On a recent visit to one of our favorite vacation destinations, Key West, we toured the Coast Guard ship the Ingham.  Built in 1936 as a Treasury class cutter, she served for 52 years before retiring in 1988 as a museum ship.  When the ship was retired everything was left on board as a time capsule.

I have always thoroughly enjoyed being able to visit on board a naval war ship.  It is a mixture of seeing how our armed forced lived at that time and knowing that it is a floating piece of US history.

Also, my father and father-in-law were both in the navy at the time this ship was patrolling the waters of the South Pacific in WW-II.  I can remember the stories that both have told about their time serving.  Interestingly, they both began their sea careers in the Merchant Marines, and then moved into the US Navy after some short time period.  It may have been due to their young ages at the time.

Here are some photos from the inside of the ship.  Just imagine life aboard this self contained vessel back during WW-II with enemy submarines patrolling nearby along with the threat of Japanese kamikaze bombers.  There were 223 sailors aboard the 327 foot long ship during the height of WW-II.

Here is some more on the fascinating history from the official website:

“Secretary” Class Cutter History

Courtesy of the Coast Guard Historian’s Office

The 327-foot cutters were designed to meet changing missions of the service as it emerged from the Prohibition era. Because the air passenger trade was expanding both at home and overseas, the Coast Guard believed that cutter-based aircraft would be essential for future high-seas search and rescue. Also, during the mid-1930’s, narcotics smuggling, mostly opium, was on the increase, and long-legged, fairly fast cutters were needed to curtail it. The 327’s were an attempt to develop a 20-knot cutter capable of carrying an airplane in a hangar.

The Secretary class cutters proved to be highly dependable, versatile and long-lived warships–most served their country for over 40 years. In the words of one naval historian, John M. Waters, Jr., they were truly their nation’s “maritime workhorses.” Waters continued: “the 327’s battled, through the ‘Bloody Winter’ of 1942-43 in the North Atlantic–fighting off German U-boats and rescuing survivors from torpedoed convoy ships. They went on to serve as amphibious task force flagships, as search-and-rescue (SAR) ships during the Korean War, on weather patrol, and as naval gunfire support ships during Vietnam. Most recently, these ships-that-wouldn’t-die have done duty in fisheries patrol and drug interdiction. .Built for only $2.5 million each, in terms of cost effectiveness we may never see the likes of these cutters again.”

source:  http://uscgcingham.org/specs.html

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