USCGC Tallapoosa ( WPG - 52 ) The cutter Tallapoosa was designed to replace the cutter " Winona " and was stationed at Mobile , Alabama , with cruising grounds to Lake Pontchartrain , Louisiana and Fowey Rocks , Florida . Operational history , 1915 - 1941 . " Tallapoosa " was assigned to her first homeport at Mobile , Alabama on 17 August 1915 . During this period she made search and rescue patrols between Port Eads , Louisiana and Tampa , Florida . On 18 November 1915 she transported the National Currency Association of Alabama on a tour and inspection of the harbor of Mobile . On 19 January 1916 she participated in the celebration of the completion of the Gulf , Florida and Alabama Railroad held at Pensacola , Florida . On 6 – 7 March 1916 and on 19 – 20 February 1917 , she participated in the Mardi Gras celebration at Mobile , Alabama . From 6 April 1917 until 28 August 1919 , the Coast Guard was temporarily under the Navy Department . During this period " Tallapoosa " was sent on temporary special duty to Halifax , Nova Scotia to participate in search and rescue work in the icy waters . At one time the cutter was nearly destroyed while rescuing a group of stranded fishermen at Jobs Room , a small village in Forteau Harbor , Labrador . After breaking through the ice to the village and giving food and medical supplies to the natives and picking up the fishermen , she was caught in a snow storm in the sub zero weather and almost crushed by ice before she could return to Halifax . On 4 March 1920 she resumed her patrols and was back at her old home port of Mobile . On 11 October 1920 , she was assigned to the Gulf Division . On 3 August 1921 " Tallapoosa " arrived at Norfolk , Virginia towing sub chaser s , on the 29th she arrived at Tampa towing the " Arrow " from Key West . On 3 December 1922 , she returned to Key West from a cruise to Sanibel , Florida . On 10 December her cruising district was again established as that portion of the coast bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and extending from Port Eads to Tampa , with headquarters still at Mobile , Alabama . On 30 January 1924 , she participated in the Gasparilla Carnival at Tampa and on 23 February 1925 , she also participated in the Mardi Gras celebration at Mobile . On 2 January 1929 , her permanent station was changed to Key West . From 9 November 1929 to 10 December 1930 , she underwent extensive repairs and alterations at the Depot . Then she departed for her new home port at Juneau , Alaska arriving there on 6 February 1931 . She departed Juneau on 13 April for Dixon ' s Entrance on Bering Sea Duty . The next few years were spent on Bering Sea Duty , Bering Sea Patrols and Seal Patrols in Alaskan waters , with occasional trips to Seattle , Washington for drydocking . She departed Seattle for hew new permanent station at Savannah , Georgia on 7 August 1937 and arrived at Savannah on 24 October . She spent the winter of 1939 - 1940 cruising on search and rescue missions in the Jacksonville District . From 24 October 1940 to 24 November 1940 , she was being rearmed at the plant of Todd Shipyard Inc . , at Algiers , Louisiana . She was rearmed , repaired , and altered at the plant of Merrill - Stevens Company late in 1942 . World War two . " Tallapoosa " remained in the 6th Naval District throughout World War II where she engaged in convoy and anti - submarine work . Between 30 May and 22 June 1942 , she searched small areas where submarines had been sighted , but with negative results . On 4 – 5 November 1942 she was searching for reported submarine and during the next two days was escorting a British steamer en route to Lookout Bight . On 9 November she resumed her search for the submarine in the vicinity of Sapelo Island Buoy . On 11 November and 14 November she escorted another British vessel to Lookout Bight . Standing out from Charleston , South Carolina on 23 November 1942 , she searched in the areas southeast of Charleston Whistle Buoy 2 - C for about 15 miles , continuing her search next day before returning to Charleston . At 1800 the same day she stood out again to search 10 wiles northeast of the wreck of the lighted bell buoy en route to Southport , North Carolina . On the 25th she rendezvoused off Southport , NC entrance buoy with " Cornelius Barnett " and escorted her to Lookout Bight , then she returned to Southport , NC . On the 26th she patrolled off Frying Pan Shoals and the next day escorted " Henry Bacon " from Southport to Lookout Bight . On 10 December 1942 , while on convoy duty , " Tallapoosa " made an apparent sound contact and dropped 11 MK VI depth charges and a marker buoy . The charges raised a quantity of oil , but it was decided that the target was a wreck and the cutter continued on convoy duty . On the 12th , while still on convoy duty , a Civil Air Patrol plane dropped two smoke bombs in close proximity to the convoy . The cutter was unable to establish communications with the plane which departed immediately , and so she proceeded with the convoy . On 19 December 1942 what appeared to be a submarine was heard on the cutter ' s sonar equipment , estimated three or four miles from the cutter . " Tallapoosa " notified the 4th Naval District but the submarine was not heard or seen again . " Tallapoosa " began a grid search westward from a position 30 miles due east of the reported sub position at 0900 that day with negative results . At 0140 on the 20th , a dispatch was received reporting a sub sighted three or four miles distant on bearing 015° from Savannah Lightship No . 94 and the cutter again carried out a grid search with negative result . From 4 January 1943 , the principal activity of " Tallapoosa " was as an observing vessel for tests in connection with shore blackouts . Attached to the Southern Ship Lane Patrol she operated from 4 January to 15 January 1943 , from the section base at Mayport , Florida under direction of the Base Commander and LCDR Fintel , USNR , attached to the Eastern Sea Frontier . The cutter made nightly trips to a position south at St . John ' s light vessel , sometimes accompanied by USS " Umpqua " , who acted as target vessel . The US Army Corps of Engineers made various arrangements of shore lighting in the vicinity of Jacksonville Beach . These lights varied in intensity and were measured on board the cutter from seaward by civilian experts using photometer s to determine the amount of light constituting a hazard to a merchant vessel passing between a submarine and a shore light . On one occasion the visibility of various navigational aids was tested . Proceeding to Jacksonville after three tests , the cutter underwent repairs until 28 February 1943 , when she returned to her duties on the Southern Ship Lane Patrol . She remained in the 6th Naval District until the fall of 1945 , when she was sent to Curtis Bay , Maryland for decommissioning . Decommission . She was decommissioned on 18 November 1945 . On 22 July 1946 " Tallapoosa " was sold to the Caribbean Fruit and Steamship Company , Incorporated . Her bell now resides in Historic Tallapoosa , GA