USCGC Winnebago (WHEC-40) - Peacetime Service

Peacetime Service

Winnebago was home ported in Miami, Florida, from 1945 to April 1946 and used for law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue operations. From April 1946 to February 1948 she was performing similar duties from her new base at Boston, Massachusetts. She was subsequently laid up at the Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland, until September 1948. She was then stationed at U.S. Coast Guard Base Sand Island, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, later, the State of Hawaii from November 1949 to March 1972. In celebration of Hawaii statehood day, the Winnebago in full dress, was open to the public. The Ship's Company paraded in downtown Honolulu for the celebration. She was again used for law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue operations. While on ocean station duty, the cutter's crew took hourly weather observations, provided communications, air navigation and meteorological information to commercial and military aircraft and merchant ships. She stood ready to respond to any requests for assistance from aircraft or ships in distress. Ocean Station Victor, her primary station, was located about half-way between Midway Island and Japan and covered 210 square miles (540 km2). Typically Ocean Station patrols lasted 72 days. Four cutters alternated duty on the station. It took seven days to reach the station from Honolulu. After a 21-day patrol the cutter was relieved and then steamed to Yokosuka, Japan, for two weeks of rest and replenishment. She then returned to the ocean station for another 21-day patrol before returning to Honolulu.

Run aground at Pearl Harbor

On 26 March 1962 while making the entrance to Pearl Harbor Winnebago ran aground and became stranded on Tripod Reef. The cutter was extricated within a few days by Navy tugboats.

Rescue operations

In November 1963, while serving on Ocean Station Victor, Winnebago steamed to the assistance of the disabled MV Green Mountain State. The cutter rendezvoused with the flooding merchantman and removed her crew. Winnebago's crew managed to stop the flooding and got the merchantman under tow. The cutter then towed the merchantman 810 miles to Midway Island. For this rescue the crew was awarded the Coast Guard Unit Commendation. On 26 December 1964 the British MV Southbank was tossed by a 40-foot wave onto a reef 400 yards off Washington Island in the South Pacific. On board were two women, 57 crewmen, and 49 Gilbertese laborers bound for Fanning Island, 60 miles distant. Using lifeboats the shipwrecked women and men escaped safely to the beach where the Washington Island natives cared for them until they were rescued by Winnebago.

Medical procedures

On 27 May 1965, Winnebago medevaced a disabled seaman from the Japanese FV Tsuru Maru No. 8 650 miles (1,050 km) south of Honolulu. In May 1966, her medical officer, a U.S. Public Health Service officer, performed an appendectomy on a Winnebago crewmen. Winnebago then rendezvoused with the USS Navasota where Winnebago's medical officer performed another appendectomy on a Navasota crewman. Later in the same month, Winnebago rendezvoused with the Japanese MV Shoei Maru where the doctor amputated the foot of a 17-year old seaman. In May 1967, she medevaced an injured crewman from the Shoeu Maru and transferred him to the Texas Maru.