USCG Cutter Maple Launched At Marinette Marine

On Saturday, December 16, Marinette Marine Corporation launched the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Maple (WLB-207), the seventh ship in a series of sixteen Seagoing Buoy Tenders being built by the company. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Maple is a 225-ft seagoing buoy tender that will be home-ported in Sitka, Alaska. The cutter will sail under the command of Lieutenant Commander Matt Creelman and carry a complement of six officers and thirty-four enlisted personnel. Maple will join her sister cutters, now operating in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. These cutters form a new fleet of the most technically advanced and highly capable buoy tenders ever operated by the Coast Guard. Maple is equipped to perform search and rescue, law enforcement, pollution response and domestic icebreaking missions as well as servicing aids to navigation. The newest USCGC Maple is the third Coast Guard cutter to bear the name. The first was launched in 1892 and decommissioned in 1933. The second was launched in 1939 and served in U.S. Coast Guard until 1973, when it was transferred to the Environmental Protection Agency and re-christened the ROGER R. SIMONS. In 1991 the ship was again retired from Government service and sold to a retired U.S. Naval Officer. It is now serves as a museum in St. Ignace, MI.