USCGC Escanaba ( WPG - 77 ) The United States Coast Guard Cutter " Escanaba " ( WPG - 77 ) was an " A " class cutter stationed on the Great Lakes from her commissioning in 1932 until the start of US military involvement in World War II in 1941 . With the outbreak of war , " Escanaba " redeployed to participate in the Battle of the Atlantic , during the course of which she was ultimately lost with nearly all hands . Struck by either a torpedo or mine in the early morning of 13 June 1943 , while serving as a convoy escort , " Escanaba " suffered a fiery explosion and sank within minutes , leaving only two survivors and one body out of her 105 - man crew to be found on the surface by rescuers . History . " Escanaba " , named for the city and river in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan , was built at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City , Michigan in 1932 . The six cutters of her class were designed primarily for light ice breaking , rescue , and law enforcement duties . She was commissioned on November 23 , 1932 in Grand Haven , Michigan , which would be her permanent station and home port until she was redeployed to the East Coast for combat duty in the Second World War . " Escanaba " ' s primary , pre - war missions were ice breaking and search and rescue on the Great Lakes , which caused her to become well known throughout the region and a beloved part of her home port ' s community . During this period , from 1932 to 1934 , future USCG Commandant Edwin J . Roland served aboard " Escanaba " as gunnery officer and navigator . With the outbreak of war in 1941 , " Escanaba " < nowiki > ' s < / nowiki > home port was shifted to Boston , and she was assigned to the Greenland Patrol , performing escort duty and search and rescue operations in the North Atlantic . On 15 June 1942 , while escorting convoy XB - 25 from Cape Cod to Halifax , " Escanaba " had two submarine contacts and made attacks on them . No sinkings were confirmed . After making these attacks , the ship rescued 20 people from the SS Cherokee , which had been sunk by a U - boat . In that same month , " Escanaba " was credited with the sinkings of two enemy submarines in a single day . From 1 July until 23 August 1942 , she was on weather patrol . On 3 February 1943 , " Escanaba " participated in the rescue of the survivors of the USAT Dorchester , which had been torpedoed by a German submarine . The rescue was marked by the " Escanaba " < nowiki > ' s < / nowiki > historic first use of rescue swimmer s clad in survival suit s to aid survivors who were too weakened by shock or hypothermia in the icy water to pull themselves up cargo nets or sea ladders to the safety and warmth of rescuers ' ships , or even to hold on to ropes cast to them from the rescue vessel . By way of the lines the rescue swimmers tied around those who were having trouble helping themselves , many struggling survivors who , debilitated by the cold , would have otherwise been consigned to a watery grave were able to be hauled aboard the " Escanaba " by crewmen on deck . Even those in the water who appeared to be dead were harnessed by the retrieval swimmers and pulled aboard — indeed , it was found that only 12 of the 50 apparently dead victims thus brought aboard by the retrieval teams actually turned out to be deceased . The rest proved themselves to be quite alive once given the benefit of warmth , dryness , and medical attention . In all , " Escanaba " plucked 133 living souls from the water that day , only one of whom went on to die aboard the cutter after rescue . For their work in supervising and organizing the rescue , commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Carl U . Peterson received the Legion of Merit and executive officer Lieutenant Robert H . Prause , Jr . , whose experiments in a tethered rubber suit off a dock at Bluie West One had paved the way for this new " retriever method , " received a letter of commendation . Ship ' s doctor Assistant Surgeon Ralph R . Nix of the US Public Health Service also received a letter of commendation for his work saving the lives of the critically chilled survivors . Three crew members who went " over the side " to bring in survivors , Ensign Richard A . Arrighi , Ship ' s Cook 2nd Class Forrest O . Rednour , and Steward ' s Mate 3rd Class Warren T . Deyampert , were awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for their actions in the water . All decorations and commendations , however , were to be awarded posthumously . On 10 June 1943 , " Escanaba " began escorting her last convoy , GS - 24 from Narsarssuak to St . John ' s , Newfoundland , in company with the " Mojave " ( Flag ) , " Tampa " , " Storis " , and " Algonquin " . The vessels they were tasked to escort were USAT " Fairfax " and the tug USS " Raritan " . At 0510 on 13 June , a large sheet of flame and dense smoke were seen rising from the " Escanaba " , though no explosion was heard by the other ships in the convoy . She sank at 0513 , going down so quickly that she did not have time to send any distress signals . " Storis " and " Raritan " were ordered to investigate and rescue survivors while the rest of the convoy began zigzagging and steering evasive courses to avoid enemy submarine s . Although " Storis " and " Raritan " were able to arrive on the scene within ten minutes , only two survivors and one body could be found . At 0715 the two vessels returned to the main body of the convoy , having rescued Boatswain ' s Mate 2nd Class Melvin A . Baldwin and Seaman 1st Class Raymond F . O ' Malley , Jr . , and having found the body of LT Prause . The entire crew of 13 officers and 92 men was lost to the explosion or to rapid hypothermia in the water with the exception of Baldwin and O ' Malley , whose survival was attributed to their soaked clothing having frozen their unconscious bodies to floating debris , which prevented them from following their shipmates to the bottom . The exact cause of the explosion could not be determined at the time , but was commonly attributed to a torpedo fired by one of several U - Boats which were in the area at the time . However , no U - Boats claimed the kill , and , according to Browning , it is now considered more probable that the cutter was sunk by a drifting mine . The city of Grand Haven was hit hard emotionally by the loss of " its " cutter . As the war wore on , the citizens of Grand Haven managed to raise more than $ 1 , 000 , 000 in bonds to build a new cutter bearing the same name in order to honor the ill - fated ship and its men . The city continues to hold an annual memorial service to honor the sacrifice of the 103 men who were lost with " Escanaba " . The third Escanaba ( WMEC - 907 ) was commissioned in 1987 and is currently based in Boston , the final home port of her namesake .