Vale, McLane
The fourth cutter to bear the name McLane (after vessels commissioned in 1832, 1845, and 1865) was commissioned in 1927 as WSC-146 (later WMEC-146).
A 125-foot “Buck and a Quarter,” she was built to take on rumrunners during Prohibition.
Five 125-foot cutters at Charleston Navy Yard, Boston, late 1920s. Boston Public Library Leslie Jones Collection.
Five 125-foot cutters at the Charleston Navy Yard, Boston, in the late 1920s, including, from the outside, the USCGC Fredrick Lee, General Green, and Jackson. Boston Public Library Leslie Jones Collection.
Painted haze grey and with her armament significantly stepped up, she served on the Bering Sea Patrol during WWII.
Heavily occupied with convoy escort work, anti-submarine patrols, screening duties, and rescuing both vessels and aircraft in distress, the McLane and her crew are often credited with sinking the Japanese submarine Ro-32 (or possibly the Soviet sub Shch-138!) in July 1942 and a multiple-person rescue of a downed Lockheed Electra in February 1943, among several other notable actions.
Original caption: Coast Guard Lieut. Ralph Burns (right) of Ketchikan, Alaska, is presented the Legion of Merit Medal by Coast Guard Capt. F.A. Zeusler (left), commanding officer of the Alaskan Coast Guard District, in ceremonies at Ketchikan. Coast Guard Commander G.F. Hicks (center), Ketchikan base commander, witnessed the presentation. The award was made by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on behalf of the President. The medal was awarded for “exceptionally meritorious conduct” during an action in North Pacific waters in which the U.S. Coast Guard cutter McLane, with Lieutenant Burns in command, eliminated a Japanese submarine with depth charges. It was the first Japanese sub sunk in Alaskan waters.” National Archives Identifier 205588237
McLane was awarded one Battle Star for her World War II service.
125 ft. Active-class “Buck and a Quarters,” via 1946 Janes
Switching back to her white and buff scheme post-war, she was based in California until decommissioned in December 1968, capping 41 years in the service.
125-foot “buck and a quarter” USCGC McLane (W146) in her post-WWII scheme. Note her 40mm Bofors, circa 1962
Mothballed at the US Coast Guard Yard for less than a year, the McLane was sold to the Marine Navigation and Training Association of Chicago in November 1969, who operated her as a school and instruction ship for Sea Scouts on the waters of Lake Michigan into the early 1990s. She was then acquired by the Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum in 1993 (now known as the USS Silversides Submarine Museum) and began her third career as a museum ship in Muskegon.
That final chapter has now closed, and with her 98-year-old hull increasingly unstable, the museum has “de-assessed” McLane, towing her off to the breakers last week.
As noted by the museum:
The vessel, which had been closed to the public since spring 2025 due to ongoing maintenance concerns, was towed away with the support of dedicated community partners. After nearly a century of service in both salt and fresh water, the McLane’s condition had deteriorated to the point of being inaccessible for public touring and beyond the scope of feasible preservation.
Despite efforts to explore alternative preservation options, the museum ultimately determined that continued stewardship of the McLane was no longer sustainable. With the cold season approaching, the combination of time, weather, and structural decline made timely action necessary to ensure the safety of the vessel and the surrounding environment.
One of 33 Active-class cutters, McLane’s only remaining sister afloat, the former USCGC Morris (WPC-147/WSC-147/WMEC-147), was saved from the scrappers by the Vietnam War Flight Museum in Galveston, Texas, in 2021 and is being restored to sailing condition.
Two of the class, USCGC Jackson (WSC-142) and Bedloe (WSC-128), capsized going to the aid of a torpedoed freighter in the Great Atlantic Hurricane of September 1944.