Overview
USCGC Harry Claiborne (WLM-561) is a Keeper-class coastal buoy tender of the United States Coast Guard. Launched in 1999, she is home-ported in Galveston, Texas. Her primary mission is maintaining aids to navigation between the Mexican border and the mouth of the Mississippi River. Secondary missions include marine environmental protection, search and rescue, and security. She is assigned to the Eighth Coast Guard District.
Construction and characteristics
On 22 June 1993 the Coast Guard awarded the contract for the Keeper-class vessels to Marinette Marine Corporation in the form of a firm contract for the lead ship and options for thirteen more. The Coast Guard exercised options for the final four ships, including Harry Claiborne, in September of 1997. The ship was launched on 26 June 1999 into the Menominee River. Harry Claiborne is the eleventh of the fourteen Keeper-class ships built. Her hull was built of welded steel plates. She is long, with a beam of , and a full-load draft of . The top of the mast is above the waterline. The Z-drives have four-bladed propellers which are in diameter She has a 500 horsepower bow thruster. The Z-drives and bow thruster can be linked in a Dynamic Positioning System. This gives Harry Claiborne the ability to hold position in the water even in heavy currents, winds, and swells.
This advanced capability is useful in bringing buoys aboard that can weigh more than 16,000 lbs. The boat is long and are equipped with a Mercury Marine inboard/outboard diesel engine. The ship's namesake is lighthouse keeper Harry C. Claiborne. Claiborne was the principal lighthouse keeper of the Bolivar Point light when the Hurricane of 1900 hit the Texas coast near Galveston. Storm surge covered the low-lying barrier island where the light was located, but before the ground floor entrance to the lighthouse was submerged, over 125 people had crowded into the building. Claiborne was able to feed them from his provisions, and everyone who made it into the lighthouse survived. Fifteen years later, another class 4 hurricane pounded the Galveston area and 50 people took shelter with Claiborne in his lighthouse.
Operational history
The Coast Guard took ownership of Harry Claiborne on 28 October 1999, and placed her "in commission, special" status. During the 6000-mile trip from Wisconsin to her new homeport in Texas, she made 35 port calls. She sailed from Lake Michigan through the Great Lakes, out into the Atlantic, and then into the Gulf of Mexico. The ship's crew was hosted ashore for Christmas dinner in Rockland, Maine. The bulk of Harry Claiborne's year is spent at sea tending its buoys, or in port maintaining the ship. She has been asked to perform other missions, as described below.
Search and rescue
In November 2009, Harry Claiborne searched for a T-34C training aircraft on a flight from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi which crashed in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship recovered the larger parts of the aircraft after its location was discovered by a Navy diving team. A number of Coast Guard units, including Harry Claiborne, searched for a missing diver about 35 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana in June of 2017 The search was unsuccessful.
Security
Harry Claiborne served as a training platform for the Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team Galveston to practice boarding ships from a helicopter in March 2007.
Marine Environment Protection
In February 2008, Harry Claiborne deployed the Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System in a training exercise for oil spill recovery. After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010, she used the system as part of the clean-up effort.
Public engagement
The Coast Guard has offered tours aboard Harry Claiborne on several occasions. These include tours in Green Bay, Wisconsin in November 1999, shortly before sailing to Galveston for the first time. Harry Claiborne has participated in Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans for several years. She delivered Lundi Gras celebrants downtown in 2010 and 2012. Former first lady Laura Bush was aboard for the 2010 event. She delivered the monarchs of the 2014 Mardi Gras celebration to downtown for the event kick-off. Also on board for the trip were Rear Admiral Kevin S. Cook, commander of the 8th Coast Guard District, and U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant General Steven Hummer.
Orion spacecraft testing in 2017
NASA's Orion spacecraft is designed to return to earth by splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. While under normal circumstances, the spacecraft would be met by a full recovery team, some events might leave the astronauts to their own devices. The Johnson Space Center decided to test astronauts ability to leave the capsule on their own and enter the raft with which they are equipped. In July 2017 Harry Claiborne was dispatched to carry the spacecraft to waters off Galveston for the tests and then hoist it back on board.
2020 collision
On 11 October 2020, Harry Claiborne was stationary in the Sabine Pass channel while resetting a buoy that had been moved off-station by Hurricane Delta. The offshore supply vessel Charamie Bo-truc 33 was in the channel, heading to sea, when it came upon Harry Claibourne. Her captain contacted the commander of the buoy tender by radio and proposed to pass the ship on her starboard side, which was agreed even though it would take her outside the shipping channel. As Cheramie Bo-truc 33 attempted the maneuver, her captain noted the shoaling water and tried to turn back into the channel. Instead, he hit Harry Claiborne on her stern while traveling at six knots. The collision punched a foot-long hole in the steel and severely dented and buckled her transom. After the collision, Cheramie Bo-truc 33's momentum spun her toward the bank and she went aground roughly 40 feet from Harry Claiborne.
The grounded vessel was refloated by pumping off ballast water, but then hit Harry Claiborne a second time as the current set her toward the buoy tender. The National Transportation Safety Board held the captain of the offshore supply vessel largely responsible for the incident. After the incident, unusual noises from the port Z-drive caused Harry Claiborne to return to port on one engine. The estimated damage to the ship was $440,879.