USCGC_Bittersweet
USCGC Bittersweet
1943 ship
USCGC Bittersweet (WLB 389) was a C or Iris-class 180-foot buoy tender of the United States Coast Guard.
Built by the Zenith Dredge Company of Duluth, Minnesota, the ship was laid down on 16 September 1943, and launched on 11 November 1943.
Based at Kodiak, she carried out numerous search and rescue operations, fought fires, delivered medical supplies, and enforced fishing laws.
Bittersweet was then stationed at Woods Hole, Massachusetts and used for ATON and icebreaking. In addition she took part in oil spill cleanup operations and also participated in the International Ice Patrol.
Bittersweet was decommissioned on 18 August 1997, and given to Estonia. Renamed Valvas, the ship served in the Estonian Border Guard until it was decommissioned in July 2014 and given to the Estonian Maritime Museum. It is to become a museum ship.