USCGC Bramble

USCGC Bramble
History
United States
NameBramble
BuilderZenith Dredge Company, Duluth, Minnesota
Cost$925,464
Laid down2 August 1943
Launched23 October 1943
Commissioned22 April 1944
Decommissioned22 May 2003
Identification
Nickname(s)
  • The Thorn of the Great Lakes
  • Arctic Aristocrats
  • The Bumble
FateScrapped 2023
NotesThe USCG call sign of Bramble was NODK.
General characteristics
Class & typeClass C or Iris-class seagoing buoy tenders
Displacement1,025 long tons (1,041 t)
Length180 ft (54.9 m) oa.
Beam37 ft (11.3 m) mb.
Draft
  • 12 ft (3.7 m) (1945)
  • 13 ft 11 in (4.2 m) (1962)
Propulsion2 × General Motors EMD 645 V8 diesel engines
Speed13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Range8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement
  • 6 officers, 74 enlisted (1945)
  • 3 officers, 2 warrant officers, 42 enlisted (1962)
Sensors &
processing systems
Radar: SL-1 (1945). Sonar WEA (1945)
Armament
USCGC Bramble
Location2336 Military St.
Port Huron, Michigan
Coordinates42°57′36″N 82°25′32″W / 42.96000°N 82.42556°W / 42.96000; -82.42556
NRHP reference No.12000457
Significant dates
Added to NRHP1 August 2012
Removed from NRHPDecember 2, 2024

USCGC Bramble (WLB-392) is one of the 39 original 180-foot (55 m) seagoing buoy tenders built between 1942 and 1944 for the United States Coast Guard. In commission from 1944 until 2003 she saw service in Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic waters as well as the Great Lakes. In 1947 Bramble was present at the Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll and in 1957 a circumnavigation of North America involved a forced traverse of the Northwest Passage. After decommissioning in 2003 Bramble became a museum ship in Port Huron, Michigan. In 2018 she was sold to a private owner, who is preparing MV Bramble to repeat her historic 1957 circumnavigation of North America.