USCGC Bluebell (WLI-313)

The Coast Guard Cutter Bluebell sits moored along the Willamette River waterfront
History
U.S.
Name:	USCGC Bluebell (WLI-313)
Commissioned:	4 April 1945
Homeport:	Portland, Oregon
Motto:	Rising to the Challenge Since 1945
Status:	In service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Inland buoy tender
Length:	100 ft (30 m)
Crew:	15 Active Duty, 5 Reserve

USCGC Bluebell (WLI-313) is a United States Coast Guard inland buoy tender based out of Portland, Oregon.

History

Bluebell was commissioned on April 4, 1945.^[1] From 1945 to 1973 Bluebell was stationed in Vancouver, Washington.^[2] Bluebell was moved to Swan Island in Portland, Oregon, in 1973, where it has remained since. Bluebell is classified as an inland buoy tender and is one of two 100-foot inland buoy tenders in service. The other, commissioned November 1, 1944, is the Coast Guard Cutter Smilax homeported in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.

Bluebell is the second oldest cutter in the Coast Guard fleet, and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. The ship is home to a crew of 15 led by a chief warrant officer, with a chief petty officer as the second in command.^[3]

Mission

As a buoy tender, the crew’s primary mission is to ensure the safety of mariners by establishing and maintaining essential navigation aids along established waterways. The crew is responsible for maintaining more than 420 aids to navigation(ATONs) along 500 miles across the Columbia, Willamette and Snake Rivers. Altogether, Bluebell’s crew is responsible for 23 percent of the ATONs in the Pacific Northwest.

References