USCG HOLLYHOCK (WLB 214)

Pua of the Pacific

History

USCGC HOLLYHOCK is a 225-foot, Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender. There are 16 ships in the class and HOLLYHOCK is the 14th ship produced. The keel of the ship was laid in 2002 by Marinette Shipbuilders in Wisconsin. The ship was commissioned in 2003 and originally homeported in Port Huron, Michigan. Currently she is in Baltimore, Maryland and she will sail to Honolulu, Hawaii via the Panama Canal. 
HOLLYHOCK is named after USCGC HOLLYHOCK (WAGL-220), a Hollyhock-class 175’ buoy tender. A press release issued to announce her launching noted: "The new lighthouse tender will be fitted with the latest navigating equipment, including a fathometer, a gyro compass, a radio direction finder, and radio telegraph and radio telephone communication." She was launched on 24 March 1937 during Bay City’s worst blizzard of the season. In her time in service, she was awarded National Defense ribbon with bronze star for her service during World War II and the Korean Conflict, the Coast Guard Unit Commendation ribbon and the Humanitarian Service ribbon.

HOLLYHOCK will be assuming the duties of CGC KUKUI (WLB 203), which is now located in Sitka, AK. In her 21 years working out of Honolulu, KUKUI’s crews have been a servicer of aids to navigation from the Hawaiian Islands to Midway and American Samoa. They have provided support to developing island nations by conducting bilateral fisheries law enforcement and continued the humanitarian mission of its predecessors to bring aid to our remote neighbors. KUKUI was sent off in 2018 in local style with a Hawaiian lei hanging from the bow and a blessing from a local Kahu, a Hawaiian priest, who wished them a safe journey as they set sail for new waters.