Acushnet – a steel-hulled revenue cutter – was launched on 16 May 1908 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; sponsored by Miss Alayce Duff; and commissioned at Baltimore on 6 November 1908. She saw service as a United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter, a U.S. Navy fleet tug, and as a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. She was taken out of service 8 January 1946.
U.S. Revenue Cutter Service
USRC Acushnet was assigned to the Revenue Cutter Service station at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, with her cruising grounds to encompass Buzzard's Bay, Nantucket Shoals, and adjacent waters. Departing the Revenue Cutter Service Depot at Arundel Cove, South Baltimore, on 8 November 1908, Acushnet reached her home port on the 27th.
Over the next decade, Acushnet operated out of Woods Hole and ranged the middle and northeastern seaboard of the United States, occasionally visiting the Depot at Arundel Cove, Curtis Bay; the towns of New Bedford and Marblehead, Massachusetts, New London, Connecticut, and Norfolk, Virginia. She patrolled regattas – including Ivy League contests between Harvard and Yale – and represented the Revenue Cutter Service at such events as the International Yacht Races at Marblehead and the Cotton Centennial Carnival at Fall River, Mass., in June 1911. In addition, due to her robust construction, the ship performed yearly "winter cruising" in the bitterly cold sea lanes of the North Atlantic to assist ships and mariners in distress. On 11 February 1914 she towed the lumber schooner to safety after she stranded off the Pamet River Life Saving Station in a snowstorm. Cressy drifted off on her own but was still in danger of being wrecked when she was taken into tow. During the first decade of her service, the Coast Guard Act became law on 28 January 1915 joining the Lifesaving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service to form the United States Coast Guard. On 15 April 1915 she pulled off schooner that went aground on Tom Shoal, or Hawes Shoal, off Cape Poge, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts in heavy weather earlier in the day.
U.S. Navy service in World War I Upon the entry of the United States into World War I in the spring of 1917, the Coast Guard cutter came under the aegis of the United States Navy as the United States Treasury Department relinquished control of its ships so that they might take part in the conflict. Initially, her station remained the same, Woods Hole; but, in the winter of 1917, she shifted to more northern climes. Her winter-cruising activities then proved to be good conditioning for her duty during the latter half of December 1917 and the first few months of 1918.
Northern operations In mid-December 1917, upon the disablement of the cutter Androscoggin by a severe gale, USS Acushnet was dispatched to Miramichi Bay in New Brunswick to aid the distressed steamer Cadoras. However, she soon reported that the severe storm had forced her to heave to off Halifax, Nova Scotia, before carrying out her assignment. Before she could resume her mission, the object of her concern, Cadoras was later damaged so severely by the storm that she was abandoned as a total wreck.
Acushnet was next ordered to search the Gut of Canso for American Shipping Board vessels in distress, but soon received orders to prepare to tow and convoy the steamer War Victor to New York. Meanwhile, Acushnet carried out her assignment and reported that two of the four vessels in the Gut had been held up for want of coal; a third one was being repaired with 10 days estimated for completion of repairs; and the last, War Victor, was busily engaged in repairing a broken rudder. On 18 December, the day after the cutter had wired her report on shipping in the Gut, she radioed that she would be ready to tow and convoy War Victor as soon as she coaled, and added ominously: "Weather severe, coal scarce."
Taking advantage of a sudden change to good weather and the fact that no other vessels in the Gut required such assistance, Acushnet soon got underway from Port Hawkesbury with War Victor in tow, and reached New York on the evening of 23 December. She then received four days of needed voyage repairs at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., before returning to her base at New London. After taking on board hawsers and charts for Nova Scotia and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the cutter sailed for Halifax to relieve the Navy tugs Sonoma (AT-12) and Ontario (AT-13) in standing ready to provide assistance to Shipping Board vessels in the northern waters.
On 4 January, Acushnet received word that heavy ice had closed the Gut of Canso and that passage should be made north of Cape Breton Island; in addition, she was to search for survivors of the sunken steamer Iroquois, whose men were believed to have been shipwrecked on Bird Rock, north of the Magdalen Islands. Sailing from New London that day, the ship soon encountered a fierce northern gale and anchored in Nantucket Sound to await better weather. Her captain reported that so much ice had formed on the ship from the freezing of wind-whipped spray that her stability was seriously threatened.
However, before disaster struck, the tempest moderated and enabled Acushnet to relieve Sonoma at Souris, Prince Edward Island, on 10 January 1918. The latter soon proceeded to Halifax for coal. Acushnet then attempted to reach the shipwrecked mariners reported to be at Bird Rock but discovered weather conditions to be too severe to permit it.
