While going through some old family photos, I came across these that my parents took when we vacationed in Grand Haven, Michigan. Mom says they were taken during Coast Guard Festival Week.


The Big Mac as she leaves Grand Haven.


The ships lined up in Grand Haven for the Coast Guard Festival.

Very interesting pictures, Judy! Thanks for sharing. Be interesting to see if the photo could be enhanced to better show the Mac, especially the first one. Any idea what year they were taken? Some of the car buffs may be able to identify the wagon and guesstimate the year.

Notice in the second photo that the Mac is still supporting a gun mount? Looks like maybe a good old 3" or 5"?

The car looks like a Dodge Dart Station Wagon? 65?

I have another photo from the same bunch that has all of us kids and that has a date of 1968 or 1969. Can't quite make it out. I do know there were 4 ships in port that year. They were: Castle Rock, Rock-away, Mackinaw, and Woodbine (home port Grand Haven).

The slides look better than the photos. I'll see if I can get any scanned.

Pretty cool, Judy. It's always so interesting to see people's old photos. Thanks for sharing these with us.

Dave, I think the gun mount was from the failed early days of the Christmas tree program, where they just loaded the tree and fired it directly in the coastal neighborhoods, which was later replaced with just giving them away at the docks. (And now you know the rest of the story)

Gee, Mark, I would have thought maybe a torpedo tube or one of the old ASROC launchers would have worked better for launching trees......

Great pics of some very historical ships Judy. The first ship in the line-up was a very well known ship in it's day with a lot of history. The W383 "Castle Rock".

The Casco class ships were built as small seaplane tenders by the US Navy. They were designed to operate out of small harbors and atolls and had a shallow draft.

The Castle Rock was stationed at Boston, Massachusetts, from 18 December 1948 to 1967 and used for law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue operations in the Atlantic. In March 1956, she towed the Finnish M/V Sunnavik from 300 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to safety. She reported to Guantanamo Bay for service during the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. She took part in the cadet cruise in May of 1963 and again in August of 1965. From 1967 to 1971, the Castle Rock was stationed at Portland, Maine, with the same duties as during the years at Boston. On 22 and 23 February 1967, she rescued eight from the sinking F/V Maureen and Michael 90 miles southwest of Cape Race.

The Castle Rock was assigned to Coast Guard Squadron Three, Vietnam, from 9 July to 21 December 1971. She was decommissioned and transferred to South Vietnam as Tran Binh Trong but fled to the Philippines at the fall of South Vietnam. She served as Francisco Dagahoy and was laid up as non-operational in June 1985. She was disposed of (scrapped?) in March of 1993.



Length: 310' 9" oa; 300' 0" bp

Navigation Draft: 13’18” max

Beam: 41’ max

Displacement: 2,529 fl

Main Engines: Fairbanks-Morse, direct reversing diesels

SHP: 6,400

Performance, Maximum Sustained: 18.2 kts, 8,000 nautical mile range

Fuel Capacity: 166,430

Complement: 10 officers, 3 warrants, 138 men

Armament: 1 x 5”/38 Mod D; 1 x Mk 52 Mod 3 director; 1 x Mk 26 Mod 4 fire control radar; 2 x 81mm mortars; 2 x .50 caliber MG's; 1 x Mk 10 Mod 1 A/S projector; 2 x Mk 38 Mod 5 torpedo tubes

Wow! Lots of history there! Thanks, Digger. I learned a lot about the Castle Rock.

Digger made me go look for more about the Castle Rock. Racing stripes were adopted 6 Apr 1967. Doesn't say when they were actually painted on - some may have been done before that, but since no stripe in the picture it would seem to be pre-1967.

According to this page , my guess about the 5" gun mount was correct. This site also has some pictures of the Castle Rock, including a 1969 one w/ racing stripe.

No mention of any assignment in the Great Lakes, but the Cadet Cruises often served as a 'show the flag' kind of operation in the Great Lakes, so just maybe . . .

Cruise Book - Cadet Cruise 1966

Guess Where?

Interesting trvia side bar: following one of the links I found for the Castle Rock, I came across this page which indicates there wa also a USCGC Mackinac (with a 'c', not a 'w') that was W1302, one of the Casco class cutters. That had to provide as much challenge as the two current Mackinaw's. Would be an interesting picture if the Mackinaw was ever photographed with the Mackinac.

The Mackinac was built in Baltimore, Maryland by the Spedden Company for a cost of $75,000. She was launched on 11 October 1902 and was ordered to the Great Lakes. She was assigned to duty as a boarding boat at Erie and was placed in commission on 29 October 1903. She saw service in the spring of 1905 along the Massachusetts coast and then sailed for Sault Ste. Marie, arriving there 28 June 1905. She was placed out of service at Milwaukee on 1 December 1905 to await the opening of navigation the following year.

On 25 April 1905 she was ordered, when ready for duty, to proceed to Sault Ste. Marie for "customs duty, and enforce the rules and regulations governing the movement and anchorages of vessels in the St. Mary's River." She operated in the Great Lakes each year during the navigation season and was laid up during the winter months when the Lakes were closed to navigation.

She was taken over by the Navy in 1917, and she served in the 3d Naval District during World War I, patrolling the Atlantic coast. Mackinac was stricken from the Naval Register and returned to the Coast Guard 28 August 1919. During the remainder of her Coast Guard service she was homeported at Boston.

She was decommissioned on 8 June 1939.

Here's a nice quick page to locate and view all coast guard ships past and present.

USCG Cutter List

Dave,
I do remember that the Castle Rock and Rock-away were carrying lots of Cadets. The Street Dance that year was a great time for all us girls. The Cadets also served as guides when the ships were open for tours.

Ahh, but Digger, you chose the wrong Mackinac . . . there was a second one that was in fact a Casco class. WHEC 371 first commissioned 24 Jan 42 and transferred to the CG 1949. Spent her career in and about New York.

Not the prettiest ending, for sure. If they would have been kind enough to send it on the Cadet cruises, there would have been a 2 Mac photo op.

So since Mackinac is pronounced Mackinaw, then technically, the Baby Mac 30 will be the fourth Coast Guard Mackinaw to sail the Great Lakes. I am assuming that the 371 did make a few trips through the Seaway. If my memory serves me right, I also think there may have been a "laker" or a tug also named the Mackinaw. That would be a good trivia question. How many ships actually carried the name Mackinaw or Mackinac?