The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sundew, built in the Twin Ports 60 years ago and stationed here for nearly a quarter of a century, is scheduled to be decommissioned and retired this year when she is replaced by the Coast Guard's newest seagoing buoy tender, the Alder.

The Sundew — built in 1944, due to be decommisioned in 2004.

If all goes well in Washington, the Sundew's final cruise will be a short one. An authorization bill supported by U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) to convey the Sundew to the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center as a floating museum ship has passed the House and is now in the Senate as part of the Coast Guard appropriations bill. The cutter would join the retired freighter William A. Irvin and tug Lake Superior as museum pieces and tourist attractions.

Tale of the tape Here's how the new Juniper Class Alder compares to the retiring Sundew:
	Alder	Sundew
Built	2004	1944
Power	Two 3,100-h.p. diesels. One shaft, 460 h.p. bow thruster, add'l. 550 h.p. stern thruster	Two 1,000-h.p. diesels One shaft, 100 h.p. bow thruster
Maximum Speed	16 knots	14 knots
Crew	40	49
Length	225	180
Beam	46	37
Draft	13	13
Displacement	2,000 tons (fully loaded)	1,025 tons (fully loaded)

"If all goes as planned, the Sundew could be ready to welcome its first visitors by July 4," said Dan Russell, executive director of the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.
"There has been a real groundswell of enthusiasm for the preservation of the ship here on the waterfront near the spot where she was launched, and we have a prominent site where the Sundew can be properly showcased with our other historic ships," he said.

The 180-foot icebreaker Sundew is one of a fleet of 40 WLB-class buoy tenders authorized for the Coast Guard in 1940. Duluth's Marine Iron & Shipbuilding Company won the bid to build 21 of them and contracted with Zenith Dredge Company to build 17 more, including the Sundew in 1944. One vessel of the same class was built on the East Coast.

The Sundew primarily fills the buoy-tending and search-and-rescue roles of the Coast Guard, but it did play an important role in World War II, keeping the Lakes open for delivery of wartime ships and vital cargoes. Many of the cutters in her class were armed with anti-aircraft guns and depth charges for salt-water deployment. Since being stationed in Duluth, in 1980, the Sundew has spent her days maintaining aids to navigation on Lake Superior and breaking ice in the Port.

Alder is the last of 16 of the new Juniper Class boats
The Sundew's successor, the 225-foot Juniper "B" Class USCG Cutter Alder, was launched on February 7 at Marinette, Wisc., by the Marinette Marine Corporation of the Manitowac Marine Group.

The Alder is the first new Coast Guard cutter built for assignment at the Head of the Lakes since the Sundew's predecessor and sister vessel Woodrush (launched during World War II and stationed in Duluth for 35 years) and the last of 16 new 225-foot cutters the Coast Guard ordered from Marinette Marine.

The Juniper Class cutters, equipped with state-of the-art electronic navigation and positioning equipment — and providing separate quarters for men and women, a first for cutters in the Twin Ports — were designed to be more efficient than the fleet of World War II vintage 180-foot seagoing buoy tenders preceding them.

Carrying a crew of 40 personnel (nine fewer than the Sundew) and displacing 2,000 long tons, the Alder's primary mission along with the additional cutters will be maintaining and repairing a system of more than 50,000 sea buoys, day markers and lights that support the nation's transportation infrastructure. The tenders also will serve in other Coast Guard missions, including search and rescue, enforcement of laws and treaties, marine environmental protection and domestic ice operations.

The $29 million dollar Alder is powered by two 3,100-horsepower Caterpillar diesel engines enabling it to reach speeds of 16 knots and to break through 14 inches of ice. It is equipped with an oil spill recovery system and employs the latest technology in communication and security systems.

The Alder will be captained by Cdr. Steve Teschendorf. Additional cutters in the Alder's class were the Spar, delivered March 2001 to Kodiak, Alaska., replacing the Ironwood; Maple, delivered June 2001 to Sitka, Alaska, replacing the Woodrush; Aspen, delivered September 2001 to San Francisco, Calif., replacing the Buttonwood; Sycamore, delivered March 2002 to Cordova, Alaska, replacing the Sweetbrier; Cypress, delivered June 2002 to Mobile, Alabama, replacing the Sweetgum; Oak, delivered October 2002 to Charleston, South Carolina, replacing the Madrona; Hickory, delivered March 2003 to Homer, Alaska, replacing the Sedge; Fir, delivered June 2003 to Astoria, Or., replacing the Cowslip; Hollyhock, delivered October 2003 to Port Huron, Mich., replacing the Bramble, and Sequoia, launched in late 2003 and headed for Guam this year to replace the Sassfras.

Tribute to Tim Slattery
The launch of the Alder was witnessed by about a thousand people — hundreds of them from the Twin Ports. The Alder was the star of the show, but the pre-launch ceremonies also included a brief tribute to Duluth's Tim Slattery.

Tim, before his untimely death in late 2003, was known as the Coast Guard's "unofficial official photographer." He had spent his whole life virtually in the shadow of the Coast Guard base in Duluth and had befriended hundreds of Coast Guard personnel over the years. Coast Guard vessels and crews were the subjects of many of the countless scores of pictures that Tim made. [See North Star Port, Fall 2003.]

Tim's father, Jim; wife, Susan; and brothers Terry and Tom (left to right in accompanying photo) were part of the "Tim Slattery Memorial Tour" crew from Duluth that traveled to the Alder launching.

The tour was sponsored by the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association, Duluth Seaway Port Authority, Shipmasters' Lodge No. 12, Duluth-Superior Harbor Club and Twin Ports Propeller Club.

"Tim's spirit was with us, and he probably enjoyed the fact that we were splashed a bit by the icy launch," said Thom Holden, director of the Lake Superior Marine Museum.