216) was originally built as a wooden-hulled commercial vessel, was purchased from her owner by the Lighthouse Service in 1924. She served initially as an unmanned harbor launch based at Ketchikan, AK. She exploded and sank in June 1929 but was salvaged and returned to service in 1930. During World War 2 she was based out of Ketchikan, Alaska. There, she was damaged while towing SS Tongass on 27 December 1942. She was decommissioned on 11 December 1947 and was sold on 14 June 1948. 

USCGC WHITE ALDER (WAGL-541) was stationed throughout her Coast Guard career, which spanned 1947 until 1968, at New Orleans, Louisiana.  Her primary assignment was to tend river aids to navigation although she was called upon to conduct other traditional Coast Guard duties, such as search and rescue or law enforcement duties, as required.  In 1965 she escorted raised barge carrying chlorine to a chemical plant and in 1968 she refloated CGC LOGANBERRY, which had been beached. In 1968 she collided with Merchant Vessel Helena in the Mississippi River. Three of the crew of twenty were rescued, seventeen of our shipmates were lost. There is a memorial dedicated to her and her crew at the Coast Guard Group New Orleans offices in Metairie, Louisiana.
 
USCGC Alder (WLB-216) is the 16th and final Juniper class seagoing buoy tender. Her keel was launched by Marinette Marine Corp. of Marinette, WI on 07 February 2004. Alder departed Marinette, cruising all five Great Lakes and arriving at her new home port of Duluth, MN, on 16 October 2004. She was commissioned by the Coast Guard on 10 June 2005, relieving the 1944-built Balsam class tender Sundew of her duties. Alder departed the Great Lakes in July 2021 for the Coast Guard shipyard in Curtis Bay, MD, for her Midlife Maintenance Availability refit. Now, she serves the community of the San Francisco Bay and California.