Acushnet again attempted to reach Bird Rock on 17 January but was compelled to turn back due to heavy ice between Cape North and St. Paul Island. Acushnet accordingly altered course for Halifax and reported closely packed ice 25 miles from Sydney that, in local opinion, threatened to block the harbor. She subsequently reported that an "ice expert" at Sydney had advised strongly against risking Acushnet above Cape North. There, the master of the Canadian Government icebreaker Stanley reported that it was impossible to reach the steamer SS Keynor which was stranded at Gaspé and that his ship could not tow any vessel through the ice. Acushnets commanding officer accordingly radioed the Navy Department that, under the prevailing ice conditions, he could do no more to carry out his orders. He proposed towing the disabled merchantmen in that port out of Stanley harbor before the ice reached it, but the master of neither ship – SS Cicoa and SS German – wanted to leave port.
Subsequently, Acushnet reached Halifax on 19 January for coal. Once there, she also learned that Cicoa, investigating the report of shipwrecked mariners, had managed to close Bird Rock on 11 January and signalled two men plainly visible on shore, but had received no reply to her signals. Acushnet'''s commanding officer considered this proof that there were no shipwrecked men there.
Shifting to Louisburg, Nova Scotia, soon thereafter, Acushnet attempted to float the damaged steamship Angouleme but after four attempts radioed that the methods being used to salvage the ship were impracticable, the discouraging situation leading Acushnets skipper to radio on 28 January that "extensive wrecking operations" were required. The following day, 29 January, Acushnet departed Louisburg with SS Key West in tow, and took her to Halifax where they arrived soon thereafter.Acushnet left Halifax on the last day of January with SS Adrian Iselin in tow, and brought that ship to anchorage off Stapleton, New York, on the afternoon of 3 February. Her arduous duty in Nova Scotian waters had caused the ship such great wear and tear that she needed a long stint of repairs before returning to sea. Thus, her crew enjoyed a brief respite from her toil that lasted into the second week of February 1918.
Atlantic coast operations Upon completion of the yard work, Acushnet sailed for Newport, R.I., to tow a floating derrick from Newport to Hampton Roads, departing the former port at 09:00 on 24 February. Bad weather forced the ship and her valuable tow to put into New York on 28 February until improved conditions permitted her to resume her voyage.
After delivering her charge to Norfolk, Acushnet loaded a cargo of speaking tubes and delivered them to the Charleston Navy Yard at Charleston, S.C., where subchasers were being fitted-out for service, before proceeding on to the Washington Navy Yard to take on board 13 3-inch guns earmarked for installation in subchasers then under construction. Delivering the load of ordnance to New London soon thereafter, Acushnet reached New London in mid-March before she put into the Boston Navy Yard for repairs and alterations to living spaces on board on the 22d of that month.
Upon completion of repairs on 8 May, Acushnet proceeded to Bristol, R.I., and took delivery of the seaplane barge being built there for the Navy by the noted boat builders of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. She then delivered the boat to the New York Navy Yard and loaded a cargo of ammunition to be delivered to the Naval District Base, New London. Acushnet then took stores consigned to the Special Antisubmarine Force at Norfolk, Va., departing New London on 20 June and reaching her destination two days later. Upon arrival, she landed her cargo which included a special "listening device" and engine spare parts for subchasers. Acushnet departed Norfolk on the 23d and reached Lewes, Delaware, that same day to perform a brief period of temporary duty attached to the 4th Naval District.
Assigned to salvage duty in early July 1918, Acushnet was to enjoy special status, the Navy Department specifying on 16 July 1918 that "orders for movement of Acushnet will be issued from Washington and this vessel is not to be diverted to any other duty except by special permission from Operations ...." In this "new" capacity, the ship performed the same type of duty common to Coast Guard cutters – the removal of menaces to navigation and the assistance to ships in distress. For the next few weeks, basing at New London, Acushnet rendered assistance to the steamer Mahoning and the steamer Lake Crystal. During that time, the cutter received word on 4 August that she and Salvor were to be assigned to the Boston Station of the Northern District, but were to remain temporarily based on the salvage station at New London until the completion of the Boston base.
In September and October, Acushnet continued her salvage operations out of New London, receiving a respite to tow Charles Wittemore, a mission – despite its not being "salvage duty" – she was assigned under special permission since no other tug was available. She also assisted Helvetia and the schooner Eleanor Powers before being ordered to the Boston Navy Yard late in October for repairs and alternations. While there, the armistice was signed in France, ending hostilities.Acushnet took Torpedo Testing Barge No. 2 to New London and, later, to Newport, in February and March 1919, respectively, before escorting Eagle No. 1 and Eagle No. 3 – slated for service in North Russia – to the New York Navy Yard on 4 and 5 March for repairs and alterations to prepare them for their future distant service. Later, Acushnet again towed Torpedo Testing Barge No. 2 from Newport to New London and back before taking the coal barge YC-289 from New London to Melville, R.I., and then returning to Boston to resume her duty as a salvage vessel.