Displacement: 2,700 tons
Length: 327 ft (100 m)
Beam: 41 ft (12.5 m)
Propulsion: 2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers and 2 Westinghouse double reduction geared steam turbine engines. 6,200 hp (4.6 MW)
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h)
Range: 8,270 nmi. (15,000 km)
Complement: 120 to 300 men (depending on time period)
Armament: 2 X 5 in/38 cal guns (127mm), 3 X 40mm (twin) 4 X 20mm (single) circa 1945
Aircraft: originally 1 Grumman Seaplane, later removed
Motto: Semper Paratus (Always Ready)
The historic 327 foot Coast Guard Cutter was the most decorated ship in the Coast Guard at the time of her decommissioning and is the only Coast Guard Cutter to have received two Presidential Unit Citations. The menace of drug runners hardly began in the 1970s and 80s. The 327-ft. class of fast attack cutters were needed because of a mid-1930s increase in opium smuggling. But for the Ingham crew, the mission of chasing drug runners along with coastal search and rescue would give way to a new level of danger - WWII and German U-Boats lurking in the North Atlantic.
Ingham would battle through what was called the "Bloody Winter" of 1942-43. German submarines were having their way with allied supply ships until the camouflaged cutters turned the tide. On December 17, 1942 Ingham located what appeared to be a prowling U-boat. Dropping a barrage of depth charges, Ingham recorded its first victory. U-626 went to the bottom with all hands.
Ingham would serve in the Pacific as flagship for several troop landings on islands such as Panay and Tigbauanan.
Her long history included dozens of naval gunfire support missions in the Vietnam War and in 1980 rescued at least twenty Cubans in the waters between Florida and Cuba during the Mariel boat lift. Ingham's 52 years of service ended when she was decommissioned on May 27, 1988.
Treasury Class
The Treasury class Coast Guard cutters were all named for former secretaries of the Treasury Department. The origins of the Coast Guard had less to do with drug runners and U-boats and more to do with revenue. In 1790 the nation's first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, was ordered by Congress to create a maritime service to enforce customs law. This new service was placed under the control of the Treasury Department.
The cutter on display at Patriots Point was named for Samuel D. Ingham, appointed Treasury Secretary in 1829 by President Andrew Jackson.
For more information, visit the HNSA listing for the Ingham.
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CV-10 was to be known as the Bon Homme Richard but was renamed in honor of the only American carrier lost in the pivotal Battle of Midway, USS Yorktown (CV-5).
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