USS Brier (IX 307, ex USCG WAGL) Class

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USCGC Bluebell, a sister to USS Brier (IX 307).
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class: BRIER (IX 307, ex USCG WAGL)
Design: USCG 100' tender (WAGL)
Displacement (tons): 178 full
Dimensions (feet): 100' oa, 96' pp x 24' e x 4.5' full (8' to lowest projection)
Armament: none
Accommodations: unk.
Speed (kts.): 10
Propulsion (HP): 600
Machinery: Geared diesel, 2 screws

Construction:

IX	Name	Acq	Builder	Keel	Launch	Comm
307	BRIER	29 Aug 1970	Dubuque Boat & Boiler Wks, Dubuque, Ia.	5 Aug 1942	6 May 1943	COM/SRV

Disposition:

IX	Name	T	Decomm	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
307	BRIER		1982	15 Aug 1982	2 Jun 1983	Sold	--

Class Notes:
One of seven COSMOS-class 100-foot inland (bay and sound) buoy tenders constructed by the Dubuque Boat & Boiler Works of Dubuque, Iowa. An eighth sister, BLUEBELL, was later built at Tacoma, Wash. BRIER was designated WAGL 299, later WLI 299. She was decommissioned by the Coast Guard on 9 November 1967 and offered to the Navy for use as a target. Several candidate users were identified, but the Naval Ordnance Laboratory Test Facility, Solomons, Maryland then asked for her as a self-propelled vessel to house all recording and analysis instrumentation required for explosive shock effects work that was being shifted from the Patuxent River to Chesapeake Bay. CNO approved this transfer on 9 September 1968 and reclassified her IX 307 by separate notice, although this notice was not issued until 29 August 1969 effective 1 September 1969. NOLTF Solomons took custody of the vessel on 10 March 1969.

The Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC) Detachment Solomons, Maryland, (successor to NOLTF) was disestablished effective 1 May 1982 and NSWC asked for disposition/relocation instructions for the service craft located there. CNO on 26 July 1982 recommended to SECNAV that IX 307 be declared excess to Navy requirements and be stricken effective 15 August 1982, with sale to follow.

Ship Notes:

IX	Name	MA	Notes
307	BRIER		(comm. 2 Jul 1943). Sold by DRMS 1983 for further use. Photographed on 8 Aug 2017 as an oyster dredge, still named BRIER, at Bridgeport, Conn. (http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2736518)