Want your own 180? Check out the following link from the SF Bay Area craigslist:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/boa/524676414.html

I know she's sitting at the old Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, CA. I believe she's the ex-Mallow:

My husband Floyd Stormer was on the ACACIA what are they going to do with her?
He wrote a poem about her.
He wrote this in Cajun dialget
WHEN DE ACACIA GET DE KNOCK
'Twas ten at nigh on tirty July, we leave de Pine Grove Dock
and early in de morn, de main trust bearing she start to knock
But we kep working on de bouys all de way up ol Huron shore
But But de bearing she keep knocking, and den she knock some more
At Big Beaver Isle on ol Lake Mich, we stop to drink and play
As hope dat maybe by de morning de knock she go away
We drink de beer and play de ball, de Capn' hurt his arm realreal sore
We drink and laugh an dance an fight, as den we drink some more
Den when everone get good and drunk we go out an hoise de pick
an no noe hear de knock at all, cause everone too sick
We steam down de lake and come de morn, crawl weakly from de rack
Den wit trobbing heads and bellies sore, ol knock she come right back
Den we stop down to Grand Haven, as tie up and Woodbines dock
De deck crew shoot de rifle gun an engineers dey hunt de knock
Two tree days of good hard work, we find de dirty knock
De District she send de message, Go to shipyard Manitowoc" So de KAW she tow ACACIA out de Captn don think no joke
Den de station tow de ramp bout out, cause de shafting she got broke
De generator she start to trow de oil, de lights get purty dim
We don like to tell de Capt cause his patience get purty thin
An eveone scare to tell their wives, we being towed to Manitowoc
Cause ACACIA she been there before and wives don believe about believe bout no knock
De KAW she pull us nice an smooth, but the Capt still feeling low
He no loner Catp of de Cutter, he now Capt of the tow
De KAW she like rabbit up de river by searchlight
An leave us in de shipyard in de mimiddle of de night
De Boss Man in de shipyard is a feller name of Doc
He muster up all his crew and de com down to fix de knock
De fix de knock up good and fin, but tree four extra days to do
An de wives backin Port Huron, are getting purty mad at crew
De tink we having good time here and trying to not get done
De price of beer she be so cheap, we too hungover to have fun
wall, Pat and Mr Howard, allden fellers really know
We be in ship;yard for to work, we don go Hunt de Buffalo
So nex time de shaft she don turn so good and de bearing she start to knock We all will dun de risk of quick divorce,and com back to Manitowoc

quote:

Originally posted by tip_dog:
Want your own 180? Check out the following link from the SF Bay Area craigslist:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/boa/524676414.html

I know she's sitting at the old Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, CA. I believe she's the ex-Mallow:

Tip .. not the Mallow (396), the Mallow is with an Indiana non-profit the CAS FOUNDATION. It's the Basswood (388).

Glad to hear about the ACE. When we (CGC Alder) were in Burns harbor last month I noticed she was gone and hoped she had gone on to Chi town.



////EM1 SENDS

MALLOW is working for missionaries? That must have required some kind of exorcism, given her long history of transporting sailors to foreign ports and opportunities of alcoholic debauchery and overall hell-raising ...

MALLOW sailor sends,

I stand corrected. Last time I was in the area, there were 2 180's moored up there, along with a couple of old Navy fleet tugs similar to the Tamaroa, Ute, or Lipan. This was going on 6 years ago now.

Anyone know what happened to the MADRONA (WLB-302)?

quote:

"Madrona remains a very sound and well running ship,
thanks to a long line of proud Coast Guard men and
women who have meticulously maintained Madrona
through the years, said Lt. Cmdr. James Cash,
commanding officer of the Madrona. As the last crew,
we regret that our ship will retire from its duties in the
United States Coast Guard April 12th. However, we are
very proud that our efforts to keep the cutter in top
operational condition will allow Madrona to continue
in public service for many years to come as the new
flag ship of the El Salvadorian Navy,” Cash said.

- Evening Colors, July 2002

The U.S. National Park Service has published a pretty good book about the USCG 180' Buoy Tenders which includes stats, photos and line drawings. The .pdf version can be downloaded here

Note: This is a rather large file (over 5mbs) and may take a while to download, depending on your network speed).

There might be some disposal lists on the Web where you can find the ultimate fate of most of the now decommissioned tenders. But information on certain tenders continues to be rare. Madrona is one of those decommissioned tenders which falls under the radar scope.

You can probably fill out a FOIA request to the U.S. Maritime Administration which maintains the mothball fleets, including decommissioned cutters. But don't expect your requested to be acted on until you're well into old age.

mw

Don't know if Wray remembers, but MADRONA saved our hungry butts one year, while bustin' ice on the Potomoc. Gave us a ton of chow ... I still remember wondering how 5 guys were going to eat a gross of eggs and a 20-lb steamship round.

The Mad Crab was my first unit and the BEST I've ever had (so far anyway). I remember exactly when she was de-commed because it's a day before my birthday. Heh... I couldn't remember the year though. I think it was 2001.

Madrona was my first unit. She was decommissioned in 2002. She sure was a fine ship and had a lot of class. I miss working on the buoy deck of the old girl.

Glad to hear she is still serving. El-Salvador got one heck of a ship.